# How automations work

> Triggers, steps, and enrollments in plain terms.

_Source: https://hexafloww.com/docs/automations/automations-overview_

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An automation is a journey that runs for a contact on its own — something happens (a **trigger**), and HexaFloww runs a series of **steps** for that contact.

## The three ideas

- **Trigger** — the event that starts the journey. For example "opened a campaign", "joined a segment", "sent a WhatsApp message", "opted in to WhatsApp".
- **Steps** — what happens next, in order: wait, send an email, send a WhatsApp template, add or remove from a segment, or branch on a condition.
- **Enrollment** — one contact's run through the journey. Many contacts can be enrolled at once, each at their own point in the steps.

![Automation builder with a trigger and a chain of steps](https://hexafloww.com/docs/automations/builder.webp)

## Building one

1. **Open Automations → New Automation.** Go to `/admin/automations`.
2. **Choose a trigger** and configure it.
3. **Add steps** on the canvas and set each one up.
4. **Activate.** New matching events now enroll contacts.

See [Build your first journey](https://hexafloww.com/docs/automations/build-your-first-journey.md) for a worked example, and [Triggers & steps](https://hexafloww.com/docs/automations/triggers-and-steps.md) for the full list.

## Status

- **Draft** — created but never activated. It does nothing yet.
- **Active** — running and enrolling.
- **Completed** — it finished its current work (no one is enrolled right now). It flips back to Active automatically when a new event matches.
- **Paused** — you stopped it (the **Pause** button); it won't enroll anyone until you activate it again.

> [!NOTE]
> Consent and frequency rules still apply inside automations. A WhatsApp step won't message a contact who hasn't opted in or who is frequency-capped.