> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wandb.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Automations overview

> Use W&B Automations for triggering workflows based on events in W&B

<Info>
  This feature requires a [Pro or Enterprise plan](https://wandb.ai/site/pricing/).
</Info>

This page describes *automations* in W\&B. [Create an automation](/models/automations/create-automations/) to trigger workflow steps, such as automated model testing and deployment, based on an event in W\&B.

For example, an automation can notify a Slack channel when a new version is created, trigger an automated testing webhook when the `production` alias is added to an artifact, or start a validation job only when a run's `loss` is within acceptable bounds.

<Info>
  Looking for companion tutorials for automations?

  * [Learn to automatically trigger a Github Action for model evaluation and deployment](https://wandb.ai/wandb/wandb-model-cicd/reports/Model-CI-CD-with-W-B--Vmlldzo0OTcwNDQw).
  * [Watch a video demonstrating automatically deploying a model to a Sagemaker endpoint](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5CMj_w3DaQ).
  * [Watch a video series introducing automations](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD80i8An1OEGECFPgY-HPCNjXgGu-qGO6\&feature=shared).
</Info>

## Automation events

Automations can be triggered by events related to runs or artifacts in a collection, project, or registry. An automation can start:

* When a run metric meets a defined absolute or relative threshold. For example, trigger when a run's `loss` is less than 0.01 or when a run's `accuracy` improves by 5%.
* When a run's z-score (standard score) deviates from the mean by a given amount. A z-score of 0 indicates that the result aligns with the mean. A z-score of +2 means that the result is two standard deviations higher than the mean, and a z-score of -2 means that the result is two standard deviations lower than the mean.
* When an event occurs in a project or registry. For example, trigger when a new version of a model artifact is created or when the `production` alias is added to a model artifact.

For more details, see [Automation events and scopes](/models/automations/automation-events/).

## Automation actions

When an event triggers an automation, it can perform one of these actions:

### Slack notification

Send a message to a Slack channel with details about the triggering event. The message summarizes the event, with a link to view more details in W\&B.

### Webhook

Call a webhook URL with a JSON payload containing information about the triggering event. This enables integration with external systems like CI/CD pipelines, model deployment services, or custom workflows. The body of the webhook request may be any JSON-serializable payload.

For implementation details, see:

* [Create a Slack automation](/models/automations/create-automations/slack/)
* [Create a webhook automation](/models/automations/create-automations/webhook/)

## How automations work

To [create an automation](/models/automations/create-automations/), you:

1. If required, configure [secrets](/platform/secrets/) for sensitive strings the automation requires, such as access tokens, passwords, or sensitive configuration details. Secrets are defined in your **Team Settings**. Secrets are most commonly used in webhook automations to securely pass credentials or tokens to the webhook's external service without exposing it in plain text or hard-coding it in the webhook's payload.
2. Configure team-level webhook or Slack integrations to authorize W\&B to post to Slack or run the webhook on your behalf. A single automation action (webhook or Slack notification) can be used by multiple automations. These actions are defined in your **Team Settings**.
3. In the project or registry, create the automation:
   1. Define the [event](#automation-events) to watch for, such as when a new artifact version is added.
   2. Define the action to take when the event occurs (posting to a Slack channel or running a webhook). For a webhook, specify a secret to use for the access token and/or a secret to send with the payload, if required.

## Limitations

[Run metric automations](/models/automations/automation-events/#run-metrics-events) and [run metrics z-score change automations](/models/automations/automation-events/#run-metrics-z-score-change-automations) are currently supported only in [W\&B Multi-tenant Cloud](/platform/hosting/#wb-multi-tenant-cloud).

## Next steps

* [Create an automation](/models/automations/create-automations/).
* Learn about [Automation events and scopes](/models/automations/automation-events/).
* [Create a secret](/platform/secrets/).