# Create an automation

> Build your first Avox automation click by click: pick a trigger, name it, add and branch actions on the canvas, test it, then Validate & Create and switch it on.

Source: https://docs.theavoxai.com/walkthrough/create-automation

This walkthrough takes you through the **Create automation** wizard from the first click to a
switched-on automation that answers customers by itself. It takes about two minutes. Every part
is covered in more depth on [Automation](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation), [Builder](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation/builder),
[Triggers](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation/triggers) and [Actions](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation/actions).

> **Note: Before you start**
>
> You need a WhatsApp number connected to Avox ([Connect WhatsApp](https://docs.theavoxai.com/walkthrough/connect-whatsapp))
> and an active plan. Admins and Managers can create automations by default; an Admin can change
> that per member under [Permissions](https://docs.theavoxai.com/switchboard/members#permissions) ("Create and edit
> automations").

## Plan it first

An automation is one **trigger** (what starts it) followed by a chain of **actions** (what it
does). Decide both before you open the wizard:

| You want to... | Pick this trigger | Then add, for example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Answer a common question, like prices or opening hours | **Keyword match** | A **Text reply**, or **Send a document** with your price list |
| Acknowledge every message straight away | **Any message** | A **Text reply**, plus a **Condition** for urgent words |
| Tell people when you're back | **Outside business hours** | **Mark as read**, then a **Text reply** |
| Check in when nobody has answered yet | **No-reply follow-up** | A **Text reply** and **Notify the team** |
| Welcome first-time customers | **New contact** | A **Text reply** and **Tags & categories** |
| Follow up after another automation tags someone | **Tag added** | **Send a template** or a **Text reply** |

> **Tip**
>
> Short on time? Click one of the [premade automations](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation#premade-automations) on the
> Automation page instead of **Create automation**. It fills in the trigger, name, keywords and
> actions for you and opens the wizard at **Name**, so you only review and adjust.

## Step by step

**1. Open the wizard**

Click **Automation** in the sidebar, then **Create automation** at the top of the page. On your
very first visit you see a short introduction instead: click **Next** through it and then
**Create your first automation**.

The wizard has three steps, **Type**, **Name** and **Build**, shown at the top. Once you've
reached a step you can click its name to jump back to it. **Docs for this step** opens the
matching help, and **Back to Automation** returns to the list without losing anything.

![The Automation page: the Create automation button, the Automation credits card, the Overview tiles and the Premade automations cards](https://docs.theavoxai.com/screens/automation/list-light.webp)

*The Automation page. Create automation opens the wizard; the premade cards are a quicker start.*

**2. Type: choose what starts it**

Click one of the six trigger cards: **Keyword match**, **Any message**, **Outside business
hours**, **No-reply follow-up**, **New contact** or **Tag added**. Each card says when it
fires, and on a wide screen the phone preview on the right plays an example message and reply
for the trigger you've selected.

The selected card gets a green border. Click **Continue** (it's greyed out until you pick one).

![Step 1 of the Create automation wizard: six trigger cards in a grid and a phone preview with an example message and reply](https://docs.theavoxai.com/screens/automation/create-type-light.webp)

*Step 1, Type. Pick the trigger, then Continue.*

**3. Name: name it and set up the trigger**

Type an **Automation name**, up to 80 characters, for example "Store hours auto-reply". Only
your team sees it.

Then fill in what your trigger needs (see [What each trigger needs](#what-each-trigger-needs)
below). For **Keyword match**, type a word or phrase in **Keywords** and press Enter (or type a
comma) to turn it into a chip. Add as many as you like; click the x on a chip to remove it.

Click **Continue** once the automation has a name, or **Back** to change the trigger.

![Step 2 of the Create automation wizard: the Automation name Pricing questions and the Keywords field with price and cost chips](https://docs.theavoxai.com/screens/automation/create-name-light.webp)

*Step 2, Name, for a Keyword match automation.*

**4. Build: add your first action**

The **Build** step opens the canvas. The green box on the left is your trigger. The **Actions**
panel on the right lists everything the automation can do.

Click an action, for example **Text reply**, to add it at the end of the chain, or drag it onto
the canvas to drop it exactly where you want. Then fill it in right inside its box: for a Text
reply, click "Click to write the reply…" and type your message (up to 4096 characters).

![The Build step before any actions: the Keyword match trigger box with its keyword chip, the toolbar on the left, the Action and Preview tabs, and the Actions panel](https://docs.theavoxai.com/screens/automation/create-build-light.webp)

*Step 3, Build, before the first action. Pick one from the Actions panel on the right.*

**5. Add more actions**

Keep adding actions. They run in the order of the chain, left to right, joined by lines. Each
action in the panel shows its cost ("1 credit", "2 credits" or "Free").

