Automations

Automations let you describe a task once and pick when it should happen. Yori runs it in the background on your schedule, leaves the result in a chat in your chosen project, and keeps a short memory between runs so it can pick up where it left off.

Before you start

• Your Automations are private. Nobody else in the workspace can see them, and you can't see theirs.
• Each Automation runs in one of your own projects. You need at least one project, or you can create one while setting up the Automation.
• Every run uses Yori credits, just like a chat. See Credits.

Where to find it

Select Automations in the sidebar.

The Automations list

The page header shows a short summary, for example "2 on, 1 paused. Next up is Newsletter first draft, tomorrow at 10:00." While an Automation is running, it says which one is running now. Select New automation to add another.

Automations are grouped:

Group	What's in it
Needs a look	Automations waiting for your answer, or whose last run didn't finish
Up next	Automations that are on, soonest first
Paused	Automations you've paused

Each row shows, from left to right:

• When it runs next, such as "Tomorrow" and "09:00". Paused rows show Paused and how often they'd run. A running Automation shows Now. An Automation that ran once and is finished shows Done.
• An on/off switch. Turn it off to pause, on to resume.
• The name, then the schedule and the project, for example "Every Monday at 09:00 · Marketing".
• The last result: Running now, Needs your answer with an Answer link, Hasn't run yet, when it last ran with an Open result link, or a red "didn't finish" note with a See why link.
• A ... menu with Run now, Edit, Pause or Resume, and Delete. On small screens, open the Automation to find these actions.

Select a row's name to open its detail page.

The list keeps itself up to date. When an Automation starts or finishes on its schedule, you'll see it without reloading the page.

If you don't have any Automations yet, you'll see "No automations yet" with a New automation button and a list of ideas under Or start from an idea. Select Use this next to an idea to open the new Automation window already filled in.

Create an Automation

1. Select New automation.
2. Optionally, type a name in Name your automation (optional). Names can be up to 80 characters. If you leave it blank, Yori names the Automation from the start of the task.
3. Build the schedule sentence, which reads like "Run Every week on Monday at 09:00 for Marketing using Thinking":
   • How often: Every hour, Every day, Every weekday, Every week, Every month or Once.
   • Day: appears for Every week. Pick Monday to Sunday. For Every month, pick a day of the month, from the 1st to the 31st. In a month that's too short, it runs on the last day of that month.
   • Date: appears for Once. Pick the day it should run.
   • Time: appears for everything except Every hour. Pick any time in 15-minute steps.
   • Project: choose one of your projects. Type to find one, or type a new name to create a project.
   • Mode: Fast ("Quicker replies for simple, routine tasks.") or Thinking ("Takes more care. Best for most tasks.").
4. Under What should Yori do each time?, describe the task. Be specific about what to check, what to produce and how to format it.
5. Check the line at the bottom, for example "First run tomorrow at 09:00, London time." If something's missing, it tells you, for example "Add a project and a task to continue." A Once Automation needs a time later than now. Until then, the line reads "Pick a time later than now."
6. Select Create automation.

Yori shows "Automation created" with the time of the first run, then opens the new Automation. New Automations start switched on.

While the task box is empty, you can select a starter under Or start from: Competitor round-up, Review digest, Post ideas or Newsletter draft. Each fills in a name, task and schedule you can change.

If you close the window after typing, Yori asks "Discard this automation?". Choose Keep writing to go back.

Ask Yori in a chat

You can also ask Yori to set one up while you chat, the way you'd ask a colleague. For example:

• "Every Monday at 9, send me a round-up of what our competitors posted."
• "Remind me tomorrow at 10 to approve the newsletter."
• "In 2 hours, draft three LinkedIn posts from this brief."
• "Keep an eye on our reviews and tell me if anything negative comes in."

When the request is clear, Yori creates the Automation straight away in the chat's project and replies with when it will first run and a link to open it. If you didn't give a time, it picks a sensible one, such as 09:00, which you can change afterwards. Yori doesn't create Automations you didn't ask for, but it may offer to repeat something useful.

In a chat you can also ask:

• "What do I have scheduled?" to see your Automations.
• "Pause the competitor round-up" or "Move it to Fridays" to change one.

Yori can't delete Automations from a chat. Pause it there, or delete it on the Automations page.

Time zones

Schedules use the time zone of the device you created the Automation on. When Yori creates one in a chat, it uses the time zone of the device you last opened Yori on. The time zone is shown as a city, for example "London time", on the new Automation window and the detail page.

The detail page

Open an Automation to see everything about it. Select Automations at the top left to go back to the list.

