What are automations?
Automations in Ratio let you define "when X happens, do Y" rules that run automatically in the background. Every automation has two parts: a trigger (when it fires) and one or more actions (what it does).
For example: "When an invoice becomes 3 days overdue → send the client a friendly reminder email and alert the team." That automation fires on its own, every time, for every overdue invoice. No manual work required.
Start simple
The best automations do one thing well. Start with a single trigger and one action. You can always add more steps later once you confirm it works.
Triggers vs. actions
Every automation starts with exactly one trigger — the event that causes it to fire. Then it runs one or more actions in sequence.
Triggers (the "when")
- Invoice events — sent, paid, overdue, disputed
- Lead events — created, stage changed, won
- Proposal and contract events — sent, accepted, signed
- Project and milestone events — completed
- Timing — on a schedule, after a delay, before a date
- Manual — a button on a record you click to fire it
- Business intelligence — revenue threshold, inactivity, AI sentiment analysis
Actions (the "then")
- Send email — template or AI-composed
- Alert team — internal notifications, in-app alerts
- Update data — set fields, add/remove tags, create records
- Billing — apply late fees, escalate contacts
- Integrations — send webhooks, run another automation
- AI-powered — classify records, draft proposals, generate task lists
Conditions and filters
Most triggers let you set conditions so the automation only fires for specific situations. For example, an "invoice overdue" trigger can be scoped to fire only when the invoice is at least $500 and 7+ days overdue.
Conditions are AND logic — every condition must match for the automation to fire. If any condition fails, the automation silently skips that event.
- Client/project filter — scope to specific clients or projects
- Amount range — minimum and maximum dollar amounts
- Time-based — days overdue, days before due date, reminder lead time
- Lead filters — source, pipeline stage, from/to stage, deal value
- Custom field conditions — build arbitrary rules using field + operator + value
AI-powered actions
Some actions use Claude AI to generate unique, contextual content. Instead of a static email template, an AI action writes a fresh email using real-time client, invoice, and project data.
AI actions consume included monthly credits first, then draw from any rollover balance on the account. Each action shows its credit cost in the workflow builder. You can see both balances in Settings → AI Credits.
| Action | Credits | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| AI-composed email | 5 | Writes a unique email using client and project context |
| AI classify and route | 5 | Labels a record (hot lead, at-risk, etc.) for downstream branching |
| AI summarize and notify | 3 | Generates a digest and delivers it to your team |
| AI draft proposal content | 10 | Drafts proposal copy and suggests line items |
| AI task list | 5 | Creates prioritized action items from record context |
| AI enrich record | 3 | Writes enrichment notes to a record field |
| AI scheduling suggestion | 3 | Recommends the best send time based on activity |
Prompt validation
Every AI action prompt is validated before the workflow can be saved. This ensures prompts stay on-task and are scoped to legitimate business use. Validation is free — Ratio absorbs the cost.
Multi-action workflows
A single trigger can fire multiple actions in sequence. For example: "When a lead is won → send congratulations email → tag client as VIP → create onboarding tasks → alert the team." All four actions run in order under one trigger.
You can also chain triggers together. After the first trigger's actions complete, a second trigger can fire — like adding a 3-day delay before a follow-up email.
Building your first automation
- 1Go to Automations in the sidebar and click "New Automation."
- 2Click "Add trigger" and choose when the automation should fire — for your first one, try "Client created."
- 3Click "Add action" and choose what should happen — start with "Send email" and write a welcome message.
- 4Type @ in the subject or body to insert variables like @clientContactName or @businessName.
- 5Give your automation a descriptive name when prompted.
- 6Click Save. Your automation is now live and will fire the next time a client is created.
Manual triggers (one-click buttons)
Manual triggers create a button directly on client, project, or invoice pages. When you click the button, the automation runs immediately for that specific record.
This is perfect for on-demand actions like "Run AI health analysis" or "Send onboarding packet" that you want to trigger manually rather than automatically.
- 1Create a new automation and choose "Manual trigger."
- 2Select the record type (client, project, or invoice).
- 3Set a button label — this is what appears on the record page.
- 4Add your actions (email, AI compose, tag, etc.).
- 5Save and activate. The button will appear on all matching record pages.
Best practices
- Start with one trigger and one action — add complexity later
- Use conditions to prevent automations from firing too broadly
- Test with a single record before activating for all records
- Monitor execution history to catch failures early
- Use descriptive names — "3-day overdue reminder for invoices over $500" is better than "Email automation"
- Use the delay action between emails to avoid overwhelming clients
- Set minimum days overdue to build escalation chains: friendly at 3 days → firm at 14 days → collections at 60 days