Every trigger and step in the Automation builder, with its fields and behavior
This is the field-level reference for the Automation builder — every trigger, every step, and how data moves between them. For what Automations are for, how runs are billed, and worked examples, start with Automations overview.
Every workflow in the workspace — connected app icons, name (with its trigger, and the bound assistant if the trigger has one), tags, run count, when it last fired, and status. Search, filter by tag, and activate/pause/delete from the row menu.
Runs
Every run across every automation — which automation, trigger, status, credits charged, when, and the error if it failed. The same list, scoped to one automation, also lives in that automation’s own Runs tab in the editor.
Connections
Saved, reusable credentials for CRMs, SMTP, and MCP servers. Each row shows a provider icon, a kind badge (API or MCP), and a status pill (ok / pending / error) — test or edit one without touching the automations that use it.
In the Automation builder, On Call Completed starts this example; use the + on the connection to add another step.
Every trigger starts from a specific event. Assistant-bound triggers (On Call Completed, On Inbound Call, Inject input variables) require picking a specific assistant. Booking, conversation, and email triggers take an optional Assistant filter instead; conversation triggers can also be narrowed to one messaging connection or platform, and booking triggers to a single booking page.For conversation triggers, Platform and Channel or widget show only active, connected channels assigned to the selected assistant. Without an assistant filter, they show the workspace’s connected channels. Web chat widgets are available for Conversation started. Choosing a connection sets its platform automatically. Saved filters remain visible as unavailable if their connection is removed, disabled or reassigned; review them before saving. Leaving the connection filter empty also includes future matching connections. REST and MCP use the same assistant, platform and connection filters.
Trigger
Fires when
On Call Completed
A voice call ends and its post-call analysis is ready.
On Inbound Call
An inbound call starts ringing, before it’s answered or analyzed.
Inject input variables
A call from the selected assistant is starting — this replaces that assistant’s variable webhook for the duration this automation is Live. Pair it with Return variables.
Conversation started
A new messaging or web chat conversation opens, including widget previews.
Conversation ended
A messaging conversation closes or times out.
Message received
Every inbound message on a channel, not just the first one — optionally filter by platform.
Email received
An inbound email arrives on a workspace address.
Booking created / cancelled / rescheduled
A booking-page event happens.
Contact created
A new Audience contact is added. Choose which sources count — created manually (on by default), CSV/file import, API, CRM sync — so a bulk import can’t fire thousands of runs by accident.
Manual
Runs only when you click Run now, call the API, or ask Milian.
Schedule
Cron-based, on a timezone (coming soon — selectable today for drafts).
A generic or CRM webhook trigger gets its own inbound URL and secret, shown directly in the trigger’s settings once the automation is saved. HighLevel and connected apps deliver events through a shared, pre-authenticated endpoint instead — set up once for the workspace, not per automation:
Trigger
Fires when
Incoming Webhook
Something POSTs JSON to this automation’s inbound URL, with the automation’s secret in an X-Automation-Secret header.
The connected CRM POSTs an event to this trigger’s own inbound URL — same mechanics as Incoming Webhook, just filed under that provider in the catalog.
HighLevel webhook
HighLevel sends a signed CRM or appointment event from its Marketplace app. One Marketplace webhook URL is reused across every HighLevel automation; you scope each automation by picking a HighLevel connection and one HighLevel event.
App event
A connected app delivers a signed event — a new commit, an inbox message, and so on. Pick the app and event from the catalog.
A run also ends cleanly whenever a step has no outgoing connection. These three end it explicitly, and two of them hand back a specific answer.
Step
What it does
Key fields
Example
Stop
Ends the run successfully, right here.
Reason (optional, logged)
Bail out early once a case is already handled
Return variables
Hands variables back to the call at start time — pairs with the Inject input variables trigger. Ends the run.
Variables (key/value map)
Return customer_name and tier before the call begins
Respond to webhook
Answers the caller of an Incoming Webhook trigger with a status and body — the only way that caller gets a real response instead of a generic acknowledgement. Ends the run.
Mode (JSON object / raw text / forward last step), status code, body
Return { "ok": true, "id": "{{last.id}}" }
When an assistant calls this automation mid-conversation, every path must end at Respond to webhook, with no Delay or Loop step first.
Grouped under Milian AI in the catalog. These actions use workspace credits based on token usage at your workspace’s rates. The charged amount appears on the run and in the step’s Test panel.
Add Node → Milian AI lists the analysis actions, including Classify Text, Custom Prompt, and Extract Fields. Select an action to configure its inputs.
Step
What it does
Key fields
Example
Custom Prompt
Runs a free-form prompt against a transcript, message, or any prior step’s output, and returns text.
