Where this lives. Sign in and open /automations in the app.
What it does
"Automations" names two different things in emailcampaign.ai (Campaign Cloud in-app). The main navigation's Automations link (/automations) opens a page titled Autopilot: a list of infrastructure provisioning runs (domains, mailboxes, DNS) started from Domain & Inbox Forge. Each run shows its status, risk level, a dry-run flag, and an expandable plan of steps with timestamped logs; a dry run never touches anything real. The actual rule builder (what most people mean by "automation rules") lives under Settings, in a card also labeled "Automations," behind the Automation rules link (/settings/automations): "Rules you write yourself: when something happens on a campaign, do something about it. Runs on the same events your webhooks receive, with every firing recorded."
A rule has a trigger (for example a reply arrives, a bounce happens, an email is opened or clicked, a lead unsubscribes, or a campaign auto-pauses), optional conditions (a field, an operator such as is / is not / contains / is present / is empty / is greater than / is less than, and a value (free text works even where the page suggests common fields)), and one action: notify the workspace, suppress the lead, pause the campaign, or push to your connected CRM. The builder only offers triggers and actions the server's own catalog supports. Each rule tracks how many times it has fired and shows its most recent runs inline.
Approvals (/approvals) is not its own page: it redirects to the Command Center's approvals panel, the single queue for every sensitive action across the product: "Sensitive actions — purchases, DNS changes, sends, launches — wait here for a human decision." Each pending item shows a title, a summary, a risk-level pill, the action type, and a cost estimate when one applies. Clicking Approve on something with a real cost first asks you to confirm the exact amount it will spend on your registrar or provider account; some rows additionally ask for a two-factor code before they'll grant. Clicking Reject declines it.
What happens next depends on the action: some run immediately ("Approved and executed"); others continue in the background and the outcome appears under Recent decisions; and if something was approved but genuinely failed to run, the notice says so rather than staying silent. Provisioning a mailbox this way can surface generated passwords in a one-time dialog, shown exactly once and never stored, so copy them immediately.
Before you start
- Viewing the Autopilot run list, the approvals queue, and rule run history only needs the baseline "view dashboard" permission.
- Creating or editing automation rules, and managing Autopilot runs, need "manage automations."
- Actually approving or rejecting a pending request needs "approve automation," a separate permission from managing the rules or runs themselves.
- An approval tied to your account's two-factor setup will ask for a code before it grants, regardless of your permissions otherwise.
Set it up, step by step
- To write a rule, open Settings, find the Automations card, and click Automation rules (/settings/automations).
- Name the rule, choose a Trigger, add one or more Conditions (field, operator, value), and pick an Action.
- Save it, then watch Recent runs on that rule to confirm it fires the way you expect.
- To see infrastructure work in progress, click Automations in the left navigation (/automations); this is Autopilot, not your rules.
- When something needs a decision, go to Approvals (or click any "Approval pending →" link); both land on the same Command Center panel.
- Review the risk level and any cost estimate, then click Approve or Reject (enter a code first if asked, then Approve with code).
- Copy any credentials dialog that appears after approving right away — it will not be shown again.
What you should see
The approvals panel caps how many pending items it lists at once and says so ("Showing X of Y pending — decide these to reveal the rest") rather than silently hiding work. A dry-run Autopilot run is labeled "dry run" and its steps show as "simulated" rather than "done." A rule with no conditions still saves and fires on the trigger alone.
Common problems
- You can't find where to build a rule. The main nav's "Automations" is Autopilot, not the rule builder — go to Settings > Automations > Automation rules instead.
- Approve asks for a code you don't have. That approval requires your account's two-factor method; set it up, or have someone else with "approve automation" decide it.
- A generated password is gone. It was shown once, in the dialog right after approval; reset it if you missed it.
- Approve says "execution failed." The request was granted but the action genuinely did not succeed — check the message and Recent decisions.
Related
Common questions
What needs approval?
Anything that spends money or reaches the outside world: buying domains, creating mailboxes, writing DNS, and starting a campaign. Reading, drafting and reporting do not.
Why put a human in front of automation at all?
Because the expensive mistakes in outbound are irreversible. A domain bought in error costs money; a campaign sent to the wrong list costs a domain's reputation and three weeks of warm-up.
Read next
Last updated September 19, 2026. Written by the team that operates the platform.