> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.relayhub.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Automation Hub

> Build automated workflows for your business processes

The Automation Hub is RelayHub's built-in workflow automation engine. It lets you create automated flows that connect triggers (schedules, webhooks) to actions (HTTP requests, chat messages, file ingestion) -- all without writing code.

## Accessing the Automation Hub

Click **Automation Hub** in the left sidebar to open the hub page. From here you can view all workflows, check recent execution history, and launch the visual automation editor.

<Note>
  Automation Hub access requires either an admin role or explicit permission granted by your admin. If you do not see the Automation Hub in your sidebar, contact your organization administrator.
</Note>

## Creating a Workflow

<Steps>
  ### Open the automation editor

  From the Automation Hub page, click **Create Workflow** to open the visual flow editor. The editor provides a drag-and-drop canvas where you build your automation step by step.

  ### Choose a trigger

  Every workflow starts with a trigger -- the event that kicks off the automation. Two trigger types are available:

  <Columns cols={2}>
    <Card title="Schedule" icon="clock">
      Run the workflow on a recurring schedule: every N minutes, hourly, daily, weekly, or with a custom cron expression.
    </Card>

    <Card title="Webhook" icon="webhook">
      Run the workflow when an external system sends an HTTP request to a unique webhook URL generated for the flow.
    </Card>
  </Columns>

  Select the trigger type and configure its settings (for example, a daily schedule at 9:00 AM, or a webhook that accepts JSON payloads).

  ### Add actions

  After the trigger, add one or more action steps. Common actions include:

  * **HTTP Request** -- Call any external API (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) with custom headers and body. Use this to pull data from third-party systems or push results to external services.
  * **Send Chat Message** -- Post a message directly into a RelayHub conversation. The message appears in real time for anyone viewing the chat.
  * **Send Workspace Message** -- Post a message into a workspace conversation, making results visible to all workspace members.
  * **Ingest File** -- Upload a file into RelayHub's processing pipeline. The file is stored, embedded, and made available for AI analysis automatically.

  Each action step can reference data from the trigger or from previous steps, letting you chain actions together into complex flows.

  ### Activate the workflow

  Once your flow is configured, click **Publish** to save it and toggle the workflow to **Active**. Scheduled workflows begin running on their next scheduled time. Webhook workflows start accepting requests immediately.
</Steps>

## Monitoring Executions

The Automation Hub page shows a history of recent executions for each workflow. Click on any execution to see detailed logs including:

* Trigger data (the payload or schedule event that started the run)
* Each action step's input, output, and status (succeeded or failed)
* Timestamps and duration for every step

<Tip>
  If a workflow execution fails, the step-level logs show the exact error. Common issues include incorrect API URLs, authentication failures on external services, or malformed request bodies.
</Tip>

## Using Automation Tools in Chat

RelayHub's AI assistant can interact with your automations directly in chat through three built-in tools:

| Tool                          | What It Does                                                                      |
| ----------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **manage\_automation**        | List, create, activate, deactivate, or delete workflows from chat                 |
| **trigger\_automation**       | Run a specific workflow on demand with optional input data                        |
| **check\_automation\_status** | Check the status of a workflow or a specific execution, view run history and logs |

You do not need to call these tools explicitly. Simply ask the AI in natural language:

* "Show me all my active automations"
* "Run the daily report workflow now"
* "What happened on the last run of the inventory sync?"

The AI determines which tool to use and presents the results directly in the conversation.

## Inbound Webhooks: Automation to Chat

Workflows can send results back into RelayHub conversations using the **Send Chat Message** or **Send Workspace Message** actions. Messages arrive in real time via WebSocket and appear as automation-tagged entries in the conversation, clearly distinguished from human and AI messages.

This enables patterns like:

* A scheduled workflow that queries an external CRM every morning and posts a summary of new leads into a team workspace
* A webhook-triggered flow that receives alerts from a monitoring system and relays them into a dedicated RelayHub chat channel
* A file processing pipeline that ingests documents from an external source and notifies the team when analysis is complete

<Warning>
  Inbound webhook messages are authenticated using a shared secret configured by your administrator. Do not share the webhook secret or the automation webhook URL with untrusted parties.
</Warning>

## Next Steps

* **[File Hub](/knowledge-files/file-hub)** -- Learn how imported and ingested files are managed
* **[Chat Basics](/chat-collaboration/chat-basics)** -- See how automation messages appear in conversations
* **[AI Agents](/ai-agents/overview)** -- Combine agents with automations for advanced workflows