Prompt, optional system prompt
Summarize {{data.transcript}} into two sentences
Extract Fields
Pulls named, typed fields out of a block of text. Each field is a row in the panel: name, type (text / email / number / boolean / enum), and whether it’s required.
Add a step in Automations → Milian AI to classify text, check a condition, score content, detect multiple labels or build a custom analysis. Custom Prompt and Extract Fields remain available.
Classify Text → Configure: choose Input Data, an Answer key, the Question, and the Categories. The shown values are editable examples.
Five new actions. Turn transcripts, messages and previous step outputs into categories, yes/no decisions, scores or labels.
Three editable templates. Start Custom Analysis with Analyze a call, Qualify a lead or Prioritize a message, then adjust the questions.
Clear uncertainty. Insufficient evidence produces an uncertain answer instead of a guessed value. Use the result status in a Condition before continuing.
Your workspace, your workflow. Preview inputs without spending credits, run a live test with workspace credits, and reuse the same configuration through REST or MCP.
Actual analysis uses workspace credits. Scores use your scoring levels and are displayed on a 0–100 scale.Choose Custom Analysis to mix question types or apply one of the three templates. Give each answer a unique key. Categories need 2–32 options with descriptions; scores need 2–10 ordered levels. An analysis can include up to 32 questions. Provide text up to 32 KB; split longer inputs deliberately rather than dropping part of a transcript.Use Minimum probability for category and yes/no decisions, and Minimum confidence for categories and scores. Every question also checks whether the input provides enough information. These thresholds are configurable controls, not guarantees of correctness.Each answer has a value and a status. An uncertain answer returns null; a supported negative answer returns false. In Detect Labels, the label list contains only accepted matches; check individual results for uncertain labels. A technical failure stops the step instead of becoming a negative answer. Multiple independent questions share one evaluation request.Use the variable picker to reference answers in subsequent steps. Check the status first, then compare the value with a Condition. A Milian AI evaluation step does not itself create extra routing branches. Summaries, translations and open-ended extraction continue to use Custom Prompt or Extract Fields.
Suppression actions are idempotent — re-adding or re-removing the same identity never fails a run.
Step
What it does
Key fields
Example
Create or Update Contact
Upserts an Audience lead by phone and/or email.
Phone, email, name, attributes
Save a caller as a lead right after the call ends
Get Contact by Phone Number
Looks up a lead by phone.
Phone
Check whether {{data.from_number}} is already a known lead
Get All Contacts
Lists recent leads (max 100).
Limit
Pull the newest leads for a digest email
Add Tags to Contact
Appends tags to a lead.
Contact ID, tags
Tag a lead hot after a qualifying call
Add Attributes to Contact
Merges custom attribute values onto a lead.
Contact ID, attributes
Save a deal size onto the matched lead
Add to blocklist
Suppresses a phone or email so campaigns and outbound messages skip it.
Phone, email, channel (optional — auto-selects voice or email), reason
Suppress a number the moment someone says “stop”
Remove from blocklist
Restores a previously suppressed phone or email.
Phone, email
Un-suppress after a fresh opt-in
Call Phone Number
Starts an outbound call with a chosen assistant.
Assistant, to (E.164), optional Variables
Call a lead back automatically after a missed inbound call
Call Phone Number also accepts optional Variables as a flat JSON object, for example { "auftrag": "{{data.task}}" }. Values may be text (up to 2000 characters), numbers or booleans. You can also use an entire mapping from a previous step, such as {{data.inputs}}. These are inputs for this call and do not edit the assistant or contact. Invalid or oversized resolved values fail the step before dialing. Check the resulting call’s expected inputs and actual outcome separately; creating a call is not proof that the task succeeded.
Neither of these needs a saved connection — paste a URL and go.
Step
What it does
Key fields
Example
HTTP Request
Calls any HTTPS endpoint with the trigger payload or a custom JSON body.
URL, method, headers, body
POST the call summary to an internal ops endpoint
Slack (Webhook)
Posts to a Slack channel via an Incoming Webhook URL.
Webhook URL, message
Drop a one-line alert in an ops channel when a run fails
Discord (Webhook)
Posts to a Discord channel via a webhook URL.
Webhook URL, message
Post a heads-up for every new booking
Microsoft Teams (Webhook)
Posts text to a Teams Incoming Webhook.
Webhook URL, title, message
Notify a Teams channel when a high-value lead comes in
HTTP Request actions retry temporary HTTP and connection failures up to twice within the configured timeout, using the same Idempotency-Key. Temporary failures are HTTP 408, 425, 429, 5xx and network errors. Permanent errors stop immediately. The timeout covers the whole action; retries stop when that budget is exhausted. The receiver must honor Idempotency-Key to prevent duplicate effects after a lost response.
