Features/Automations

Automations

DSL pipelines that connect all your primitives. No code to deploy.

Updated March 2026

Automations are declarative pipelines that connect forms, pages, analytics, email, and webhooks. Define a trigger (form submission, HTTP request, or cron schedule), chain 14 step types, and Sutrena executes the pipeline every time the trigger fires. Template interpolation lets each step reference trigger data and previous step results. Encrypted environment variables store secrets. Everything runs server-side — no infrastructure to manage.

What it does

  • ✓3 trigger types: form_submission, http (exposes a /fn/ URL), schedule (5-field cron)
  • ✓14 step types: condition, set, send_email, broadcast, create_entry, update_page, update_submission, create_submission, update_form, query_analytics, get_submission_count, track_event, fetch, respond
  • ✓Template interpolation: {{trigger.field}}, {{steps.varName}}, {{env.KEY}}
  • ✓Environment variables encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM)
  • ✓Cron scheduling with 5-field expressions (minute, hour, day, month, weekday)
  • ✓Branching via condition steps with then/else step arrays
  • ✓Execution logs with duration, steps executed, and error context
  • ✓Test runs that execute real steps without incrementing counters
  • ✓HTTP triggers expose a public URL at subdomain.sutrena.com/fn/{slug}
  • ✓Monthly run quotas that scale with your plan

How it works

# Create an automation with an HTTP trigger that responds with JSON
curl -X POST https://sutrena.com/api/automations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Hello API",
    "slug": "hello",
    "trigger": { "type": "http" },
    "steps": [
      { "type": "respond", "body": { "message": "Hello from {{trigger.method}}" } }
    ]
  }'

# Trigger it (public URL, no auth)
curl https://your-subdomain.sutrena.com/fn/hello

# Check execution logs
curl https://sutrena.com/api/automations/AUTOMATION_ID/logs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY"

Three calls: create the automation, trigger it via its public URL, then check the logs. The DSL handles execution, logging, and error tracking.

What it does not do

This is not general-purpose compute. Not Cloudflare Workers, not AWS Lambda. You cannot run arbitrary JavaScript or install packages. Automations are a declarative DSL with 14 fixed step types. The fetch step can call external APIs, but there is no scripting runtime. If you need custom code execution, use a real serverless platform and trigger it from a Sutrena automation via the fetch step.

FAQ

What triggers are available?

Three types. form_submission fires when a linked form receives data. http exposes a public endpoint at subdomain.sutrena.com/fn/{slug} that accepts any HTTP method. schedule runs on a cron expression (5-field: minute hour day month weekday). Each automation has exactly one trigger.

How does cron scheduling work?

Standard 5-field cron syntax. Examples: "0 9 * * 1" (every Monday at 9 AM), "*/15 * * * *" (every 15 minutes), "0 0 1 * *" (first of each month). Minimum interval depends on plan: Free every 60 minutes, Pro every 5 minutes, Scale every minute. The nextRunAt timestamp is precomputed for efficient scheduling.

Are environment variables secure?

Yes. Environment variables are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM with a server-side key. They are decrypted only during execution and never returned in API responses. Use them for API keys, tokens, and secrets that your fetch steps need.

What are the plan limits?

Automations are part of the projects pool (forms, pages, dashboards, analytics, and automations combined). Free: 5 projects, 500 runs/month, 10 max steps, 2 fetch steps, 3 env vars. Pro: 100 projects, 10,000 runs/month, 20 max steps, 5 fetch steps, 10 env vars. Scale: unlimited projects, 100,000 runs/month, 50 max steps, 10 fetch steps, 25 env vars.

Can my AI agent create automations?

Yes. Six MCP tools: sutrena_create_automation, sutrena_list_automations, sutrena_get_automation, sutrena_update_automation, sutrena_delete_automation, sutrena_test_automation. The SDK also has an automations resource class. An agent can wire up a form-to-email pipeline or a scheduled report in a single conversation.

Related

Guide: Create an automation →Guide: Email on form submit →Guide: Scheduled reports →Forms →Webhooks →API documentation →

What is Sutrena?

Sutrena is the web runtime for AI agents. Forms, Pages, Dashboards, Analytics, Webhooks, Automations, Emails — all through 75 MCP tools and one REST API. Your agent creates web artifacts, humans interact with them, and your agent gets the data back. Use any one feature or all of them together.

Pages

Deploy HTML instantly

Forms

Collect structured data

Dashboards

Visualize with 7 widget types

Analytics

Privacy-first, no cookies

Webhooks

Slack, Discord, Telegram

Get started in two API calls

1. Get a trial key (no auth, no signup)

curl -X POST https://sutrena.com/api/trial

2. Create anything — a page, form, dashboard, or analytics site

# Create a form with a dashboard
curl -X POST https://sutrena.com/api/forms \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer st_trial_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"workflowId": "waitlist", "createDashboard": true}'

# Or deploy a page
curl -X POST https://sutrena.com/api/pages \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer st_trial_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"slug": "index", "title": "My Site", "html": "<h1>Live</h1>"}'
/llms.txt/api/schema/llms-full.txt/.well-known/mcp.json

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Automations — Declarative DSL Pipelines via API | Sutrena | Sutrena