Introduction
Automations let you define what should happen on a device when specific conditions are met. A trigger watches for the condition — a schedule, a tag, an alert, a new enrollment. An action (or a sequence of actions) runs when the condition matches. Once an automation is active, it runs continuously without any manual intervention.
Common examples: automatically patching Windows devices on a schedule, running a setup script when a new device is detected, or applying tags when a device joins a specific group.
🎬 VIDEO
How Automations Work
Every automation has two parts:
Triggers — the conditions that bring a device into the automation. When a trigger fires, the device starts running through the pipeline.
Actions — the steps that run on the device, in order, once it enters the pipeline.
Triggers and actions are independent. An automation can have multiple triggers (any match starts the pipeline) and multiple actions (they run sequentially). Each action can be individually toggled on or off without removing it from the pipeline.
Two badges appear on triggers and actions in the pipeline to signal extra configuration at a glance:
IF (orange) — a condition is applied to this step. For triggers, the condition limits which devices the trigger pulls in. For actions, the condition controls whether the action runs on a given device during a run.
(x) (orange) — the step is using a variable, either writing output to one or reading from one.
Triggers
A trigger defines when and which devices an automation targets. Devices aren't assigned to automations manually — triggers pull them in automatically based on the condition.
Trigger types include schedules (run daily, weekly, monthly, or on a custom interval), device events (new device detected, device enters or leaves a group), tag events (tag applied or removed), data changes (custom field changed), and external signals (webhook). A manual trigger is also available for on-demand runs.
Every trigger (except Manual) supports conditions — filters that restrict which devices are pulled in when the trigger fires. Conditions can filter by platform, Système d'exploitation, group, tag, status, hostname, device type, and more. Without conditions, a trigger applies to every device in your organization that the trigger would otherwise match.
For the full trigger reference, see Automations → Triggers. For conditions, see Trigger Conditions.
Actions
Actions are what actually run on the device. They execute in sequence, top to bottom. If an action fails, the pipeline stops at that step (unless configured otherwise).
Available actions cover: running scripts, installing and uninstalling applications, managing Système d'exploitation updates, restarting devices, setting custom fields, applying or removing tags, sending notifications, making HTTP requests, and more.
Every action has two cross-cutting options beyond its core configuration:
Conditions — restrict whether the action runs on a given device during a run. Use conditions to skip an action based on Système d'exploitation, group, tag, custom field value, or the outcome of a previous action. See Conditions d'action.
Additional options — controls available on every action regardless of type: a custom display name, on-failure behavior (fail the pipeline or suppress and continue), retry count, and the ability to capture the action's output into an automation variable. See Actions Overview.
For a full reference, see Automations → Actions.
💡 CONSEIL: Level's Resource Library includes hundreds of pre-built automations you can import directly into your account — covering common use cases like patch management, new device setup, maintenance tasks, and more. Starting from a pre-built automation is faster than building from scratch.
Automations
Navigate to Automations in the sidebar to reach the automations list.
ℹ️ REMARQUE: New accounts include a Get Started automation group pre-populated with common automations — Windows Patching, macSystème d'exploitation Patching, Linux Patching, Default Étiquettes, Disk Cleanup, and others. These are fully functional automations you can enable as-is, tweak to fit your environment, or use as a reference when building your own.
Each row in the table represents one automation. The columns show:
Actions — icons representing the trigger types and action types in use
Name — the automation name
Groupe — the automation group it belongs to
Last run — when the automation last fired on any device
Active runs — devices currently in the pipeline
Total runs — all-time run count across all devices
Statut — Active (has at least one active trigger) or Manual (no active triggers; only runs when manually triggered)
Columns can be shown or hidden using the Columns button in the top right.
Filtering and Searching
Use the Search bar to filter automations by name. The Filters button opens a panel to filter by Action type or Trigger type — useful for finding all automations that, for example, use a Run Script action or a Scheduled run trigger.
Automation Groupes
The left sidebar organizes automations into groups. Groupes are just for organization — they don't affect how automations run or which devices they target.
