Workflow automation

Automations do repetitive work for you. A rule waits for an event (a trigger), then runs actions. For example: when a card moves to “In review”, assign it to the QA engineer and post a comment.

Automations can also check conditions, loop on cards, send emails, wait for a person, or run when you click a button. You build them without code, in a visual editor.

Automations

Click Automations in the workspace sidebar. The rules are sorted in sections:

• Automatic actions on cards: rules that start when something happens on a card.
• Manual actions on cards: rules that a person starts from a card.
• Manual actions on workspace: rules that a person starts from the toolbar of a view.
• Scheduled actions: rules that run at a set time, for example every Monday.

Click a rule to open it. Its menu (…) lets you duplicate it, delete it, or pause it. A paused rule does not run until you turn it on again.

Create an automation

1. Click Add at the top of the automations, then choose the kind of rule:
   • When something happens,
   • When a form is submitted,
   • Manual action on cards,
   • Manual action on workspace,
   • Scheduled action.
2. Give the rule a name.
3. Set up the trigger, then add actions with the + below each block.
4. Click Save.

If the assistant is turned on in your organization, Ask creates the rule from a description: “When a card is completed, archive it after a week”.

Triggers

A rule can start when:

• a card is created,
• a card is updated, the title of a card is updated, a card field is modified, the type of a card is updated,
• a card is archived, or restored from archives,
• a related card has been updated (through a relationship field),
• a new form is submitted,
• a new comment is posted,
• a new log is added, or a log is deleted,
• a command is executed in a discussion channel,
• a user is added to the workspace,
• a person clicks a button (Manual action on a card, Manual action on the workspace),
• a date and time arrive (Scheduled action).

Actions

On the card

• Set title, Set field, Clear field, Set field from formula, Set fields from formulas.
• Append to group, Remove from group, Move in group.
• Switch card type, Set card color.
• Post comment, Log a card activity, Create a reminder.
• Subscribe to card, Unsubscribe from card.
• Archive card, Restore card from archives, Delete card.
• Move card to other workspace, Copy card to.
• Create card, Create child card, Copy sub-cards from template.
• Create a request on a card, Delete the request associated to a card.

Other actions

• Send email: an email to members or to any address, with your own text.
• New message in discussion channel.
• Export the workspace.
• Call remote URL, Set field using remote URL: exchange data with another application.
• Define a variable, Trigger an automation rule, Break out of loop.

With the assistant (if it is turned on in your organization): Ask AI, Set field using AI, Fill card using AI, Post comment using AI, Create cards using AI, Analyze files using AI, Scan documents using AI…

Set field from formula

This action fills a field with a value that Kantree computes:

• a fixed value, for example a text or a date,
• a KQL formula, for example now() + period("2 days"),
• a variable, for example ${card:title}.

The variables of the card are ${card:id}, ${card:ref}, ${card:title} and ${card:Field name}. You can also use them in the Post comment and Send email actions.

In the actions that run on other cards (in a loop, or on a created card), ${parent:card:...} gives the values of the card that started the rule, for example ${parent:card:title}.

Chain actions

A rule is a tree: trigger, then conditions, then actions. Add as many actions as you need, one after the other. To run several sequences at the same time, add a second branch from the same block.

Wait for a person

Add a Wait for user action block when the rule must wait for someone, for example a validation. The rule continues when the person clicks the button.

Conditions

Add a Conditional branches block to run actions only for some cards. Each branch has a condition, written with KQL:

• If the card matches…: a condition on the card, for example {Priority} = Urgent.
• If any card in the workspace matches…: a condition on the whole workspace.
• If no other condition matches…: the other cases.

Act on several cards

Add a Query block to run actions on other cards:

• Loop on all workspace cards: for example all the cards done for more than 30 days, to archive them.
• Loop on children of a card: the sub-cards of the card.
• Parent card: the parent of the card.
• Loop on relationships of a card: the cards of a relationship field.
• Replay some actions a number of times.

Buttons

Manual rules run when someone clicks a button. You can put the button:

• in the toolbar of a card: in the list of automations, click Add to card toolbar,
• in the toolbar of a view: in the Appearance menu of the view, click Add actions, then choose the rules in the Actions menu,
• in a card, as a field: add a field of type Automation Trigger Button,
• in the card menu: right-click a card, then Trigger automation.

A manual rule can ask for information before it runs: add Demand variables in its trigger. You can also choose which roles can run it.

See Make Kantree your business application to build complete processes with buttons.

To start a rule from another application, click Share in the rule: you get a link or an address (HTTP POST) that starts the rule.

Automations between workspaces

A rule can start a rule of another workspace, for example to give a task to another team. The rule of the destination workspace does the work. The rule of the original workspace starts it, and sends it variables.

See the example below.

Examples

Create sub-cards

Create sub-cards automatically, for example a checklist of tasks for each new customer. Use the Create child card action, or Copy sub-cards from template with a card template.

Export the cards every week

A Scheduled action with the Export the workspace action sends you an export of the cards.

Archive old cards

A Scheduled action with a Query block (Loop on all workspace cards) and a filter such as state = done and {updated at} < now() - period("30 days"), then the Archive card action.

Fill several fields of a new card

In the Create card and Create child card actions, you can fill several fields at once, with formulas. For example, copy the budget and the client of the parent card into each new sub-card.

Synchronize values between parent and sub-cards

Example: a “Budget” field on a parent card must be copied into a “Parent budget” field of each sub-card.

Why an automation? A formula field can only read the fields of its own card. Automations can read and change other cards.

You need two rules:

Rule 1: when a sub-card is created

Trigger: a card is created, with Apply to sub cards.

1. Add a Query block Parent card.
2. In this block, add Define a variable: name parent_budget, formula {Budget}.
3. After the block, add Set field from formula: field “Parent budget”, formula ${parent_budget}.

Rule 2: when the budget of the parent changes

Trigger: a card field is modified, field “Budget”.

1. Add a Query block Loop on children of a card.
2. In this block, add Set field from formula: field “Parent budget”, formula ${parent:card:Budget}.

Start a rule in another workspace

Example: give a task to another team, with some information of the original card.

In the destination workspace

1. Create a Manual action on workspace rule.
2. Add the actions that use the variables, for example Create card with Set field from formula.
3. In the list of automations, open the … menu of the rule, then turn on Can be triggered from other workspaces.

In the original workspace

1. Create a rule (for example a Manual action on a card).
2. Add Define a variable actions for the information to send.
3. Add the Trigger an automation rule action. Choose the workspace and the rule (it appears because of step 3), and turn on Forward variables from the current context.