Introduction
Trigger another automation from within a running pipeline. This action is the foundation of a modular automation strategy — instead of building one large automation that tries to handle everything, you build small, focused automations and compose them together.
Why This Approach
Large, multi-purpose automations are harder to read, harder to troubleshoot, and harder to reuse. When a run fails, it's not always obvious which step caused the problem. And if the same logic is needed in multiple automations, you end up copying and maintaining it in multiple places.
A better pattern: build narrowly defined automations that do one thing well, then use Run Automation to compose them.
Example: Instead of one "New Device Setup" automation with 40 steps, build:
Install Required Software — installs your standard application stack
Apply Security Baseline — configures firewall, encryption, and policy settings
Configure Monitoring — applies monitoring policies and alert thresholds
Onboard Device — calls the three automations above in sequence
Each child automation can be triggered independently for its specific purpose. The parent "Onboard Device" automation stays clean and readable. When something breaks, you know which child automation to investigate.
Run Automation Action
From the automation pipeline in edit mode, click + and select Run automation from the Flow category.
Selecting an Automation
Click the external link icon in the Automation field to open the automation picker.
Automations are organized into folders. Expand any folder to browse, or use the search field to find one by name.
Once selected, the automation name appears in the field. Click View automation to open it in a new tab and inspect its configuration.
💡 TIP: Use descriptive names for your automations — names that clearly describe what the automation does, not how it works. "Install Security Baseline" is more useful than "Script Automation 3" when you're scanning a parent automation's pipeline.
Conditions
The Conditions section lets you restrict when this action runs based on device attributes or the outcome of a previous action.
See Action Conditions for the full reference on condition types, operators, and values.
Additional Options
Expand Additional options for action name, failure behavior, output variable assignment, retries, and the enabled toggle.
See Actions Overview for the full reference on additional options available on every action.
FAQ
Does the parent pipeline wait for the child automation to finish? Yes — the parent pipeline pauses at the Run Automation action until the child completes, then continues to the next action.
Can a child automation call another automation? Yes — there's no limit on how deep Run Automation chains can be nested.
What happens if the child automation fails? Depends on your On action failure setting in Additional options. Set to Fail pipeline to stop the parent if the child fails, or Suppress and continue to let the parent proceed regardless.
Can I pass variables from the parent automation to the child? Automation variables are scoped to each automation independently — they don't carry over between parent and child runs. To share data between automations, use custom fields instead. A parent automation can write a value to a custom field, and the child can read it.
Who can add or modify Run Automation actions? Technicians with permission to edit automations in the relevant group. See Workspace → Permissions for access control configuration.