> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.onlystack.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How automations work > What an automation is, when it runs, where to switch it on, and which ones step aside while AI Chat is on. An automation does what you set up when its trigger fires. You write the message or pick the content, OnlyStack sends it. An automation never decides what to say. An [agent](https://docs.onlystack.com/agents/overview.md) does that: it holds a conversation and writes each message fresh. If you want a message sent exactly as you wrote it, use an automation. If you want a conversation, use AI Chat. Automations are on the Plus plan and above. On a plan without them, the **Automations** screen shows what each one does and asks you to upgrade. You can read about them, but not switch one on. Plans are per creator. A creator on Plus runs every automation, but not AI Chat, so nothing on this page steps aside for her. See [choose each creator's plan](https://docs.onlystack.com/billing/plans-and-credits.md#choose-each-creators-plan). ## What you can set up | Group | What it holds | Page | | - | - | - | | **Messaging** | **Welcome new fans+** and **Follow up with quiet fans** | [Messages to fans](https://docs.onlystack.com/automations/messages.md) | | **Online fans** | **Instant message** | [Online nudges](https://docs.onlystack.com/automations/online-nudges.md) | | **Content** | **Post queue** and **24/7 Story** | [Posts and stories](https://docs.onlystack.com/automations/posts-and-stories.md) | Mass messages are sent by hand, never on a timer, so they are not on the **Automations** screen. They live on **Actions**. See [mass messages](https://docs.onlystack.com/automations/mass-messages.md). A few background syncs also run for you. They have no screen and need no setup. Their runs appear under **Debugging**, in the **Automation** tab, as **Sync conversations**, **Sync purchases** and **Sync subscribers**. See [background syncs](https://docs.onlystack.com/automations/syncs.md). ## When an automation runs Each automation has its own trigger: * An event. **Welcome new fans+** runs when a new fan subscribes. **Instant message** runs when a fan comes online. * A timer. **Follow up with quiet fans** looks for quiet fans each time it runs. **Post queue** and **24/7 Story** publish on the gap you set. Where an automation runs on a timer, **Runs every** in its settings says how often it wakes up. Every time an automation wakes up, that is one run. The **Automations** screen lists the most recent under **Recent runs**, and each run says what it did in a line, such as how many fans it welcomed, or why it sent nothing. ## Switch one on **1. Choose the creator** Select the creator, then open **Automations**. Pick an automation in the list on the left, grouped under **Messaging**, **Online fans** and **Content**. **2. Turn it on** Use the switch at the top of its page. Each time, it opens the settings, so you read what it will send before anything goes out. **3. Save and enable** Press **Save and enable**. **Save draft** keeps your settings and leaves it off. **Reset to defaults** puts every setting back to its starting value. To stop one, turn the switch off. Stopping needs no review. **Edit automation** reopens the settings, and **Delete** removes an automation you no longer want. The top of the screen counts what is **Active**, what **Ran today** and what is **Queued**. **Needs attention** lists anything that is on but has never run, or whose last run ended in an error. **All runs →** opens the full list, and the **Logs** tab lists what automations sent and to whom. ### Try it first **Run test** runs an automation once, right now. Where an automation has a **Dry run** setting, tick it first: it goes through every step and shows what it would do, but sends nothing to fans. Without it, **Run test** can send to real fans, and the app asks you to confirm. **Welcome new fans+** and **Instant message** have no **Dry run** setting. ## While AI Chat is on The [Engagement Agent](https://docs.onlystack.com/agents/engagement.md) covers the same ground as two automations. While AI Chat is on, they step aside, so a fan never gets a message from both: | Automation | While AI Chat is on | | - | - | | **Follow up with quiet fans** | Sends nothing. The run reads **Skipped: AI Chat is on, so the Engagement Agent writes to quiet fans instead**. | | **Instant message** | Sends none of its own messages. A fan who comes online is handed to the Engagement Agent, which decides whether he gets one. | **Follow up with quiet fans** keeps its switch as you left it and starts again when AI Chat is switched off. While AI Chat is on, **Instant message** is switched on and locked: AI Chat uses it to notice fans coming online. You cannot switch it off, and anything you change in it is replaced. When AI Chat is switched off, it is switched off too, so switch it back on and write its openers again. **Welcome new fans+**, **Post queue** and **24/7 Story** do not step aside. A welcome is a fan's first message, and the agents wait out the **Rest after the welcome (sec)** you set before they answer him. The one welcome the agents write is for a fan who came over from her other page: see [messages to fans](https://docs.onlystack.com/automations/messages.md#a-fan-from-her-other-page). ## What every automation respects * A fan who has not answered her last three messages in a row gets nothing more from an automation, however long that takes, until he writes, buys or tips. See [how AI Chat works](https://docs.onlystack.com/agents/overview.md) for the full rule. * Blocked fans and fans who cannot be reached are skipped by every automation that messages fans. * **Hold the chat for (hrs)**, where an automation has it, leaves his chat alone after it sends him a message, unless he replies first. Other automations wait. * Nothing is ever unsent. The one thing an automation takes down is a post or story whose delete time you set. ## If one does not run Check that the creator is connected, the automation is on and its trigger has happened. Then read the line under **Recent runs**: it says why a run sent nothing, for example **Skipped: write the first message before it can send anything**. See [set up your first automation](https://docs.onlystack.com/automations/first-automation.md) for the first steps. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.