Automations
How to set up recurring work, message rules, and multi-step follow-ups.
An Automation is anything you want Perisclaw to do again and again: on a schedule, when a message arrives, or as a multi-step sequence. You describe it once and Perisclaw runs it.
A one-off nudge to yourself is a Reminder. A goal Perisclaw sees through to the end is a Mission. Anything recurring or rule-based is an Automation.
What you can automate
- A repeating schedule: “Every weekday morning, summarize anything urgent in my client chats.”
- A new message or reaction: “React ✅ when someone says approved in the Finance group.”
- Something that needs judgment: “Watch the supplier chat and tell me when the conversation sounds stuck.”
- A sequence with waits: “Ask Ravi for the numbers Friday. If he has not replied by Monday, follow up. Tell me after the second miss.”
- Connected work: “Update the Sheet first, then send the briefing only if the update succeeded.”
Simple rules run instantly. Work that needs judgment runs in the background. Multi-step Automations remember where they are, so they never forget what they were waiting for.
Create one
Open Automations and choose a template, or describe the result in your self-chat. Templates draft a normal WhatsApp request that you can change before sending. There is no configuration language to learn.
Every Friday at 4, ask Ravi for the weekly numbers. If he has not replied by Monday morning, ask again. If he still has not replied by Tuesday, tell me.
Perisclaw shows the important parts before anything sensitive goes live: what starts it, what it will do, who it may message, how long it waits, when it stops, and any connected-app changes. Automations that message another chat or change an external service stay off until you confirm them.
The Automations page
The Active view keeps the three kinds of running behavior together:
- Scheduled: time-based work, including briefings and recurring actions.
- Triggers: rules waiting for a message, reaction, or condition.
- Flows: multi-step sequences with waits and decisions.
Off contains saved Automations that cannot start new work. A failed Automation stays where it was, with the failure shown on its row and details page. Reminders live on the separate Schedule agenda because they notify you rather than perform work.
The details page adapts to the kind of work. Rules use a plain-language When and Do view. Multi-step Automations show the full flow, current step, saved state, recent events, failures, and earlier runs.
Available controls depend on the Automation: edit its definition or name, switch future starts on or off, pause or resume a run, cancel a run, or delete it. Editing a multi-step definition affects future runs; an active run finishes from the version it started with.
How Automations run
An Automation tells Perisclaw when to act and what to get done. It is not a separate agent running all the time. A Mission is one goal Perisclaw owns until it finishes or comes back to you.
You never have to pick between these: describe what you want in plain language and Perisclaw sets up the right thing.