Automations let you build rules that automatically take action on conversations — so your team spends less time on repetitive tasks and more time on customers who need real help. When something happens (a new conversation, a message), Commslayer checks your conditions and executes the actions.
Where to find Automations
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Go to Settings
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Under Conversation tools, click Automations, then Add automation rule
Only Administrators and Managers see Automations. Automations are included on every current plan, including Free.
How automations work
Each automation has three parts:
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Event — What triggers the automation (new conversation, new message, etc.)
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Conditions — What must be true for the automation to run (sender email contains "noreply", subject includes "refund", etc.)
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Actions — What happens when conditions match (add label, assign agent, send reply, resolve)
You can combine multiple conditions with AND/OR logic, and chain multiple actions together.
Events
The event decides when a rule is checked. Pick it first, because it also decides which conditions you can use.
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Conversation created: Runs once per conversation, when a customer starts a new one (first email, chat or DM). It doesn't run for conversations your team starts with an outgoing message.
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Message created: Runs for every new message in any conversation. That covers the customer's first message, later customer messages, agent replies, AI agent replies and private notes. Add the Message type condition to limit it to Incoming Message or Outgoing Message.
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Conversation updated: Runs when something on the conversation changes: status, assignee, team, labels, priority, contact reason, language or email subject. It can also run when a customer writes in or an agent sends the first reply.
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Conversation opened: Runs when a conversation's status becomes Open, including when a customer reply reopens a resolved conversation.
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CSAT rating submitted: Runs when a customer submits or changes a CSAT rating.
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Return created: Runs when a return is created. Used with the returns feature.
There is no "Conversation resolved" event and no event for a Shopify order being placed or fulfilled.
Conversation created and Message created rules don't run for blocked contacts (Spam).
Conditions
The conditions you can pick depend on the event. If a condition is missing from the list, check which event the rule uses.
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Conversation created: Status, Conversation type, Priority, Message content, Email subject, Sender email, Inbox email address, Inbox, Customer has made a purchase, Customer total order value, Shopify customer tag, Shopify order tag, Customer message count, Country, Phone number, Browser language, Conversation language, Referrer link, Guidance
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Message created: Status, Message type, Message content, Email subject, Sender email, Inbox email address, Inbox, Phone number, Conversation language, Customer message count, CSAT rating, Guidance
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Conversation updated: Status, Conversation type, Priority, Assignee, Team, Labels, Email subject, Sender email, Inbox, Customer has made a purchase, Customer total order value, Shopify order tag, Customer message count, CSAT rating, Country, Phone number, Browser language, Conversation language, Referrer link, Guidance
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Conversation opened: Conversation type, Priority, Assignee, Team, Labels, Email subject, Sender email, Inbox, Customer has made a purchase, Customer total order value, Shopify order tag, Customer message count, CSAT rating, Country, Phone number, Browser language, Conversation language, Referrer link
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CSAT rating submitted: CSAT rating, Inbox, Assignee, Team, Labels, Priority, Conversation type, Conversation language, Sender email, Country, Guidance
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Return created: Return reason, Number of items, Return status
If contact reasons are turned on for your account, Contact reason is also available on every event.
The ones that trip people up:
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Labels, Assignee and Team are only available on Conversation updated, Conversation opened and CSAT rating submitted. They aren't offered on Conversation created or Message created.
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Shopify customer tag is only on Conversation created. Shopify order tag is on Conversation created, Conversation updated and Conversation opened, and checks the tags on the customer's most recent order.
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Shopify tags match as whole tags and ignore upper and lower case. "Contains VIP" matches a tag "VIP" or "vip", but not "VIP-gold". Use one tag per condition row.
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Shopify customer tag only matches people found as customers in your Shopify store.
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Customer message count counts the customer's messages in this conversation. It doesn't count their earlier conversations.
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Message content also checks the email subject.
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Guidance is the AI agent guidance detected for the conversation.
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Custom attributes can't be picked as conditions in the rule editor.
Operators depend on the condition:
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Text (Message content, Email subject, Sender email, Referrer link): Equal to, Not equal to, Contains, Does not contain
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Lists (Status, Inbox, Priority, Labels, Country, languages, Message type, Conversation type, Guidance): Equal to, Not equal to, Is one of, Is not one of
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Assignee and Team: Equal to, Not equal to, Is present, Is not present. On Conversation updated and Conversation opened also Is one of and Is not one of.
