Automation

Automation is the handwork you stop doing yourself: a client becomes active and the onboarding tasks are already there, a project changes status and the lead is told, a task comes in and a message goes to your own flow. A rule has three parts: a trigger, optionally a few conditions, and a list of actions.

Where to find it

Instellingen → Automatisering (Settings → Automation), in the group “Modules & werkprocessen” (Modules & workflows). It holds the rule list with an Ingeschakeld (Enabled) switch per rule, a Nieuwe regel (New rule) button and a link to the Uitvoerlog (Run log).

Building a rule

1. Nieuwe regel, then give it a Naam (Name). That name comes back in the run log and in the notifications the rule sends, so write down what it does.
2. Pick a Trigger: the event this rule reacts to.
3. Optionally fill in Voorwaarden (Conditions). No conditions means the rule always fires.
4. Add Acties (Actions) below it, in the order they should run.
5. Switch Ingeschakeld on. A disabled rule is never evaluated.

Triggers

Trigger	Fires when
Een taak wordt aangemaakt	a task is created, including by a template or another rule
Een taak verandert van status	a task’s status changes
Een taak wordt toegewezen	a task is assigned to somebody
Een klant wordt toegevoegd	a new client is created
Een klant verandert van status	a client’s status changes
Een project verandert van status	a project’s status changes

Caution

The list also offers Uptime-monitoring van een website wordt aan- of uitgezet and Een domein verandert van status. You can configure a rule on them today, but those events are not emitted yet, so such a rule stays silent. Only use them once the release notes say otherwise.

Conditions

A condition is a row of three: Veld (Field), an operator and Waarde (Value). You type the field yourself; you can use any column of the record (status, priority, name) and anything the event itself carries — on a status change, for instance, from and to.

Operator	Meaning
is gelijk aan / is niet gelijk aan	equals / does not equal
is één van	the value is in a list; separate values with commas
bevat	the text contains it
is groter dan / is kleiner dan	numeric or date comparison

With more than one row you choose Alle voorwaarden moeten kloppen (all must match) or Minstens één voorwaarde moet kloppen (at least one must match). For anything more involved, switch on Geavanceerd: voorwaarden als JSON bewerken (Advanced: edit conditions as JSON) and write nested all/any trees, with the JSON validated as you type. There is deliberately no field anywhere that takes code: conditions are declarative, never executable.

Actions

Actions run in order. Five kinds ship built in:

• Taak aanmaken (Create task): from a Taaksjabloon (Task template), or one bare task with a Taaktitel (Task title). If the rule fired on a client, the task lands on that client by itself.
• Taakstatus wijzigen (Change task status): set the task to a Nieuwe status.
• Taak toewijzen (Assign task): pick the colleague under Toewijzen aan.
• Melding sturen (Send notification): pick Ontvangers (Recipients) and type your own Bericht (Message). It appears in their inbox as Automatisering "{rule}": {message}.
• Webhook aanroepen (Call webhook): the Webhook-URL is POSTed the event, the record type, the record id and the payload as JSON. With Wachten op bevestiging (Wait for confirmation) the run fails unless the endpoint answers 2xx and does not return {"ok": false}.

A rule with no actions matches and logs neatly, but does nothing.

Test before you switch it on

Testrun (Dry run) evaluates your rule against an existing Record-ID. You see whether the conditions match and which actions would fire. Nothing is executed.

The run log

Instellingen → Automatisering → Uitvoerlog lists every firing, with Wanneer (When), Regel (Rule), Trigger, Status, the Stappen (Steps) and the Fout (Error). You can filter it down to one rule.

The status is In wachtrij (Pending), Bezig (Running), Geslaagd (Succeeded), Mislukt (Failed) or Overgeslagen (Skipped). Deleting a rule keeps its run history, and the confirmation dialog says so.

Caution

Rules can set each other off: one rule creates a task, which fires a rule on “a task is created”. After three links that stops by itself, and the log reads “Overgeslagen: veroorzaakt door een keten van 3 automatiseringen (lusbeveiliging)”. Two rules can therefore never keep triggering each other forever.

Permissions

Permission	What it opens	Default
automation.rule.read	The rule list and the screen itself	Administrator
automation.rule.write	Creating, editing, deleting and dry-running rules	Administrator
automation.run.read	The run log	Administrator

All three are admin-only by default, on purpose: a rule can create tasks, notify colleagues and call external webhooks on behalf of the whole organisation. Widen them per role under Instellingen → Rollen (Settings → Roles).

Good to know

• Actions run in the background worker, not in the screen. A slow webhook therefore never slows down saving a task.
• A failed step stops the chain and marks the whole run Mislukt. It is never half applied and then abandoned quietly.
• Private and local addresses are blocked as webhook targets. If you run your own n8n on your own network, your administrator has to allow that deliberately on the server.
• Exactly the same event on the same record twice produces one run, not two.
• Automation is a licensed module. Without a valid licence it goes read-only: existing rules stay readable, but you can no longer save one.

Read next

Notifications Where the notifications your rules send end up.

Clients The client status many rules react to.