---
title: "Automations"
canonical: https://trickest.com/docs/key-concepts/agent/automations
description: "A prompt the Agent runs on a cadence, separate from a chat you drive and from a workflow schedule."
---

# Automations

## What is an Automation

An **Automation** is a prompt the [Agent](/docs/key-concepts/agent/the-agent) runs on its own, on a cadence you choose. Open **Automations** in the sidebar. The screens call each one a **task**.

You write the prompt once. At each scheduled time, the Agent receives that prompt and works from it. An Automation might prepare a weekly summary of recent workflow activity without you starting a new conversation each time. You can also start a run yourself. Each run of a task continues in the same Agent conversation. That conversation is where you read the result.

[Scheduling an Automation](/docs/using-the-app/agent/scheduling-an-automation) is how you create a task and choose when it runs.

## How this differs from a conversation

In a normal conversation, you send each request and stay with the reply. An Automation starts without you opening the chat. The Agent still does the work in a conversation, and you open that conversation when you want to check the result.

A checklist the Agent keeps inside one chat is not an Automation. That list stays in the conversation.

## How this differs from a workflow schedule

An Automation schedules an Agent prompt. A [workflow schedule](/docs/using-the-app/workflow-and-executions/executing-and-scheduling-workflows) schedules a workflow run.

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_Markdown source of https://trickest.com/docs/key-concepts/agent/automations._