Automations — trigger-based workflows

Automations: Trigger-Based Workflows

Automations let you set up rules that fire automatically when something happens in CaterCloud — like sending an SMS the moment a new enquiry comes in. They're built for caterers who want to stop manually chasing routine tasks and let the system handle them instead.

How Automations Work

Every automation follows the same logic: when this event happens → do this action. You choose the trigger (the event), add optional conditions to narrow when it fires, and define one or more actions to run. Once switched on, the automation runs in the background without any manual input.

This is different from sequences, which run on a fixed time-based schedule. Automations are instant and event-driven.

Getting Started

Navigate to Build → Automations to see all your automations. From here you can:

• View each automation's name, trigger type, enabled status, and last run date
• Toggle an automation On or Off without deleting it
• Click Edit to change its trigger, conditions, or actions
• Delete an automation using the trash icon (you'll be asked to confirm — this also removes its run history)

Creating an Automation

1. Go to Build → Automations
2. Click New automation (or the equivalent create button on the page)
3. Give it a Name and optional Description
4. Choose your trigger — the event that kicks everything off (e.g. when an enquiry is created)
5. Optionally add conditions to filter when the automation should fire
6. Add one or more actions (e.g. send SMS, send email)
7. Save and toggle it On

Monitoring Performance

Click any automation to open its detail view. You'll see:

• Total runs and a breakdown of Successes vs Errors across the last 50 runs
• A Last error alert if something went wrong recently, including the error message and timestamp

Use this view to spot broken automations before they cause problems.

Simple vs Advanced Builder

When editing, you can switch between the Simple builder (sentence-style, recommended for most users) and the Advanced editor using the link in the top-right corner of the edit page.

> Tip: Use the error details on the automation detail page to diagnose delivery failures before reaching out to support.