Select any group to filter the table to only automations in that group. Use Search groups to find a specific group by name.
To move one or more automations into a group, select them using the checkboxes and click Assign to group.
💡 CONSEIL: Groupe automations by function (e.g., Patching, Maintenance, Security) or by operating system. Either way, use a scheme that matches how your team thinks about workflows — not how Level's UI is organized.
Script Runs
Script runs in the sidebar shows a filtered list of automations that Level created automatically when scripts were run ad-hoc from the device listing or device details. Each is a real automation with a Wait for approval action and a Run script action — they behave exactly like any other automation.
For a full explanation of how script run automations are created and used, see Scripting Overview.
New Automations and Archived Automations
New automations in the sidebar shows automations that were created in the last 7 days.
Archived automations shows automations that have been archived. Archived automations don't run (triggers are disabled); they can be restored at any time.
Creating an Automation
Click + Create automation in the top right of the automations list.
Enter a name for the automation.
Click Create.
ℹ️ REMARQUE: A newly created automation has no triggers and no actions. It won't run until you add at least one trigger. Until then, it shows a Manual action and can only be run by manually adding devices.
Inside an Automation
Clicking any automation in the list opens its pipeline view.
View Mode and Modifier Mode
By default, automations open in View mode. In view mode, you can see the pipeline and toggle individual triggers and actions on or off. You can't add, remove, or reorder steps.
Clicking any trigger or action in view mode opens a detail panel on the right showing two things: the step's full configuration, and a Recent devices list showing which devices have recently passed through that step along with their run status and duration.
From the Recent devices list, you have two ways to dig deeper:
Click the > (caret) next to a device to expand it inline and see the Output and Input tabs for that step — the actual text output the action produced on that device.
Click the → (arrow) to navigate to the full run detail for that device, showing all steps in the pipeline, their individual statuses, durations, and output.
ℹ️ REMARQUE: Triggers have a Run trigger now button in their detail panel. This fires the trigger immediately on all currently matching devices without waiting for the next scheduled run — useful for testing or for one-off manual execution of a scheduled automation.
Click Modifier in the top right to switch to Modifier mode. In edit mode:
Add triggers using the + button in the trigger area
Add actions using the + button between or below existing actions
Reorder actions by dragging the handle on the left side of any action step
Modifier a trigger or action by clicking it to open the configuration panel
Changes to each step are saved per-step (save inside the panel), not globally
Click Done to exit edit mode.
ℹ️ REMARQUE: Triggers can't be reordered because order is irrelevant — any matching trigger starts the pipeline. If you have multiple triggers, any one of them firing is enough to start a run for a matching device.
Variables
The Variables tab (in the left panel) lists the automation variables defined for this automation.
Automation variables pass data between steps. An action can write a value to a variable — for example, capturing a script's exit code or a custom field value — and a later action (or an action condition) can read that value to branch or filter behavior. Variables are defined per automation and are only accessible within that automation.
Beyond automation variables, Level also makes system variables available in every automation — things like device name, Système d'exploitation, IP address, and group. These don't need to be defined; they're always present.
For the full reference on creating and using variables, see Automation Variables and System Variables.
History
The History tab shows every device that has run through this automation — one row per run, with the device name, trigger event, status, and start time. Use the search bar or Filter by status to narrow the list.
Clicking a row opens a run detail panel on the right showing:
Run details — source (what triggered the run), start time, end time, total duration, and overall status
Workflow progress — each action step with its individual duration and status (Succès, Ignorée, Échec)
Click the > next to any step in Workflow progress to expand it and see that step's full output and input inline.
A Rerun button appears in the top right of the run detail panel, and also as a bulk action in the history table toolbar. Rerun is a dropdown with two options:
Rerun — restarts the pipeline from the beginning for that device
Retry from failed — resumes from the step that failed, skipping the steps that already succeeded
ℹ️ REMARQUE: You can also reach a specific device's run detail from the pipeline view. When you click a trigger or action step in view mode, the Recent devices list shows recent runs for that step. Clicking the arrow → on any device row navigates to the full run detail for that device.
