Create automations

An automation asks Flower to start future runs in the same run series. It can run once or recur at a fixed interval.

Important

Create an automation only when the user explicitly requests future or recurring execution. A general request such as “summarize my project” is not permission to schedule later work.

Use the default Flower Agent

The current default Flower Agent exposes the start_automation tool. In a browser conversation, include both the work and its timing:

At 09:00 Europe/London tomorrow, search the public web for new Flower releases
and summarize them in this conversation. Run once.

For a recurring request, specify an end condition:

Starting at 09:00 Europe/London tomorrow, summarize new public Flower releases
every 24 hours, for three runs total.

Describe the work, time, timezone, and recurrence before sending the request.

Review the agent’s confirmation. It should identify the next execution time and whether the schedule repeats.

The confirmation restates when the automation will run and whether it repeats.

Expose automation from a custom AgentApp

Request the runtime tool schema and include it in a model request:

tools = agent.connectors.tools(["start_automation"])
allowed_tool_names = {
    tool["name"] for tool in tools if isinstance(tool.get("name"), str)
}

Store the returned function_call item in tool_call. Before calling the connector, verify that its name was included in tools:

if tool_call.get("name") not in allowed_tool_names:
    raise RuntimeError(f"Tool {tool_call.get('name')!r} was not exposed")

output = agent.connectors.call(tool_call)

The model-facing arguments are:

Argument	Required	Meaning
input	Yes	agent.input for every scheduled run
start_at	Yes	First run time as an ISO 8601/RFC 3339 timestamp with a timezone
fixed_interval	No	Seconds between recurring runs, omitted for one execution
max_runs	No	Maximum executions, valid only with fixed_interval

The arguments payload for a one-off function call can look like this. Replace YYYY-MM-DD with the intended future date and ±HH:MM with the UTC offset for that date in the requested timezone:

{
  "input": "Summarize new public Flower releases.",
  "start_at": "YYYY-MM-DDT09:00:00±HH:MM"
}

A bounded recurring arguments payload can look like:

{
  "input": "Summarize new public Flower releases.",
  "start_at": "YYYY-MM-DDT09:00:00±HH:MM",
  "fixed_interval": 86400,
  "max_runs": 3
}

Do not use a timezone-free value such as YYYY-MM-DDT09:00:00 because the runtime rejects it. Avoid an unbounded recurrence unless the user clearly requested one and understands how to stop it.

Understand automation scope

The 1.35.0 runtime builds scheduled runs from the current run request. It keeps the automation’s runs in the current run series and federation and replaces agent.input with the scheduled input.

Before relying on an automation, confirm that it appears under the expected federation and run series. If it uses an account connector, verify that the connector works in that deployment. Account connectors remain limited to the personal workspace.

Inspect an automation

In SuperGrid:

1. Open the federation where the automation was created

2. Under Latest activity, select Automations

3. Check the run series, next run time, remaining runs, fixed interval, and status

4. Select View all to open the full automation list

5. Use Active for upcoming schedules and History for completed, stopped, or failed schedules

To see all of your automations in one place, open Settings > Automations.

Automation activity is scoped to the open federation. If a newly created automation does not appear, confirm that you opened the federation where it was created, then refresh once.

The Automations tab shows recent schedules for the open federation. Select View all to open the full list.

Stop an automation

From the federation’s Latest activity, open Automations, select View all, then select Stop on the relevant row under Active. Wait for its status to update before leaving the page.

The Stop action is available while an automation is active.

Stopping prevents future scheduled runs. It does not stop a run that has already started. Stop that run separately from its run details or with flwr stop <run-id> supergrid.

There is no public CLI command for listing or stopping automations in Flower 1.35.0. Use the automation list in SuperGrid.

Recover from a failed schedule

1. Open the run series and inspect the latest run details

2. Check whether the model, built-in tool, or selected account connector failed

3. Fix the underlying access problem before creating a replacement schedule

4. Stop the old active automation if it can still retry

5. Create a new bounded automation and verify its displayed next-run time

Do not repeatedly create schedules while the UI is still loading. This can produce duplicate future work.