Automations, rebuilt

When we launched automations in March, we gave teams the ability to define automations as version-controlled Markdown files in their project repos. Write a prompt, set a trigger, and the agent handles the rest.

The idea was sound, but the execution left a lot to be desired. We learned from early users and today we're introducing the next version of automations.

What we learned from the first version

The original design of automations prioritized flexibility. You could write any prompt and set any YAML frontmatter. Starting with an empty file is the ultimate flexibility since you can take it any direction, but this was also the friction.

Writing a good automation prompt that produces reliable output takes iteration. You need to test it, improve it, and measure the results. We are not trying to add another maintenace task. We want to save you time and automate away the tasks you're not excited about so that you can focus on other things.

So we looked at how teams were finding the most success with automations. Two use cases came up over and over:

Keeping content in sync when code ships. When a PR merges in a product repo, something almost always needs updating. Teams were using automations to close that loop automatically, so content didn't lag behind product changes.

Generating changelogs. The work of combing through merged PRs, filtering out info that's important to users, and writing a coherent summary is exactly the kind of task that's easy to skip and painful to catch up on. A recurring automation that handles it once a week is valuable to anyone who doesn't find joy writing a changelog.

Beyond those two primary uses, we saw teams running grammar checks, fixing broken links, keeping translations in sync, and auditing SEO metadata. But there was a consistent pattern of teams trying to solve the same specific problems.

So we improved the templates for those common tasks and made them easier to setup.

The new version

Today we're launching a rebuilt automations experience, and it's opinionated.

Instead of asking you to write and maintain prompts, we've built focused, tested automations for the use cases that show up most. Toggle on an automation, choose when it runs, and you're set.

Codebase automations:

• Codebase updates — Updates content when PRs merge to your product repo.
• Changelog — Drafts a changelog entry from recent product updates on a recurring schedule.

Maintenance automations:

• Translations — Keeps configured languages in sync.
• Broken links — Finds and fixes broken links.
• SEO — Audits titles, meta descriptions, headings, and canonical tags.
• Grammar — Catches typos, spelling mistakes, and grammar errors.
• Brand tone — Enforces your style guide's voice, tone, and rules.

Each automation has sensible defaults built in. We recommend triggers we've seen teams have the best results with and update modes based on what the automation automates. You can override any configuration if your setup calls for something different.

You can also still create custom automations for anything specific to your project. We've just made the most common tasks easier to start automating right away. Any custom automations that you've already created are still supported.

We want to reduce the maintenance burden

When you write an automation prompt yourself, you've got to make sure it's giving you good results. Models improve, edge cases surface, and the prompt that worked six months (or six weeks) ago might not be the one you want today.

With built-in automations, we own that work. As the underlying agent improves and we learn more from how these automations run in production, the quality improves for everyone automatically.

Try it out

Open the Automations tab in your dashboard and toggle on whichever automations will improve your content.

The first time you enable an automation, you'll be prompted to configure the trigger and how updates should be applied. After that, it runs on its own.

Go take something off your to-do list and let us know what you think.