Active Devices
The bottom of the left sidebar shows a live count of devices currently in the pipeline, broken down by state: Running, Waiting on approval, and When next online. Click View all to see which devices are in each state.
Running an Automation
Automations with active triggers run automatically — no manual step required. But there are several ways to trigger a run on demand or add specific devices to a pipeline manually.
From the automation pipeline — click + Add a device in the trigger area to manually push one or more devices into the pipeline immediately, bypassing trigger conditions.
From the device listing — select one or more devices, open the Actions menu, and choose Run automation. Select which automation to run. The selected devices enter that automation's pipeline directly.
From device details — same Actions menu is available on an individual device's detail page.
From the trigger panel — in view mode, click a trigger to open its detail panel and use Run trigger now to fire it immediately against all currently matching devices.
From alerts — automations can be triggered by monitor alerts via the Remediation trigger type. When a monitor fires an alert, any automation using that alert as a trigger runs automatically on the affected device.
Watching a Run in Progress
Once a device enters the pipeline, Level tracks it in real time.
On the pipeline view:
A device icon appears next to the trigger that pulled it in, then moves through the pipeline as each action executes
The Active devices count in the bottom left increments and shows how many devices are currently Running, Waiting on approval, or queued for When next online
Clicking a device in the Active devices panel (or in an action step's detail panel) opens the live run detail, where the Output tab streams action output as it arrives
ℹ️ REMARQUE: If a device is offline when a trigger fires, it enters a When next online queue. The run resumes from the beginning when the device checks back in — unless you've added a Statut = Online trigger condition to exclude offline devices entirely.
Global History
Selecting History in the main sidebar opens a cross-automation run history — every automation run across your entire account in one view.
Columns include device name (with group path), automation name, trigger event, status, and start time. Filter by status to isolate failed runs, or search by device or automation name. Export to CSV exports the current filtered view.
Selecting a row opens the same run detail panel as in the per-automation history tab — source, timestamps, total duration, overall status, and per-step Workflow progress with expandable output.
The Rerun dropdown is also available here, letting you rerun or retry-from-failed across multiple selected rows in bulk.
FAQ
What's the difference between an Active and Manual automation? Active means the automation has at least one enabled trigger — it's watching for matching devices and will fire on its own. Manual means there are no active triggers; the automation only runs when you manually add a device to the pipeline.
Can an automation target specific devices or groups? Automations don't get assigned to devices or groups directly. Triggers define which devices are pulled in. All triggers include optional conditions (Système d'exploitation, group, tag, custom field) to narrow the target set. For example, a Scheduled trigger with a condition of "Groupe = Windows Servers" will only run on devices in that group.
Can the same device be in an automation's pipeline more than once at the same time? No — a device can only have one active run per trigger at a time. If a device is already in the pipeline (running, waiting for approval, or queued as "when next online"), a subsequent firing of the same trigger won't add it again. The duplicate is silently dropped. Once the current run completes, the device can be pulled in again by the next trigger firing. Note that this is per trigger: if an automation has two different triggers, a device could technically have one active run from each — but the same trigger won't create a second.
What happens if an action fails mid-pipeline? The run stops at the failed step. The device remains in the pipeline history with a failed status. You can rerun from the failed step — click the row in the History tab to open the run detail, then click Rerun. You don't have to restart from the beginning.
Who can create and manage automations? Access is controlled by the permissions set for each device group. Technicians need the appropriate permission level to create automations, run them, or view history. See Workspace → Permissions for details.
Can I run an automation immediately without setting up a trigger? Yes. Use a Manual trigger, or just create the automation without a trigger and add devices to the pipeline manually from the automation's pipeline view or from the Actions menu on the device listing.
Where can I find pre-built automations? Level's Resource Library has pre-built automations, monitors, and scripts. Import directly into your account with one click.