Command Automations

Command Automations run things for you when a page matches your conditions, instead of you typing a command. An automation combines:

• When — a form opens, a list opens, either, the moment an element matching a CSS selector appears (useful for UI that only renders after you open it), or a context menu opens: a right-click in a classic list, or the field popover on a form (your entry appears in both, or just the surfaces you pick)
• Where — which instances (hostname match) and tables (wildcards like sys_* allowed), optionally a URL fragment, new versus existing records, and an hour range in local time
• Then — run one of your slash commands with optional arguments, or show a reminder banner
• Controls — run at most once per page (or keep re-applying on a cooldown), and per-automation enable/disable

Manage them under Settings → Commands → Automations (/manage.html#automations).

Built-in automations

Built-ins are ready-made UX hacks — and every one of them is a working example of how automations are meant to be composed: the logic lives in a slash command you can open, read, and copy, and the automation only defines when it runs. There is no hidden behavior.

The first built-in, Expanded messages & filters (included with Free), fixes one of the platform's oldest annoyances: the form message output area and the list filter condition builder are capped at a 260px strip, and multi-select filter boxes show only a few options. It simply runs the /expand command automatically on every form and list, re-applying on a cooldown so it also catches the condition builder after you expand it. Want different sizes? Open /expand under Commands, duplicate it as a custom command with your own values, and point your own automation at it — that's the whole pattern.

Switch to Application Scope (included with Free, on by default) adds a "Switch to Application Scope" entry wherever you open a context menu on an application reference — the right-click menu of classic list cells that link to an application (like the Application column on Update Sets or Customer Updates) and the field popover on form fields referencing an application — and runs /sa with that application's sys_id to switch your current scope and reload. Because it is a regular automation, you can scope it to specific instances or switch it off under Automations.

Impersonate User (included with Free, activate it under Automations) adds an "Impersonate user" entry to the same context menus wherever a list cell or form field references a user — like Caller or Assigned to. It runs /imp with that user's sys_id and impersonates them immediately, no picking step. Requires impersonation rights on the instance.

More built-in UX hacks will follow. Every built-in can be scoped to specific instances or tables after activation.

Building your own (Pro)

With Pro you can build automations that either run any of your slash commands or show your own reminder banner — for example:

• Open your timer command whenever an incident form opens on production
• Run a list-formatting command every time you open a specific table's list
• Show a custom warning ("Careful — {table} on {host}") on tables your team considers sensitive
• Auto-apply your own page tweak as a script command — uncheck run at most once per page so it re-applies (on a cooldown) and also catches elements that appear later
• Add your own context-menu action: pick the "Context menu (lists & fields)" trigger, give the menu item a label, optionally limit it to references to certain tables (like sys_user or cmdb_*), and run any command with the clicked record's context. The entry appears in the classic list right-click menu and the form field popover; two checkboxes narrow it to one surface

Automations pause while the slash command palette is open, so a repeating automation never interferes with what you're typing.

Banner messages and command arguments support the placeholders {table}, {sysid}, and {host}. The context-menu trigger adds {cell_sysid}, {cell_table}, and {cell_value} for the record the clicked cell or field references, plus {row_sysid}, {field}, and {list_table} for the row, column, and list (on a form: the record, field, and table). Banners come in three styles: info and warning auto-dismiss, alert stays until dismissed.

The Pro Trial includes up to three automations. If the trial ends, your automations are kept — visible, editable, exportable — but they pause until you upgrade, then resume exactly as configured.

Safety

• Automations never block a save; they only react after a page is ready.
• A failing automation can never break the form — errors are isolated and logged to the console.
• Each automation can be disabled individually, and built-ins never touch data by design.