> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://documentation.astera.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://documentation.astera.com/astera-studio/automations/automations-overview.md).
# Automations Overview
### What is Automations?
Automations is the scheduling and pipeline engine in Astera Studio. It lets you schedule catalog dataflows, workflows, dashboards, and prompt-driven AI tasks to run automatically — on a time-based cadence, in response to an event, or triggered by an external webhook.
To access Automations, click **Manage** in the top navigation bar and select **Automations** from the dropdown.
When you open Automations, you land on the main list page. This is the central hub where all your automations are visible at a glance and where you create, manage, and monitor them.
#### Stats Bar
At the top of the page, three summary cards give you a real-time health snapshot across all your automations.
* **Runs Today** shows the total number of automation runs started today, with a breakdown of how many completed successfully (ok), how many failed (err), and how many are currently in progress (running). Clicking this card opens the Job Monitor pre-filtered to today's runs, so you can investigate any active or recent activity immediately.
* **Failures (7d)** shows the number of failed runs in the last 7 days, expressed as a count out of the total runs in that period (for example, "0 out of 9 runs"). This gives you a quick failure rate at a glance. Clicking the card takes you to the Job Monitor filtered to failures.
* **Avg Run Time (7d)** shows the average duration of all automation runs over the last 7 days, displayed in seconds (for example, "3.8s across 9 runs"). This is useful for spotting performance regressions over time.
Each card has a **?** (question-circle) icon that shows a tooltip with a plain-language explanation of what the metric means.
#### Filter Tabs
Below the stats bar, three tabs let you quickly narrow the list by status.
* **All** shows every automation regardless of status, with the total count in parentheses.
* **Active** shows only automations that are currently enabled and will run on their next scheduled trigger.
* **Paused** shows automations that have been temporarily disabled. A paused automation retains all its configuration but will not fire until reactivated.
* **More filters** (the funnel icon) provides access to additional filtering options beyond status, such as filtering by type or schedule.
#### Search and Refresh
A **Search** field on the right side of the filter bar lets you find automations by name. As you type, the list filters in real time.
The **Refresh** button (circular arrow icon) reloads the list to pick up any recent changes, such as a status change made by another user or an automation that was just created.
#### Automation List Table
The table below the filters shows all automations matching the current filter. Each row represents a single automation and contains the following columns.
* **Status** (leftmost column) is a toggle switch that shows whether the automation is Active or Paused. You can flip the toggle directly from the list without opening the automation. When active, the toggle is enabled and the label shows "Active"; when paused, the toggle is off and the label shows "Paused".
* **Name** shows the automation's display name on the top line and the path of the catalog item it runs (for example, `Dashboard\SalesOverview.Dsh`) on the second line. Clicking anywhere on the row name opens the automation detail page.
* **Type** shows a colour-coded label indicating what kind of catalog item the automation runs — for example, Dashboard, Dataflow, Workflow, or AI Task.
* **Schedule** shows the trigger type (for example, Hourly) and its cadence summary (for example, Every 5 minutes).
* **Next Run** shows the date and time when the automation is scheduled to fire next, with a clock icon. For paused automations, this reflects when it *would* next run if reactivated.
At the far right of each row, three inline action icons appear:
* **Run** (play-circle icon) — triggers the automation immediately, regardless of its schedule. Useful for testing or on-demand execution.
* **Edit** (pencil icon) — opens the automation in the pipeline editor.
* **Delete** (trash icon) — permanently removes the automation.
### Managing and Monitoring
Click anywhere on an automation row to open its detail view. The detail view has two tabs: Pipeline and Runs.
#### Pipeline Tab
The Pipeline tab shows the full configuration of the automation across all 6 steps. A progress bar at the top of the left panel indicates how many steps have been configured.
You can click any step in the left panel to jump to it directly and make changes. After editing, click **Save** in the top right to apply changes.
#### The Runs Tab
Open an automation from the list page and click **Runs** next to **Pipeline** at the top of the editor. The Runs tab shows everything that automation has run in the recent past, with a status summary and a filtered table.
#### Reading a run row
* **Job:** The run's ID with a status icon. Green check for success, red X for error, spinning indicator for in-flight runs.
* **Started**: When the run kicked off.
* **Duration**: Wall-clock time from start to finish.
* **Trace:** Opens the trace viewer for that specific run in the Job Monitor. The Job Monitor modal opens with that run already selected and the trace panel showing the full execution record.
### New Automation Button
The **+ New automation** button in the top-right corner of the page opens the automation creation wizard, which walks you through a 5-step process to configure and save a new automation.
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