Create your own automation
Say what should happen and when, or fill in the form yourself.
You create an automation by telling the operator what should happen and when, in any chat, or by pressing New automation and filling in the form with the operator beside you. Either way the operator tries the steps with your real tools before anything runs, and you agree to one card or one form before it is switched on.
Ask the operator
In your chat, say what should happen and when:
"Every weekday at 8, read the issues assigned to me in Linear and list what is blocked."
"Every Saturday at 9, create a task called Water the plants."
"Check my mail every 30 minutes for the parcel's tracking mail and let me know."
The operator rehearses first. It reads the file, lists a handful of issues or runs the search with the tools a run will have, and when the first way does not reach the result it tries the next. Then, in the same turn, it reports in a line or two what it reached, with one concrete thing it saw, says what each run will do ("every 30 minutes it reads your mail and leaves one line in your chat"), and shows one card: the name, when it runs, the steps or the task, the list it will create, and the line under the name. The card is the proposal. Tap it to agree, or answer with the change you want and the card comes back changed. Nothing is created before the tap, not the list, not the steps.
A time you did not give is picked, not asked: 07:00 for something read on waking (a briefing, what came in overnight), 18:00 for a review of the day, Friday at 17:00 for a review of the week, 07:00 for anything else, and on demand only when you say you will start it yourself. Anything more often than every 30 minutes is written at every 30 minutes, and the operator says why. The one question the operator may ask is what the automation should do, when that is unclear.
After the tap, the closing line says when the first run is, that its results land in your chat, and offers two links: View it, and run it now.
A fixed action needs no rehearsal. "Every Saturday at 9, create a task called Water the plants" is written at once, with its card.
By hand
Press New automation: the + in the sidebar, the create menu, or New on the Automations page. A draft opens on the form, and its own chat opens beside it with the guided setup already started: the operator says what an automation can do, then asks what it needs to know, one thing at a time, tries the steps, and writes the setup onto the form. The form stays yours to edit. What you type into it, the operator reads before its next turn, and what the operator writes shows up in the fields you have not touched.
The form holds:
The name.
When it runs. On demand, or On a schedule. On demand is the default, and reads "Runs when you mention it in a chat or press Run now." On a schedule opens on Daily at 09:00, and offers daily, weekly on the days you choose, monthly on a day, yearly, or every so many minutes, from every 30 minutes up to once a day, in your time zone, with the next run shown under it.
What it does. Create a task, or Follow steps. A task has a title, notes in the same rich editor a task's body uses, and the list it lands on, your Tasks list unless you choose another. Steps are numbered, in the editor.
Save switches it on. Until then the row reads Not set up, and a draft cannot run.
Edit it later
On the automation's page, Edit opens the same form, with Save to commit and the X to discard. The running automation keeps its saved definition until Save succeeds, and a change saved from another device meanwhile is shown for review before yours lands. The page's menu holds Pause or Resume and Delete.
In the automation's own chat you can say the change instead: "Next time, also: include the overdue tasks", "Next time, don't: list the headlines", or "Run it instead: Monday at 7". The operator reads the steps as they stand, folds your change in word for word, and writes them. A change to what a switched-on automation does is proposed in words first, and your yes writes it. From your main chat, name the automation and say the same.
A list it will write to
A run can create items on a list. When that list does not exist yet, the setup creates it beside the automation, and the card names it. Create a list explains what a list keeps.
Run it whenever you like
Press Run now on the automation's page, or mention it in any chat: "@Client onboarding for Noor" runs it at once and the result lands in your chat. When an automation runs has the rest, and What an automation is the two shapes a run can take.
Questions people ask
Can an automation use an app I have not connected yet?
The rehearsal finds out. When a step needs an app that is not connected, the operator stops at a card to connect it. Connect the app and ask again. Connect an app to Roma lists what Roma connects to.
Can my agent create an automation for me?
No. An agent connected through the MCP server can list your automations and run one, and the result lands in your Roma chat. Creating and changing one stays with you and the operator, because an agent's conversation has no card to show you the steps before they run. Agents in Roma covers the rest.
What happens if I close the form before saving?
An untouched draft is thrown away. A draft the operator has written into, or that you typed into, stays on the Automations page as Not set up, and its page shows the setup so far. Save there switches it on.