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Numbers (Customer message count, CSAT rating): Equal to, Is greater than, Is less than
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Shopify customer tag and Shopify order tag: Contains, Does not contain
Every rule needs at least one complete condition. To run a rule on every conversation for an event, add a condition that is always true, such as Inbox with Is one of and all your inboxes selected.
Actions
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Send a message: Auto-reply to the customer. Skipped on Facebook and Instagram comments.
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Add a private note: Leave an internal note on the conversation.
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Add a label and Remove a label: Tag or untag the conversation.
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Assign to agent: Route to a specific agent. The agent has to be a collaborator on that inbox, or an Administrator. Otherwise nothing is assigned.
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Assign a team: Route to a team.
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Set pending, Resolve conversation, Reopen conversation: Change the status. Resolve conversation doesn't send a CSAT survey.
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Change priority: Set the urgency level.
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Mute conversation: Silence notifications for the conversation.
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Send an email to team: Notify a team by email.
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Send an email transcript: Email a copy of the conversation to an address you choose.
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Send attachment: Send a file to the customer.
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Send webhook event: POST conversation data to an external URL.
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Auto-approve return and Auto-decline return: For rules on returns.
You can add several actions to one rule. They run in the order listed, and you can drag them to rearrange.
Each action needs its value filled in (the agent, team, label, message text or URL) before the rule can be saved.
There is no action to merge conversations, edit the subject, mark a conversation as spam, or change anything in Shopify.
What automations can't do
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Check how much time has passed. There are no conditions like "no reply for 24 hours" or "created more than 4 hours ago". A rule is checked at the moment its event happens. To find conversations still waiting on a reply, sort the Open list by Last activity: Oldest first, or create a view. To close open conversations after days of no activity, set Number of days after a ticket should auto resolve if there is no activity in Settings → Account settings. To make a rule wait before its actions run, see Delay below.
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Follow a schedule. There are no conditions for time of day, day of the week or business hours. For an auto-reply when you're closed, set Business hours in the inbox settings and add an unavailable message there. See Business hours and the unavailable message.
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Run on conversations you already have. Rules only run on new events. Turning a rule on doesn't go back over existing conversations. For those, select them in the conversation list and use the bulk actions, or use an AI assistant connected through MCP.
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Trigger another rule. Put every action in one rule.
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React to Shopify orders. There is no event for an order being placed or fulfilled, and no order status condition. The Shopify conditions (tags, purchase history, total order value) are checked when the conversation event happens.
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Count a customer's earlier conversations. Conversation created already runs once per conversation, so an auto-reply on that event goes out once per conversation.
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Merge conversations, edit the subject or mark as spam.
Rule won't save or isn't running? See Troubleshooting below.
Example: Auto-reply to new conversations
Send an acknowledgment when customers reach out.
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Event: Conversation created
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Conditions: Inbox equals "Email Support"
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Actions: Send message → "Thanks for reaching out. We'll get back to you within 24 hours."
This rule sends once per conversation, on the customer's first message. Later messages in the same conversation don't trigger it. The message isn't sent from an agent, so it doesn't count as your first response in reports.
Example: Label conversations by content
Tag refund requests automatically.
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Event: Message created
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Conditions: Message content contains "refund" OR "money back"
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Actions: Add label → "Refund request"
Example: Auto-resolve by sender
Close automated notifications from no-reply addresses.
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Event: Conversation created
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Conditions: Sender email Contains "noreply@" OR Sender email Contains "no-reply@"
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Actions: Resolve conversation
Example: Auto-resolve by subject
Skip order confirmation emails.
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Event: Conversation created
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Conditions: Email subject contains "Order confirmation" OR Email subject contains "Shipping notification"
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Actions: Resolve conversation, Add label → "Auto-closed"
Example: Prioritise by Shopify tag
Flag conversations from customers tagged in Shopify.
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Event: Conversation created
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Conditions: Shopify customer tag Contains "VIP" OR Shopify order tag Contains "VISA"
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Actions: Add a label → "urgent", Change priority → High
Example: Send one sender to one agent
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Event: Conversation created
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Conditions: Sender email Equal to "no-reply@example.com"
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Actions: Assign to agent → the agent (they need to be a collaborator on that inbox, or an Administrator)
Example: Resolve after an agent replies
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Event: Message created
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Conditions: Message type Equal to Outgoing Message AND Inbox Equal to "Email Support"
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Actions: Resolve conversation
Outgoing Message also matches AI agent replies and private notes, so a note or an AI agent reply resolves the conversation too. Keep the rule to an inbox where that is fine. Conversations resolved by an automation don't get a CSAT survey.