- **Search actions…** finds an action by name or a related word ("pdf" finds **Send a
  document**).
- **Most used** shows the action types your Switchboard uses most.
- The groups (**Messages**, **Interactive**, **Media**, **Contact**, **Flow control**, **Team &
  integrations**) open and close with a click.
- **Premade** adds the actions of a premade automation to this one.

Hover a box to show **Duplicate action** and **Remove action** (x) in its corner. Most boxes also
have a **Wait** field at the bottom ("Wait 0 seconds before this") for a short pause of up to 30
seconds; for longer pauses add a **Delay** step.

![The Actions panel: a search box, the Most used group and the Messages and Interactive groups with each action's credit cost](https://docs.theavoxai.com/screens/automation/action-library-light.webp)

*The Actions panel. Click to add at the end, or drag onto the canvas.*

**6. Branch with a condition (optional)**

To do different things for different messages, add **Condition (if / and / or)** from **Flow
control**. In its amber box:

1. Choose what it checks. **Message contains keywords** is the usual choice.
2. Choose **AND** (every keyword must appear) or **OR** (any one is enough).
3. Add keywords as chips, for example `refund`, `cancel`.
4. Read the amber summary, which spells out what happens on a match and otherwise.

On a match, the chain carries on to the next box. To send other messages somewhere else, drag
from the handle on the bottom of the condition (the hint reads drag to set "else") to another
action; the line is labelled **else**. Without
an else line, the automation stops at the condition when it doesn't match. To remove a branch,
click its line and then the small x, or click **Remove** in the condition's box.

**7. Test it**

Click **Test this automation** (the flask) in the toolbar on the left of the canvas. Type a
sample customer message, for example "Can I get a refund?", and click **Run test**.

The panel lists each step and what happened (**ran**, **matched → continued**, **didn't match →
branched** or **didn't match → stopped here**), and the boxes on that path light up. The test
assumes the trigger already matched, sends nothing and costs no credits. Try a message that
should match and one that shouldn't.

![The Test this automation panel open on the canvas, opened from the flask in the toolbar, with its explanation, a sample message box and the Run test button](https://docs.theavoxai.com/screens/automation/test-light.webp)

*Test this automation. Nothing is sent.*

**8. Validate & Create**

Click **Validate & Create** in the bottom-right corner of the canvas (it's enabled once there's
at least one action). Avox:

1. Checks every action. Anything missing stops here with a message, for example "Finish filling
   in every action (reply text, keywords, etc.) before creating."
2. Switches to the **Preview** tab and plays a sample message through your actions in a phone,
   with a checklist of each step ("Sent · 1 credit", "Matched - continuing" and so on). For a
   Keyword match automation, the sample includes your first keyword so it follows the real path.
   With keyword conditions, it also plays a message that matches them and one that doesn't
   ("Test 1 of 3: ..."), so the branches are tried too.
3. Creates the automation and opens its Manage page.

**Back to builder** (or the **Action** tab) stops the preview without creating anything.

**9. Switch it on**

A new automation starts switched off and shows **Inactive**. Flip the switch next to the badge on
its Manage page (or in the **Status** column of **Your automations** on the Automation page) so
it reads **Active**. From now on it runs for every matching message, day and night.

To stop it, flip the switch off again. It stops firing on new messages straight away.

> **Success**
>
> That's it. Watch **Fires per day (last 30 days)**, **Credits spent** and **Recent activity** on
> the automation's Manage page to see it working.

## What each trigger needs

These are the fields the **Name** step shows for each trigger:

| Trigger | Fields on the Name step | Good to know |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Keyword match** | **Keywords** - chips; press Enter or type a comma after each | Add at least one. Matching ignores upper and lower case and finds the keyword anywhere in the message, so `book` also matches "booking". |
| **Any message** | Nothing else | Fires on every incoming message. Keep it as your broadest automation. |
| **Outside business hours** | **Opens at**, **Closes at** (09:00 and 18:00 to start with) and **Timezone** | The timezone is detected from your device ("Detected from this device: ..."); pick another from the list if your business runs on a different one. Overnight hours work too. |
| **No-reply follow-up** | **Minutes to wait before following up** (30 to start with) | 1 to 1380 minutes (23 hours), so the follow-up lands inside WhatsApp's [24-hour window](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/messaging-window) ([AVX-3117](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3117)). |
| **New contact** | Nothing else | Fires only on a contact's very first message to you. |
| **Tag added** | **Tags to watch for** - chips, like keywords | Fires the moment one of these tags is applied by another automation's **Tags & categories** step. Add at least one tag. |

The full rules, including which automation runs when several match and the one-hour cooldown per
contact, are on [Triggers](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation/triggers#when-an-automation-runs).

