# Automations that know how to wait

Canonical URL: https://docs.perisclaw.com/changelog/releases/2026-08-07-workflows

*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.

Details: [docs.perisclaw.com/what-perisclaw-can-do/workflows](https://docs.perisclaw.com/what-perisclaw-can-do/workflows)