Automations that know how to wait
Release notes for Automations that know how to wait.
August 7, 2026
The most useful thing an assistant does is the follow-up — and follow-ups are exactly what automation has always been bad at. A reminder fires once. A trigger reacts and it's over. Neither can do the thing you actually want: ask, wait, and if they still haven't answered by Thursday, ask again.
Workflows can.
Say the whole sequence, waiting included
Describe it the way you'd brief a person:
"Every Friday at 4, ask Ravi for the weekly numbers. If he hasn't replied by Monday morning, ask again. If he still hasn't by Tuesday, tell me."
Perisclaw builds the sequence and shows you all of it before turning anything on — where it starts, what it sends, how long each wait is, what happens when a wait runs out, and when it stops. Nothing that messages another person goes live until you say yes.
It survives everything
A workflow that's been sitting for six days waiting on a reply is still waiting when the reply lands. Restarts don't lose it. Editing one doesn't disturb a run already in flight — that run finishes on the plan it started with.
Bounded by default
Every wait has a deadline and a retry limit, so a workflow can't sit chasing someone forever. If you genuinely want one open-ended, say so and it'll be built that way.
List them, pause them, or cancel them any time — "stop chasing Ravi" is enough.