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Create an automation

On the Automations page, select the + icon to create a new automation. You’ll be prompted to configure:
  • A trigger condition that causes the automation to execute.
  • One or more actions carried out by the automation.
  • Details about the automation, such as a name and description.
You can manage automations with the Prefect CLI, Terraform provider, or Prefect API.

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Create automations with the CLI

You can create automations from YAML or JSON files using the Prefect CLI: 
# Create from a YAML file prefect automation create --from-file automation.yaml # or use the short form prefect automation create -f automation.yaml  # Create from a JSON file  prefect automation create --from-file automation.json  # Create from a JSON string prefect automation create --from-json '{"name": "my-automation", "trigger": {...}, "actions": [...]}' # or use the short form prefect automation create -j '{"name": "my-automation", "trigger": {...}, "actions": [...]}'

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Single automation example

Here’s an example YAML file that creates an automation to cancel long-running flows: 
name: Cancel Long Running Flows description: Cancels flows running longer than 5 minutes enabled: true trigger:  type: event  posture: Proactive  expect:  - prefect.flow-run.Completed  threshold: 1  within: 300 # 5 minutes  for_each:  - prefect.resource.id actions:  - type: cancel-flow-run

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Multiple automations example

You can also create multiple automations at once by using the automations: key. If any automation fails to create, the command will continue with the remaining automations and report both successes and failures: 
automations:  - name: Cancel Long Running Flows  description: Cancels flows running longer than 30 minutes  enabled: true  trigger:  type: event  posture: Reactive  expect:  - prefect.flow-run.Running  threshold: 1  for_each:  - prefect.resource.id  actions:  - type: cancel-flow-run    - name: Notify on Flow Failure  description: Send notification when flows fail  enabled: true  trigger:  type: event  posture: Reactive  expect:  - prefect.flow-run.Failed  threshold: 1  actions:  - type: send-notification  subject: "Flow Failed: {{ event.resource.name }}"  body: "Flow run {{ event.resource.name }} has failed."
Or as a JSON array: 
[  {  "name": "First Automation",  "trigger": {...},  "actions": [...]  },  {  "name": "Second Automation",   "trigger": {...},  "actions": [...]  } ]

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Create automations with the Python SDK

You can create and access any automation with the Python SDK’s Automation class and its methods. 
from prefect.automations import Automation from prefect.events.schemas.automations import EventTrigger from prefect.events.actions import CancelFlowRun  # creating an automation automation = Automation(  name="woodchonk",  trigger=EventTrigger(  expect={"animal.walked"},  match={  "genus": "Marmota",  "species": "monax",  },  posture="Reactive",  threshold=3,  ),  actions=[CancelFlowRun()], ).create()  # reading the automation automation = Automation.read(id=automation.id) # or by name automation = Automation.read(name="woodchonk")