Automations, integrations and workflow logic
Automations, integrations and workflow logic
This domain tests recipe literacy: trigger, condition, action, cross-board logic, native integrations, action quotas and debugging.
Core rules
- An automation is a trigger plus one or more actions, optionally with conditions. Triggers include status change, date arrives, item created, column changed, group changed, subitem created, form submitted and recurring schedule. Actions include change status, set date, assign person, notify, create item or subitem, move item, post update, send email and call webhook.
- Custom automations add multiple conditions and actions. Conditions should be narrow: status is Done and group is Active prevents unintended runs better than a broad trigger alone.
- Automations act on future events; they do not backfill existing items. Date triggers use the account timezone and run when the date condition is met.
- Cross-board logic usually combines Connect Boards with a recipe such as when status changes to Done, change the connected item status, or when an item is created in Board A, create an item in Board B. Map fields deliberately; the new item is a separate record, not a live copy.
- Integrations are packaged recipes for Slack, Teams, Outlook or Gmail, Jira, GitHub, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoom, Zapier or Make, and webhooks. They still consume automation actions and need the right account and integration permissions.
Worked example
On a Projects board, when Status changes to Done, the workflow should set Completion date to today, notify the project owner, and create a Retrospective subitem. Add a condition that Status is not Canceled. Reasoning: the status trigger is event-based; the condition blocks canceled work; setting a date and creating a subitem are separate actions. If a Portfolio board needs the completion date, use Connect Boards plus a Mirror column rather than duplicating the automation on two boards.
Traps
Deleting a status label can break recipes. Two automations creating items from the same trigger can duplicate work. Broad triggers with no conditions cause notification storms. A webhook is outbound only; it is not a two-way sync by itself. Check action usage in admin before scaling.