Header

• The Automation's name.
• An On or Paused switch.
• Run now, which starts a run straight away. It reads Running while it works.
• A ... menu with Rename, Pause or Resume, and Delete.

Schedule

The same schedule sentence as when you created it, starting with "Runs", "Would run" when paused, or "Ran" once a Once Automation is done. Change any part of it and it saves automatically.

What Yori does each time

The task, in an editor with formatting tools. Edit it and Yori saves automatically after a moment. The line underneath shows "Saved a moment ago" or when it last saved. If a save fails, you'll see "Unable to save automation." with Try again.

Memory

After each successful run, Yori adds a short summary here so the next run knows what happened before. Until then it reads "No memory yet."

Next run

The date and time of the next run, how long until then, and the time zone. While it runs it shows Running now and "You can leave this page." When paused, it shows Paused and what will happen when you resume. After a Once Automation has run, it shows Done.

Previous runs

Every recent run, newest first:

• The date and time it started.
• On schedule or Run by hand, and how many credits it used, for example "On schedule · 3.2 credits".
• For a run that's still working, "Working on it" and Open chat, which opens its chat so you can watch Yori write the result.
• For a run that stopped to ask you something, "Waiting for your answer" and Answer.
• Open result, which opens the chat the run created.
• For a run that didn't finish, the reason in red, and Try again.

Until the first run, it reads "Runs will appear here after the first run."

When Yori needs your answer

Yori makes sensible choices on its own during a run. When it can't do the task well without your input, it stops and asks up to 3 questions. The run then waits for you instead of failing.

• You get a notification: "Automation name needs your answer".
• The Automation moves to Needs a look, and its row shows Needs your answer. In the sidebar panel, its dot turns amber.
• At the top of its detail page, Yori needs your answer shows the questions and when Yori will decide on its own.

To answer, pick an option for each question or type your own under Something else, then select Send. To let Yori choose for you, select Let Yori decide. You can also answer in the run's chat. The run then carries on where it stopped, and adds to the memory when it finishes.

If nobody answers, Yori sends one reminder halfway, then chooses the answers itself and carries on. It decides 10 minutes before the next run, but never less than an hour or more than a day after asking. A question never holds up the next scheduled run.

Where results go

Each run creates a new chat in the Automation's project, named after the Automation with the date and time of the run, for example "Weekly competitor round-up · 14 Oct, 09:00". Open it from Open result, or from the project itself. The chat is an ordinary Yori chat: open it while the run is working to watch the reply come in, and reply in it afterwards to carry on. You'll also get a notification when a run finishes, fails or needs your answer, and Automations in the sidebar shows a red badge with the number of Automations that have something new. Opening an Automation clears its part of the badge; one waiting for your answer stays counted until you answer. When you use Run now, Yori shows "Automation finished" with an Open result button, or "Yori needs your answer" with an Answer button. If the run is still working a few minutes later, it shows "Automation is still working" with an Open chat button instead.

Pause, resume, rename and delete

• Pause: turn off the switch, or choose Pause from the menu. Yori shows "Automation paused" with Undo. Paused Automations don't run and don't use credits.
• Resume: turn the switch back on, or choose Resume. The next run is worked out from the schedule.
• Run once Automations: after its run, a Once Automation switches itself off. To run it again, pick a new date and time on its detail page, then turn it back on. If the time has already passed, Yori says "Pick a time in the future for this automation to run."
• Rename: on the detail page, open the menu, choose Rename, type the new name and select Rename.
• Delete: choose Delete and confirm Delete automation. The Automation and its run history are permanently deleted. Chats it already created stay in your project.

Credits and running out

Each run uses Yori credits, like any chat. The amount depends on the task and the mode. Fast is lighter for simple, routine tasks. When a run writes a new piece of content, such as a newsletter, Yori uses the Copywriter for the first draft, which uses more credits than a normal reply. You can see what each run used under Previous runs.

If your workspace runs out of credits, the run stops and shows "Ran out of credits". The detail page explains the run "stopped because the workspace ran out of credits" and offers Try again. The Automation stays on and tries again at its next scheduled time. See Out of credits.

Troubleshooting

• "Couldn't load your automations": your Automations are safe and keep running on schedule. Check your connection and select Try again.
• "Automation not found": it may have been deleted, or it belongs to a workspace you aren't in right now.
• A run didn't finish: open the Automation, read the reason at the top, fix what it mentions (for example, a vague task or a missing connection), then select Try again.

Related guides

• Projects overview
• Connectors
• Notifications
• Credits and billing