# About automations

> Automations let InfraNest react to things happening across your infrastructure on its own.

Source: https://infranest.io/docs/automations
Last updated: 2026-09-19

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Automations let InfraNest react to things happening across your infrastructure on its own, so you don't have to watch dashboards and respond manually. This article is for anyone who wants to understand how automations work before building one.

## Overview

- You set up a rule once — when this happens, do that — and InfraNest runs it hands-free every time it applies.
- Rules can watch anything from domains and DNS to servers, monitors, incidents, certificates, maintenance, drop-catch, dynamic IPs and status pages.
- Rules act only on future events — creating a rule doesn't reach back and apply to things that already happened.

## How a rule works

Every automation is built from three parts:

1. **Trigger** — the event that starts the rule, chosen from the **When this happens** step. Triggers cover the whole platform: domains, DNS, servers, monitoring and incidents, certificates, maintenance, drop-catch, dynamic IP and status pages.
2. **Conditions** (optional) — filters under **Only if… (optional)** that must match before the rule runs. For example, only when a domain has fewer than 7 days left, only when a monitor goes down (not up), or only for a certain tag.
3. **Actions** — what happens under **Do this**. Actions range from **Send notification** or **Call webhook** to **Open maintenance window**, **Apply DNS template**, **Resolve incident**, or **Set auto-renew**.

For the complete list of options, see the Automation triggers and actions article. For ready-to-copy rules, see the Automation examples article.

## Use a template to get started

1. Go to **Automations** in the sidebar.
2. Open the **Templates** tab.
3. Browse the ready-made recipes — you can use one as-is or tailor it to your needs.
4. If you'd rather build your own from nothing, choose **Start from scratch** instead of a template.

> [!TIP]
> If you're not sure which trigger or action you need, start from a template — it's often faster than building a rule from scratch.

## Good to know

- A rule can run several actions at once — for example, sending a notification *and* opening a maintenance window in the same rule.
- Automations are shared across your Organization, and how many you can create may depend on your plan.
- Every time a rule runs, it's recorded in your **Audit Log**, so you can see exactly what it did and when.

> [!NOTE]
> Rules only react going forward. If you need something applied to existing domains, servers or monitors, you'll need to handle those separately before the automation takes over.

## Troubleshooting

- **A rule didn't run when you expected** — check its **Conditions**; the event may not have matched your filters.
- **You want to confirm a rule works before relying on it** — use **Test run** or **Preview (dry run)** to see what would have happened without actually running the actions.
- **You're checking history** — open the automation and look at **Run history** or **Runs · 30d** to see **Last run** and past results.

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