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Getting StartedHome → Admin Manual → Automation Rules → Overview
10.1. Overview
Updated: 15 Sep 2026, 10:42 AM EDT
Automation Rules (Admin->Triggers and Rules->Automation Rules) provide a means to preform actions on a set of requests that meet a specific set of conditions. With highly flexible rules-based logic, Administrators have the power to create rules that allow for improved management of support requests.
Automation rules are commonly used for:
- Request escalation
- Workflow creation
- Staff/Management notification
- Customer notification
- Setting/changing request detail values
Designing Rules
With such flexibility, and varied uses, Automation Rules allows for tasks to be accomplished in a number of ways.
While there might not always be one set way to design a rule, the following should always be considered to ensure the rules accomplishes the desired end result.
- Which conditions should be used to pull the appropriate requests?
- What actions should be preformed?
- How frequently should this rule run?
- Should this request be allowed to run more than once per request?
Subsequent pages in this chapter well show the creation and running of automation rules as well as specific examples.
How and When Rules Run
Automation rules do not run the moment their schedule comes up. HelpSpot's task scheduler queues each due rule as a background job, and a queue worker picks that job up and runs the rule. On a busy installation, or one where the queue has backed up, a rule can sit in the queue for a short time before it actually executes.
As of HelpSpot 5.8.5, a queued rule loads its current definition from the database at the moment it runs, rather than using the copy that was captured when it was queued. That means:
- If you edit a rule's conditions or actions while it is waiting in the queue, the run uses your edits, not the older version.
- If you disable or delete a rule while it is waiting in the queue, the queued run is skipped entirely rather than going ahead with the old definition.
Before 5.8.5, a rule that was edited, disabled or deleted in that window could still run once with its previous settings. If you have been in the habit of waiting a few minutes after disabling a rule before trusting that it has stopped, that is no longer necessary.
Queue depth is visible under Admin > Settings > Workers and on the System Health page if you want to see how long jobs are waiting. For setting how often an individual rule runs, see Custom Scheduling Automation Rules.