---
title: "Automation: rules and workflows for repeat work | Tidy"
description: "Connect the services you use, set up rules for repeat work and inspect workflows for larger jobs. Review the steps, permissions and results in Tidy."
url: https://www.tidy.engineering/automation
last_updated: 2026-10-08T10:10:12.000Z
---

02 / Automation

# Give repeat work a routine.

A request comes in. Someone makes the task, assigns it and sends the usual update. Set that up once, and Tidy does it every time.

Describe what should happen, or build it step by step. Review it before you switch it on.

01 / Connect

## Start with the tools you already use.

Email, calendar, source control and more. Each connection says what it needs and what it lets Tidy do.

Connect an app View full size

![Tidy plugin catalogue with supported services and connection methods.](https://www.tidy.engineering/img/c191/plugins.webp)

The plugin catalogue in Tidy.

02 / Set the rule

## When this happens, do the next step.

A trigger, any conditions, then the steps. It can start when a record changes, an email arrives or a time comes around.

When **A transcript is ready**

Do **Write a summary**

Then **Mark it complete**

A transcript-summary rule View full size

![The real Tidy rule editor showing ordered actions and recovery steps.](https://www.tidy.engineering/img/c191/rule.webp)

### Review the steps before it runs

See every step in order. Edit it yourself or ask the assistant. Keep it in draft until you're ready.

### Decide what happens on failure

Add recovery steps, so a failure leaves a clear status instead of a task that only looks finished.

03 / Handle a bigger job

## Some work needs more than a rule.

When a job needs real logic, a workflow runs a script in an isolated environment. Read its code, choose how it starts, check every run.

Review a workflow View full size

![The actual Tidy workflow list and its run counts.](https://www.tidy.engineering/img/c191/workflow.webp)

### Turn an archive into a useful table

Pull the transactions out of a mail archive into a table of dates, prices and contacts.

### Prepare a draft from the work

Gather a month of finished work and notes, then draft a summary that links to the originals.

Examples, not results. Automations and webhooks are Plus features; API access needs Max.

Stay in charge

## See what ran. Change what happens next.

### Check the history

What ran, what started it, and which steps worked.

### Keep permissions in place

A rule acts with its author's permissions, never more.

### Pause when you need to

Pause a routine any time. Repeated failures pause it for you.

Keep going

[Memory Find anything.](https://www.tidy.engineering/memory) [Automation Hand off repeat work.](https://www.tidy.engineering/automation) [Collaboration Work on the originals.](https://www.tidy.engineering/collaboration) [Virtual employees Set up your first one.](https://www.tidy.engineering/virtual-employees)

Tidy · Private beta · Fictional demo content [Back to the thread](https://www.tidy.engineering/#thread)