Automations
An automation does a job for you each time something happens in your business: a lead comes in, an invoice goes overdue, stock runs low, a customer leaves a review. You draw it as a flow chart in the dashboard, or describe it to the AI assistant, and Cashfin runs it from then on.
Not the same as account webhooks
Webhooks send Cashfin events to your server. An automation runs inside Cashfin, and can also be started by a call from your server.
What an automation is made of
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| Trigger | What starts it. One for each automation. There are 158, covering every part of the dashboard, plus schedules and webhooks. |
| Steps | What happens next, in the order you connect them. A step either does something (an action) or decides where the run goes (Filter, If / else, Switch, Wait, Repeat, Approval). |
| Values | Information passed along the chart: details of the record that started it, and the results of earlier steps. |
| Run | One time the automation was started. Every run is recorded with what each step did. |
What it can do
- Tell your team: notifications, emails to team members, alerts to your notification contacts, tasks.
- Message customers: email, SMS and WhatsApp to the contact on a record, with a daily limit and opt-outs respected.
- Change your records: anything the AI assistant can do, from creating a credit note to updating a lead. 210 actions in all.
- Use AI: sort a message, pull out details, summarise, write a reply, or give an AI agent a goal and the actions it may take.
- Work with other systems: start from a webhook, and call another system's API from a step.
- Wait, repeat and ask: pause for days, repeat for each item in a list, or pause for a person's approval.
Find your way around
Start here
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Quickstart | Build, test and switch on your first automation. |
| Build with AI | Describe what you want and let the AI assistant draft it. |
| Starter templates | The 12 ready-made automations and what each contains. |
Building blocks
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Trigger reference | Every trigger, with the values each one provides. |
| Action reference | Every action: what it does, each setting, and the values it leaves for later steps. |
| Cashfin actions | Every action the "Run a Cashfin action" step and the AI agent can use. |
| Flow control and conditions | Filter, If / else, Switch, Wait, Repeat, Approval, and how conditions compare values. |
| Values and formulas | Inserting values into settings, and calculating new ones. |
AI
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| AI in automations | What the AI knows about your business, the model choice, cost and limits. |
| AI text steps | Sort into a category, pull out details, summarise, write or answer, and reading files. |
| AI agent | Giving AI a goal and actions, and what it may do without approval. |
| AI decisions | Letting AI choose the path in If / else and Switch. |
| AI replies to reviews and comments | Answering product reviews and social media comments. |
Schedules and other systems
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Run on a schedule | Running at set times instead of when something happens. |
| Start from another system | The Webhook received trigger: URL, request, responses. |
| Call another system | The Send HTTP request action. |
Running and fixing
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Runs and history | What happens when a trigger fires, every status, retries, how long history is kept. |
| Safety limits and permissions | Every limit, the rules for messages to customers, and who can do what. |
| Troubleshooting | Why an automation did not run, and what each message means. |
Who can use automations
Only admins can create, change, switch on or off, run or delete an automation. Other team members can see the list, look at runs and test an automation. A business can have up to 50 automations.