Automations
Workflows without humans
An automation is a workflow that runs without a human in the loop. Automations trigger on a schedule, on a feed event, or on a change in the DataStore, and execute an ordered sequence of Jax operations under a defined permission scope. Daily replans, threshold alerts, and ingest-triggered redesigns all run as automations — keeping the world model current while no one is watching.
Core concepts
An automation is not a separate system. It is a file in the DataStore, version-controlled like everything else, run by the AgentEngine.
- Trigger — a cron expression, a feed event, or a DataStore path watcher.
- Scope — the project, branch, and permission set the automation runs under.
- Steps — ordered Jax operations (reads, writes, runs, solves), each with inputs and a timeout.
- On-failure — retry policy, escalation channel, and rollback behavior.
The automation lives in the DataStore as a declarative file. The visual canvas is a faithful renderer of that file — the file is the source of truth, not the canvas.
How it works
Each automation is a declarative file in the DataStore. The format is the same kind of versioned artifact as everything else, so you can branch it, diff it, and roll it back.
1automations/daily-replan.json
2automations/escalate-pressure-anomaly.json
3automations/refresh-territory-routes.jsonEach file declares its trigger, scope, steps, and failure behavior. A visual, node-based canvas lets you drag triggers in, connect steps, and set inputs. Saving the canvas updates the underlying file; editing the file updates the canvas. They are two views of one thing.
Common patterns
| Pattern | Trigger | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Daily replan | Cron, 06:00 | Regenerate field-crew routes from the current work-order queue and post to dispatch |
| Anomaly escalation | Sensor feed threshold | Open a Jax investigation, run the simulation solver, page the on-call engineer |
| Territory rebalancing | Cron, weekly | Recompute territories against the current account list and surface proposed changes |
| Catalog sync | Vendor catalog update | Refresh the bound Skill and re-validate every active design against the new constraints |
These are not scripts that move data between systems. Each step is a Jax operation that reasons against the active Ontology, so a "replan" respects the same constraints a human prompt would.
Permissions and limits
An automation runs under an explicit role. It cannot escalate and cannot exceed the role's authority set. Automations that need write or solve access appear in the audit stream and can be paused per-rule by an admin.
- The per-run wall-clock budget defaults to 5 minutes and is configurable per automation.
- A single automation cannot span multiple projects.
- Long-running, multi-day workflows are modeled as a sequence of shorter triggered runs, not one long automation.
Watch a feed, cross a threshold, open an investigation, solve, and page someone — all without a human in the loop, all on the record.
Where to go next
- Nexma AgentEngine — the engine that composes, schedules, and observes automations.
- Event Broker — the live signals that trigger event-driven automations.
- Branches — version and review automation changes like any other file.
- Jax — the agent each automation step runs.