How to set up automations in Vaiz

Board automations in Vaiz let you automate repetitive work with visual automation chains. Each chain starts from one or more trigger events, branches through Yes / No conditions, and runs a sequence of actions—moving tasks across groups or boards, assigning teammates, updating custom fields, posting to Slack, or firing webhooks. You can build chains visually on the canvas or generate them from a plain-language prompt with the AI chain composer.

Step 1. Open board automations

1. Open the project and board where you want to automate work.
2. Click the board settings icon in the top header (or open Settings on the board) and select the Automation tab.

On the Automation screen, each row shows:

• Automation title — for example, Escalate urgent tasks & route QA review.
• Status badge:
• Creator and run counter — who created the rule and how many times it has executed (Ran 42 times).

Use the filter bar at the top to filter rules by Search, Status, or Creator. Click + Create automation to create a new chain, or open the three-dot menu next to it and choose Stop all automations to pause every active rule on the board at once.

Step 2. Generate a chain with the AI composer (or build on the canvas)

When you open an automation, you can either build the chain step by step on the canvas or let Vaiz draft it for you:

1. Click the Compose chain (sparkle) button in the top-right header of the automation editor.
2. Describe the workflow you want in plain language (or click the microphone icon to dictate it). For example:
3. Click Generate chain.

Vaiz generates the complete chain on the canvas—connecting the trigger events, condition branches, and action steps using your board's actual groups, members, task types, and custom fields. You can review and edit any step before publishing.

Step 3. Configure trigger events

Click the Trigger card at the start of the chain to open Trigger settings in the right-hand panel.

Under Run on any of these events, choose what starts the chain. You can click + Add event to combine multiple triggers with OR logic so a single chain responds to several events:

• Task created — a new task is created on the board.
• Comment added — a new comment is posted on a task.
• Group changed — a task moves between board groups (columns).
• Completed / Task reopened — a task is marked done or reopened.
• Archived — a task is archived.
• Assignee changed, Assignee added, or Assignee removed — task assignees change.
• Type changed, Type added, or Type removed — task types change.
• Priority changed — task priority changes.
• Custom field changed or Custom field was set — a custom field on the board is updated or populated.

Step 4. Add conditions (Yes / No branches) and chained actions

Every card on the canvas has output ports:

• Trigger and Action steps have a Next port.
• Condition steps have Yes and No ports so your chain can take different paths depending on the task's state.

Click the + button on any unconnected port (or drag a connection line from a port to another card) to add the next step, then select the card to configure it in Step settings on the right.

Conditions (Yes / No branches)

Set Step kind to Condition to check the task before continuing down the Yes or No path:

Available condition checks include:

• Group is — checks which board group the task is in.
• Priority is — checks whether priority is Low, General, Medium, High, or Urgent.
• Assignee is, Assignee was added, or Assignee was removed.
• Type is, Type was added, or Type was removed.
• Task is completed, Task is not completed, or Task is archived.
• Custom field is or Custom field was set — checks the value of a board custom field (checkbox, select, number, text, date, member, URL, estimation, or related tasks).

Actions

Set Step kind to Action to update the task or notify external tools. Because every action has its own Next port, you can chain multiple actions one after another on the same branch:

Available actions include:

• Move to group — move the task to a specific column on the board.
• Reorder in group (Top, Middle, Bottom) or Reorder in board — reposition the task within its column or board.
• Move to board or Duplicate task — move the task to another board in the project, or create a copy on a target board and group.
• Change assignee or Remove assignee — assign or unassign a member.
• Change type or Remove type — set or remove a task type.
• Priority — set the task priority.
• Set custom field — set or update a board custom field value.
• Complete task, Reopen task, or Archive task — change the task's completion or archive state.
• Send Slack message — post a formatted message with task variables to an allowed Slack channel (see How to use Slack integration in Vaiz).
• Send webhook — send an HTTP POST request with a custom JSON payload and task variables to an external URL (see How to use webhooks in Vaiz).

Step 5. Publish, tidy, and manage your chain

• Drafts vs. Published: Changes you make on the canvas are saved automatically as a draft without interrupting the currently running version. When your chain is complete and free of validation warnings, click Publish in the bottom-right corner to make it live (or click Undo changes to revert to the published graph).
• Pause or resume: Click the status badge (Watching / Paused) to the left of the automation title—or use the three-dot menu on the automation list—to pause or resume the chain at any time.
• Workflow checks: If your board has transition rules configured under the Workflow tab, Vaiz automatically checks whether any Move to group step conflicts with those rules and displays a warning card with a shortcut to Open Workflow.
• Canvas layout controls: Use the zoom and Fit view buttons in the bottom-left corner of the canvas, or click the ... (Graph options) button in the top-right corner of the canvas to Tidy the layout or switch between Flow left to right and Flow top to bottom.
• Upgrading legacy rules: Existing single-step When → Then automations continue running as before. Open any legacy rule and click Convert to chain in the right-hand card to upgrade it to the visual chain editor while preserving all conditions and actions.

Permissions and plan limits

• Board Owners and Managers can create, edit, pause, and delete automations; other board members can view them in read-only mode.
• Monthly automation run quotas depend on your workspace plan. If your space reaches its monthly automation limit, active rules show a Limit reached banner and pause until the quota resets or your plan is upgraded.

For workflows that require AI reasoning, reading task descriptions and code links, planning milestones, or writing documentation, see How to create custom AI agents in Vaiz to automate routine work.