# Automation triggers and actions

> The full list of what an automation can react to (triggers), the ways to narrow when it runs (conditions), and what it can do (actions).

Source: https://infranest.io/docs/automation-triggers-and-actions
Last updated: 2026-09-14

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Automations let InfraNest react to things happening in your infrastructure — automatically. This article explains what can start an automation (triggers), how to narrow when it runs (conditions), and what it can actually do (actions). It's for anyone setting up or reviewing automation rules in InfraNest.

## Overview

- **Triggers** are the events that start a rule — a domain expiring, a monitor going down, a certificate changing, and more.
- **Conditions** let you fine-tune when a rule actually runs, so it only fires for the situations you care about.
- **Actions** are what the rule does once it runs — send a notification, update a record, open a maintenance window, and so on.
- You can combine one trigger, optional conditions, and one or more actions to build a complete automation.

## Choose a trigger

Every automation starts with a single event. When creating or editing a rule, pick one from these groups under **On event**:

1. **Domains** — A domain is registered, A domain is expiring soon, A domain's status changes (for example, its nameservers change), A domain is renewed, or A domain is deleted.
2. **DNS** — A zone's records change, or A specific record is created, updated or deleted.
3. **Servers** — A server is created, A server's power state changes (powered on or off, rebooted, rebuilt, snapshot taken…), or A server is deleted.
4. **Monitoring and incidents** — A monitor goes up or down, An incident opens, or An incident resolves.
5. **Certificates** — A certificate is expiring, A certificate has expired, A certificate changes on an endpoint, A weak certificate is found, or An unexpected certificate is found (from Certificate Transparency logs).
6. **Maintenance** — Maintenance is scheduled, Maintenance starts, or Maintenance completes.
7. **Drop-catch** — A watched domain is dropping soon, A watched domain becomes available, A watched domain is caught (registered), or A drop-catch attempt fails.
8. **Dynamic IP and status pages** — A dynamic IP changes, or Someone subscribes to a status page.

> [!NOTE]
> Only one trigger can start a rule. If you want the same actions to run for several different events, create a separate automation for each one.

## Add conditions to narrow a rule

Conditions stop a rule from firing on every single event of that type — they let you match only the details you care about.

1. Open your automation and go to the conditions area (labelled **Conditions** in the rule).
2. Use **Add condition** to add a rule, such as a domain with fewer than 7 days left, a monitor that went down (not up), a specific record type or DNS provider, or a certain tag on the affected object.
3. Choose whether the automation should match **Any** or **Match** — **of these conditions** to control how multiple conditions combine.
4. Leave the conditions area empty if you want the rule to run on every matching event, with no extra filtering.
5. Use **Preview (dry run)** or **Test run** to check which recent events would have matched before saving.

> [!TIP]
> If your rule doesn't seem to be firing, check **Conditions** first — a mismatched detail (like tag or record type) is the most common reason a matching event gets skipped.

## Add actions to run

Actions are what actually happens once your trigger fires and any conditions pass. A rule can run one or more actions, in order.

1. In your automation, go to **Add action** to add a step.
2. Choose from the available actions, grouped by what they do:
   - **Notify and tag** — Send notification, Call webhook, Add issue labels, Remove issue label (and similar tagging actions for the affected object).
   - **Monitoring and incidents** — Start monitoring, Acknowledge incident, Resolve incident.
   - **Maintenance and status** — Open maintenance window, Complete maintenance, Post status-page announcement.
   - **Domains, DNS and certificates** — Set nameservers, Set auto-renew, Create DNS zone, Apply DNS template, Link certificate.
   - **Integrations** — Sync integrations.
3. Fill in the fields for each action — these vary by action, but common ones include **Message (optional)**, **Tags (comma-separated)**, **Duration (minutes)**, and **URL**.
4. Use **Move up** or **Move down** to reorder actions if you've added more than one.
5. Select **Save automation** once your trigger, conditions and actions are set up the way you want.

> [!WARNING]
> Some actions are irreversible or affect live infrastructure — for example, completing a maintenance window or setting nameservers. Double-check your conditions before saving, especially if the rule runs automatically **On event**.

## Tips

- Start from **Start from a template** in the **Template library** if you're not sure how to combine a trigger, conditions and actions — you can edit any template afterwards.
- Use **Test run** or **Test run with sample event** to confirm an automation behaves as expected before it goes live.
- Check **Run history** periodically to see whether recent runs succeeded, and to investigate any marked **Last run failed**.

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