Cortex · Chat

Create an automation from chat

Ask Cortex in your private chat to run a task on a schedule and post the result back to you. Cortex asks for your approval first.

Ask Cortex for something that should happen on a schedule, and it can set that up as an automation for you. For example:

Every morning at 8, send me a digest of the political news.

The automation searches the web on its schedule and posts one summary into your own Cortex chat. Messages from automations describes how those posts arrive.

Cortex must be enabled for your organization, and an administrator must have enabled a Web Search extension and set a default model. See When Cortex cannot create it.

Approve the automation

Creating an automation changes something, so Cortex asks before it does. It shows a card with exactly what it is about to create: the tool, Create Personal Automation, the name, the schedule, the instruction and the web search tool it will use. Nothing is created until you approve the card. If you decline, nothing is created.

Every create asks for approval, every time. The card must fit in a short message, so keep the instruction brief. If it is too long, Cortex shortens it and asks again.

Once you approve, the automation runs on its schedule without asking you again. Your approval of the card is your consent for the posts it sends later.

What you can schedule

An automation created from chat runs at a time you choose:

Every day at a time, such as 08:00.
Every weekday (Monday to Friday) at a time.
Every week on a day you choose, at a time.

It cannot run more often than once a day. It uses the Web Search tool and nothing else, and each run posts at most one message.

The time is in the time zone you chose in Settings → Account → Preferences. If you never chose one there, Cortex uses your organization's time zone (Settings → Organization → Time zone), even though Preferences shows UTC; it uses UTC only when the organization has none either. Cortex states the time zone when it confirms.

Only in your private chat

Cortex creates an automation only in your own private Cortex chat. The automation is created in your Personal workspace and belongs to you. In a shared room, Cortex does not create it and asks you to continue in your private chat (PERSONAL_WORKSPACE_REQUIRED).

The ability is offered to Cortex conversations only. A workflow's Agent never has it, whatever tools you select for that Agent.

The model it uses

An automation created from chat follows your organization's default model. It does not fix one at creation. Each run uses the default as it is at that moment, so changing the default changes what later runs use. The Automations page shows Organization default model for it.

If an administrator removes the default model, the next run fails visibly in the automation's run history and posts nothing, until a default is set again.

Pause, edit or delete it

Cortex confirms with the name and the schedule, for example "It runs every day at 08:00 (Europe/Brussels)". Pause, edit or delete the automation on the Automations page. Cortex does not do this from chat.

If Cortex cannot confirm that the automation was created, check the Automations page before asking again, so you do not end up with two.

When Cortex cannot create it

Nothing is created in these cases. Cortex tells you what to do, or what to ask an administrator for, instead of offering to connect an account.

Code	What it means	Who fixes it
`WEB_SEARCH_NOT_CONFIGURED`	No Web Search extension is installed or enabled for your organization.	An administrator installs or enables Web Search in Settings → Platform → Extensions.
`DEFAULT_MODEL_NOT_CONFIGURED`	Your organization has no default model.	An administrator sets the organization's default model under Settings → Platform → Extensions → Models & defaults.
`PERSONAL_WORKSPACE_REQUIRED`	You asked in a shared room, or anywhere other than your private chat.	You: ask again in your private Cortex chat.
`FORBIDDEN`	Your access does not let you create automations in your Personal workspace.	An administrator checks your access to Automations.
`UNAUTHENTICATED`	Scrydon could not confirm who asked.	You: try again later, and tell an administrator if it keeps happening.
`AUTOMATION_TIME_ZONE_UNAVAILABLE`	Your organization's time zone could not be read. Cortex tries once more.	An administrator checks the time zone under Settings → Organization → Time zone.
`AUTOMATION_CAPABILITY_CHECK_UNAVAILABLE`	Web Search or the default model could not be checked just then. Cortex tries once more.	You: try again later.
`LLM_BLOCKED_BY_DLP`, `LLM_BLOCKED_BY_MODERATION`	Your organization's data or moderation policy blocked the name or the instruction.	You: ask again without the blocked content.

If Web Search is removed after the automation exists, its runs fail and post nothing until it is back.

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