CRM, MCP, and connected-app steps all read or write an external system through a saved credential — add one under Automations → Connections before using any of them. Each shows up in the catalog as Provider · Action (for example Airtable · Create record).CRM providers. See CRM sync for the recurring-sync setup and the HighLevel authorize flow — these action nodes write one record at a time, independent of any sync schedule.
Provider
What you can do
Airtable
List, find, search, find-or-create, get, create (single or up to 10 at once), update, and delete records — base/table/field/view pickers load from your schema automatically.
HubSpot
Get, create, update, and search contacts; create a deal; create a note.
Salesforce
Run a SOQL query, or get, create, and update any object record.
Close.io
Create or update a lead, create a contact, create an opportunity, create a note, and search.
HighLevel
List/get/create/update contacts, create an opportunity, create a note, plus calendar reads and appointment writes — list calendars, get free slots, create, update/reschedule, and cancel.
Pipedrive
List/search/get/create/update persons, create a deal, add a note.
Zoho CRM
List, search, get, create, and update records in any module.
Attio
List/filter, get, create, and update people, companies, or custom-object records.
Keap
List/search/get/create/update contacts, create an opportunity, create a note.
Twenty CRM
List/filter, get, create, and update records — hosted or self-hosted.
Example: after On Call Completed, use a HubSpot update to log {{data.analysis.success}} on the matched contact, or branch on it first with Condition.Vendor & generic MCP. Instead of fixed fields, these hand a prompt and the run’s context to an agent that picks the right tool and arguments itself — useful when the exact call varies run to run. Both bill workspace AI credits for the agent’s reasoning.
”List overdue Jira tickets and note the oldest one”
MCP · Call tool
Same agent-picks-the-tool pattern, for any MCP server saved as a connection.
Connection, allowed tools, agent prompt
”Add {{last.email}} to the CRM as a new contact”
Connected apps. Beyond the platforms above, the catalog also carries every app your workspace has connected over OAuth. Connect one under Connections → App marketplace, then pick it as a trigger or action like any built-in platform. See App Catalog for the full list and how connecting works. Apps with many actions load more as you scroll; type in Search actions… above the list to find any action by name or keyword, such as send message.
Step
What it does
Key fields
Example
Execute app tool
Runs one tool from a connected app; its fields load from the tool’s own schema.
App connection, tool
Create a row in a connected spreadsheet
App event(trigger)
Fires when a connected app delivers a signed event.
Every field marked with a ⚡ accepts {{ }} templates pulled from the run’s current data.
Pattern
Resolves to
{{data.from_number}}
A field from the trigger’s payload
{{steps.<nodeId>.<field>}}
An output field from a specific earlier step
{{last.<field>}}
An output field from the step immediately before this one
{{item}} / {{index}}
The current item / position inside a Loop on Items body
Extract Fields returns its values twice — nested under fields ({{steps.step1.fields.email}}) and flattened onto the step itself ({{steps.step1.email}}) — use whichever reads more clearly.
Set variable writes into the run itself rather than a step’s own output — reference the path you chose the same way afterward, e.g. {{vars.summary}}.
Condition, Switch, and Loop on Items also decide which connected path runs next — drag separate connections out of their true/false, per-case, or Loop/Done handles.
Use Insert Variable to browse what’s available instead of typing paths by hand. Each step’s Test panel has two levels: Connect Test only checks your fields are valid; Run test executes the step for real and fills Insert Variable with live outputs for every later step.
Run test is a real execution, not a simulation — on connected apps, email, SMS, HTTP, and CRM steps it can create or change real data.
Classify Text → Test prompts you to load sample data on the trigger first. Review the input before running an action; a live test uses workspace credits.
Not live — triggers never start a run. Safe to keep editing.
Live
Active — matching trigger events start real runs.
Paused
Temporarily off. Switch it back to Live to resume.
Archived
Retired. Reactivate it the same way as Paused if you need it again.
An automation that fails five runs in a row is paused automatically, so a broken graph can’t keep firing. Check the Runs tab for the error, fix it, then switch it back to Live.
Open an automation and ask Milian, the AI copilot, to build or change it in plain language — add a trigger and steps, wire a condition’s true/false branches, rename or retag it, switch it Live, or debug a failed run, the same things you’d do by hand. Try “add an email step after the trigger,” “add a condition branch and wire true/false,” or “debug the last failed run.”Milian applying a change directly shows Milian saved changes; updating the canvas without saving shows Milian updated the canvas — click Save to persist, and the change stays a draft until you click Save.