Example: Follow up on a low rating
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Event: CSAT rating submitted
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Conditions: CSAT rating Is less than 4
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Actions: Reopen conversation, Add a private note → "Low rating, please follow up"
If you want to check more automation templates, check this page here.
Delay
In the Delay panel, between Conditions and Actions, tick Wait before running actions and set the days, hours or minutes. The shortest delay is 5 minutes and the longest is 30 days. A rule has one delay.
When the wait ends, the actions run only if the conditions still match and nobody has written in the conversation in the meantime. A customer message, an agent reply, an AI agent reply or a private note during the wait cancels the delayed actions. So does turning the rule off.
Delayed actions are picked up every 5 minutes, so they can run a few minutes after the time you set. A 5 minute delay that runs after 9 minutes is working as expected.
Troubleshooting
The Create button is greyed out
Create (or Update on an existing rule) stays disabled until the rule is complete. Check each part:
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The rule has a name.
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An event is selected.
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There is at least one condition, with its value filled in.
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There is at least one action, with its value filled in.
The action value is what people miss most. Assign to agent needs an agent picked. Assign a team needs a team, Add a label needs a label, Send a message and Add a private note need text, and Send webhook event needs a URL.
A condition is missing from the list
The conditions you can pick depend on the event. Change the event and the list changes.
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Labels, Assignee and Team are only on Conversation updated, Conversation opened and CSAT rating submitted.
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Shopify customer tag is only on Conversation created.
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Message type (Incoming Message or Outgoing Message) is only on Message created.
The full list per event is in Conditions above.
The rule saved but didn't run
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The rule is inactive. In the rule list, check that the rule is under the Active tab. An inactive rule is paused and doesn't trigger.
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The conversation was already there. Rules run when an event happens. Turning a rule on doesn't go back over conversations you already have.
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Another automation made the change. A change made by one automation rule doesn't trigger another rule. Put all the actions in one rule.
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Your team started the conversation. Conversation created doesn't run when the first message is outgoing, for example when an agent starts a new email to a customer.
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The sender is blocked. Conversation created and Message created rules don't run for contacts in Spam.
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Two conditions are joined with AND when you meant OR. With AND, every condition has to match.
The rule ran but an action didn't happen
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Assign to agent did nothing. The agent has to be a collaborator on the conversation's inbox, or an Administrator. Add the agent under Collaborators in the inbox settings and the rule will work on the next conversation.
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Send a message didn't send. This action is skipped on Facebook and Instagram comments and on conversations you can't reply to, such as imported ones. Other actions in the same rule still run.
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No CSAT survey after the rule resolved a conversation. That is how the Resolve conversation action works: it resolves without a survey.
What automations can't do, and what to use instead
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Send an auto-reply only outside working hours. Rules have no schedule. Set Business hours in the inbox settings and add an unavailable message there.
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Run on existing conversations. Use bulk actions in the conversation list, or MCP.
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Trigger when an order is placed, confirmed or fulfilled. There is no order event.
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Merge duplicate conversations. Merging is manual.
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Mark a conversation as spam. To keep a sender out of your Open list, resolve their conversations with a rule, or mark one of their conversations as spam, which blocks the contact. See Spam management.
A delayed action didn't run
A customer message, an agent reply, an AI agent reply or a private note during the wait cancels the delayed actions. So does turning the rule off. When the wait ends, the actions run only if the conditions still match. Delayed actions are picked up every 5 minutes, so they can run a few minutes after the time you set.
Managing your automations
From Settings → Automations you can:
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Toggle a rule on or off without deleting it
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Edit any rule to update its event, conditions, or actions
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Clone a rule as a starting point for a similar one
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Delete rules you no longer need
Tips
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Name rules clearly — Use a descriptive format like "Conversation Created - Assign to Support Team" so the list stays readable as it grows.
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Rules don't run in a set order: You can't reorder rules, and when two rules match the same conversation there is no guarantee which one runs first. Don't let two rules set the same thing, such as the assignee or the team. Put those actions in one rule, or make the conditions of the two rules exclude each other.
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Test before going live — Create a test conversation to confirm your rule fires as expected before relying on it in production.
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Use "contains" for partial matches, "equals" for exact matches — Getting this wrong is the most common reason a rule doesn't fire.
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One rule can't trigger another: A change made by an automation never sets off another automation rule. If rule A adds a label, a rule B that waits for that label won't run. Put all the actions in rule A. Changes made by a person, the AI agent, an auto-label, or an AI assistant connected through MCP do trigger rules.