## Working on the canvas

| To... | Do this |
| --- | --- |
| Move a box | Drag it. Its place in the chain doesn't change. |
| Tidy everything into one line | Click **Auto-arrange** in the toolbar. |
| Undo or redo | **Undo** (`Ctrl` + `Z`) and **Redo** (`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `Z`). |
| Remove several boxes | Hold `Shift`, `Ctrl` or `Cmd` to select them, then press `Backspace` or `Delete`. |
| See the whole automation | **Reset view** fits every box on screen; **Fullscreen** gives the canvas the whole screen; the minimap (top right) shows where you are. |
| Change keywords later | For a Keyword match automation, edit the chips right on the green trigger box. |

A box that reads **Not connected - drag any handle here to reconnect** won't run until something
connects to it. One that reads **Only reached via a branch** runs only when a condition's else
line leads to it. The full canvas guide is on [Builder](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation/builder).

## What it costs

Every message an automation sends spends [automation credits](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation/credits) from your
Switchboard's grant: 1 credit for most messages, 2 for **Quick reply buttons** and **Dropdown
list**, 3 for **Use Flows**, and 1 for **Ask a question** (2 with answer buttons). Steps that
don't send a WhatsApp message are free: **Mark as read**, **Tags & categories**, **Set contact
field**, **Add a note**, **Condition**, **Wait for reply**, **Delay**, **Stop**, **Notify the
team** and **Send to webhook**. Testing and the preview never spend credits.

## Leaving and coming back

The wizard saves a draft a moment after each change. Close the tab or click **Back to
Automation** and your work is kept: resume it from **Drafts** on the Automation page with
**Edit**, and the wizard opens on the step you left. You can keep up to 10 drafts per Switchboard
([AVX-3073](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3073)); the draft is removed once the automation is created. If your
internet connection drops, your changes stay on this device and are saved as soon as you're back
online.

## Change it later

Click **Edit** on the automation (on its Manage page or in **Your automations**) to open the same
canvas. Changes save automatically a moment after you stop editing, or click **Validate & Save**
to run the full checks and the preview first. The trigger type is fixed once an automation is
created; to use a different trigger, create a new automation.

## Tips

- **Start small.** One trigger and one Text reply is a complete automation. Add branches once
  it's working.
- **Make keywords specific.** A short keyword also matches inside longer words. Use a phrase
  such as "opening hours" when "open" would catch too much.
- **Order matters.** Avox runs only the first matching automation, oldest first, so create
  specific Keyword match automations before a broad **Any message** one. See
  [Triggers](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation/triggers#when-an-automation-runs).
- **Templates need approval.** **Send a template** lists only Approved templates, and **Use
  Flows** only published Flows. Get those ready first: [Create a template](https://docs.theavoxai.com/walkthrough/create-template),
  [Create a Flow](https://docs.theavoxai.com/walkthrough/create-flow).
- **Test both paths.** Run one test with a message that should match a condition and one that
  shouldn't, before switching it on.
- **Replace placeholders.** Premade automations contain sample text in brackets and
  `https://example.com/...` links. Change them before you switch the automation on.

## Common mistakes

**Validate & Create says to finish filling in every action**

An action box is still empty or half filled in: a reply with no text, a condition with no
keywords, a Flow or template not picked, or a media step without a link. Look for the box with
the empty field, fill it in, and click **Validate & Create** again.

**The switch won't turn the automation on**

Avox checks a few things first: the automation needs at least one action
([AVX-3072](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3072)), every Flow it sends must still be published
([AVX-3078](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3078)), and every template it sends must still be approved. While
the whole Switchboard is paused, nothing can be switched on
([AVX-3410](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3410)); resume it in **Settings** first.

**It's on, but it doesn't reply**

Check that it shows **Active**, that a broader automation (such as **Any message**) isn't older
and answering first, and that it hasn't already run for that contact in the last hour. It also
needs credits left this period ([AVX-3076](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3076)) and a connected number. All
the reasons are on [Triggers](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation/triggers#when-nothing-runs).

**Two conditions check the same keywords**

Two conditions with exactly the same keywords and the same AND/OR, without a branch between
them, are rejected as duplicates ([AVX-3077](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3077)). Remove one, or change its
keywords.

**The else line won't connect**

An action can be the target of only one branch, and an else line can't point at the box the
condition already continues to on a match. Pick a different action, or use **Remove connection**
on the target box to free it up for the else line.

**The no-reply wait is rejected**

**Minutes to wait before following up** must be a whole number from 1 to 1380
([AVX-3117](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3117)). WhatsApp only allows a free-form reply within 24 hours of
the customer's last message, so a longer wait could never send.

**Create automation is greyed out**

Every automation slot on your plan is in use ([AVX-3068](https://docs.theavoxai.com/error-codes/avx-3068)). Delete an
automation you no longer need from **Your automations**, or see [Plans](https://docs.theavoxai.com/plans) for higher
limits.

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