Guide
What is an automation rule?
Automation Rules in Fibery react to changes (update, create or delete, link, unlink) that happened with entities. For example, you closed a Task and want to set a Completion Date to Today. Or they can run according to a pre-defined schedule (every weekday at 9am, once a month, etc.)
Automation Rules are linked to Databases, so you add them via the Database editor. If you need to react to Task change, then the Automation Rule should be defined in Task Database.
Automation Rule consists of a Trigger and one or more Actions.
How to add an Automation Rule
To add an Automation:
Go to a Space Configuration
Choose a Database and expand it.
Find Automation Rules section and click + near it.
You can set Icon field in Automation Rules to make it more fun (or not fun)
Triggers
Triggers are events. Consider the Feature database. It will have the following triggers:
Feature Created.
Feature Updated.
Entity linked to a Feature (for example, Task or Product).
Entity unlinked from a Feature.
On Schedule (periodic automation rules based on intervals).
To react only in certain conditions, use Filters. For example, proceed only if the created Feature is in Failed State:
When an entity is created, the setting of field values on creation is treated as a part of the "Create" event - there are not additional update events for each field.i.e. if an entity is created in a specific column of a board view, or from within a filtered view, the field values will be automatically set on creation to match that column or the filter criteria (where possible).
If an Automation relies on a calculated Field (Formula or Lookup), it should be triggered by an update to the Formula or Lookup field rather than on creation of the Entity.
The user who triggered the automation
You can configure your Automations based on who triggers them:
track who was the last to change a certain Field
automatically assign the developer who moves a Story to "In progress"
link an Epic to the right team based on who clicked the Plan for next Quarter Button
Access previous values in trigger filters, actions and markdown templates
You can access a field’s previous value in automation rules and use it in trigger filters, actions and markdown templates.
What this enables? For example, different behavior for different transitions:
In triggers you can can use Filters with Field Name (Previous) and in Actions you can only use Formulas so far to access previous field value.
You can use previous value only if Trigger subscribes to exactly one Changed Field
You can reference the previous value of a field in Automation Rules when you use markdown templates (for example, in “Create Document”, “Send Email”, “Post to Slack”, etc.).
Name changed from {{Previous Entity.Name}} to {{Name}}
If the Name field changed from “Old Name” to “New Name”, the rendered text will be:
Name changed from Old Name to New Name
Example: reference field
State changed from {{Previous Entity.State.Name}} to {{State.Name}}
If State changed from “In Progress” to “Done”, the rendered text will be:
State changed from In Progress to Done
Actions
The Actions define what will be done when an event is triggered. There are many possible types of actions. Let's take the Feature database as an example. You can use the following actions:
Create (create a new Feature)
Update (update the Feature)
Delete (delete the Feature)
Script (execute some script to do complex things)
Append content to a Rich Text field (e.g. add content into Description)
Set of actions for every collection, like Add Task, Update Tasks, Delete Tasks, Link Task, Unlink Task
Notifications (send Inbox and notifications)
"Add Item" Automation Action. Allow to override default Relation Field setter
If you create a item in an automation action via a relation from the triggering entity, the new item will be linked to the triggering entity automatically. So in this example, a Task called 'New Task' will be created as a child of the triggering Story.
And yet, the action allows you to define any field values of the newly-created item, including it's relation to the 'parent' database:
So, if there is a field value defined in the automation action, it will override 'default inheritance'.
If nothing is defined (which is what 99% of automations do) the 'default inheritance' will continue to be applied.
Recurring automation rules
Sometimes, an entity needs to be created or a repeating set of actions performed. Below is a quick guide on how to add recurring automation rules and several use cases describing when scheduled tasks can be useful.
How to add recurring automation rules in Fibery
To start configuring scheduled automation rules proceed with the following steps
Open Database editor.
Click Automations.
Click Add Automation Rule.
Select On Schedule trigger type in the When section.
Configure the schedule of the automation rule execution.
Provide filters of how you will apply actions for existing entities.
Configure actions.
Recurring automation rules example: Notify team about daily meeting
Scheduled automation rules can be used for notifying team members about important events. This example shows how to notify your teammates about the daily meetings every workday at 13:00 using the "Notify Users" action
Revoke access via Created By
It's almost always desirable for the person who has just created an entity to be able to update or delete it - even just to correct a typo or undo a misclick. That's why we recommend to turn the Editor automatic access via Created By field on by default for all Databases.
The problem is that it's sometimes not desirable for this author access to be permanent. If someone created an entity two years ago and they don't have any other access to it, they likely shouldn't be able to edit.
Luckily, the access via Created By is revokable. However, it's just not feasible to revoke it manually for hundreds of entities. That's why we have an automation action:
Errors
When something is wrong with the Automation rule you configured, you will be given a notification (see Inbox and notifications).
You can also check Activity Tab to see what did (or didn't happen).
FAQ
Why in some cases do I see the "Run now" option, and in other cases, I don't?
Run now is available only for scheduled automation rules. In that case, the entity selection is known that's why it is available.
My automation rule is not triggered on creation
If you have a filter that relies on a LookUp or Formula, that can be the cause.
Formulas and LookUps are updated asynchronously, so if the automation gets triggered when the item gets created, it is not deterministic whether the filter criteria are met at the time they are checked.
Check out Automation execution logic.
When do filters on trigger get evaluated?
Filters in Automation Rules do not get evaluated at the exact moment of a change, that caused Automation Rule’s trigger. Instead, they run when the 'automation engine' receives the trigger event notification.
Check out Automation execution logic for more details.
Is there a way in an automation to copy a rich text field's content to another entity without using a script?
Yes, it's possible - no scripting is required.
Fibery’s automation actions include:
Append Description
Rewrite Description
These actions allow you to copy, append, or replace the contents of a Rich Text field from one entity to another — as long as both databases have Rich Text fields.
To control what is copied and how it appears, you can use Markdown formatting. This gives you flexibility to structure the copied content (e.g. with headings, links, bold text, etc.).
👉 Check out the Markdown Templates for formatting tips and examples.