Building automations
Amazon Quick Automate provides multiple methods for creating automations to suit different needs and skill levels. This section describes the available creation methods and tools.
Prerequisites
Before creating an automation, you need to create a project within a specific automation group. The automation group will control what integrations and credentials are available to you when building that automation. Ensure the required integrations and credentials are set up for any external systems you plan to interact with in your automation.
Once you have created a project, click the Start building button to get started.
Note
You must have owner permissions to manage integrations and credentials for an automation group.
Creation methods
Choose from three approaches to build your automation. If you're new to Amazon Quick Automate, we recommend:
Start by exploring sample automations
Try creating a simple automation using natural language
Experiment with manual editing once you're familiar with the basics
Using sample automations
Get started quickly by exploring pre-built samples that demonstrate common automation patterns. These samples provide hands-on examples of different automation capabilities and serve as learning resources to help you become familiar with the capabilities of Amazon Quick Automate. To use a sample automation:
Search to explore different samples by industry.
Click on the sample to view an overview of the automation.
If any integrations are required, they will be listed as prerequisites.
Click Start with sample to open the automation in the canvas.
You will now be able to view the automation, edit it, and test it.
Creating with natural language
The Automation Assistant provides an AI-powered approach to creating automations through:
Chat interface - Describe your process conversationally in natural language
Document upload - Import any documentation that describes your process steps and requirements
When you provide input through either method, the Automation Assistant will generate your automation through a two-step guided experience:
High-level plan
First, the Assistant analyzes your requirements and generates a high-level automation plan. The plan consists of process steps that logically group the related actions as part of the automation. Each process step initially contains natural language instructions.
Review and edit the instructions for each process step and then click Generate to create the low-level actions for that step.
Low-level actions
Next, the Assistant will build the low-level actions and process logic based on the step instructions.
Review and edit the generated actions. Click Run or Debug to begin testing.
Best practices for providing natural language inputs:
Specify the step by step process as if you were training a new hire
Include exact details needed to perform each step:
Email address if sending a message
File name and location if uploading/downloading a document
URL if navigating to a website
Creating from scratch (blank automation)
Build automations manually using the visual designer interface:
Navigate to your project summary
Click Start building
Select Skip to access the canvas
The designer interface provides several key components:
Canvas - Visualizes the automation. You can zoom in and out, expand and collapse process steps, and reorder actions on the canvas.
Actions panel - The actions panel has a comprehensive list of all the automation actions made available within your automation group. You can search and filter to find actions organized by category (Agents, Process flow, Web browser, etc.). Drag-and-drop actions onto the canvas to build your automation. You can also click the plus sign found when hovering between actions to add a new action directly in place on the canvas.
Properties panel - Once you add an action or click on an existing one in your process, the properties panel allows you to configure the input and output parameters that control how that action will behave.
Settings panel - Allows you to create and edit runtime configurations and explore the credentials available to your automation.
Variables panel - Displays all the variables used within your automation. Creating a variable is seamless by adding a new reference directly in your automation.
Runtime configurations and variables
Runtime configurations allow you to create easily editable settings that are used by your automation. Examples of runtime configurations include:
Website URLs
File names and locations
Email configurations like subjects and sender lists
Variables are used to store and pass information between the actions in your automation when it runs. Add a new variable to you automation by simply providing a new reference name in an output property. Common variable types include:
String - Plain text (e.g., name, description)
Number - Numeric value (e.g., quantity, score)
Boolean - True/False value
Array - Collection or list of items
Object - Key-value pairs
File - Documents and media (e.g., PDFs, images)
Data table - Spreadsheet-like data with rows and columns
Editing automations
Once you've created your automation, you can modify it using either the Automation Assistant or by directly editing on the canvas.
Using Automation Assistant
The Automation Assistant helps you make changes through natural language. You can:
Ask for updates to the entire automation, specific steps or specific actions
Focus the chat on specific steps by selecting them first
Ask questions and get in-product help and suggestions based on your actual automation
Ask for help writing expressions and code based on your needs
To edit with the Assistant:
Click Build with Assistant in the toolbar
Describe the changes you want to make
Review and confirm the suggested modifications
The chat includes a summary of changes. Click Reject changes to revert to the previous version.
Test the updated automation
Editing on canvas
Make changes directly in the visual designer:
Select the step or action to modify
Use the properties panel to adjust settings
Rearrange steps using drag-and-drop
Note
Every action has a menu of options with common actions like duplicating the action or deleting it.
Best practices for editing:
Make incremental changes
Test after each significant modification
Note
Changes are saved automatically to the live version. If you want to deploy those changes, commit and deploy the updated version.
Tip
If you encounter issues while building:
Use the Automation Assistant to get help
Check the action documentation for specific requirements
Managing automation versions
Amazon Quick Automate provides version control capabilities to help you track and maintain the history of updates to your automations and easily restore previous versions.
Key concepts
Live version - The current working copy of your automation that you can edit in the canvas. Changes are auto-saved to the live version as you edit.
Committed versions - Read-only snapshots of your automation which can be deployed. Commit a new version of your automation to keep track of significant updates and be able to revert back if needed.
Deployed versions - Committed versions can be deployed and activated to run on a schedule.
Note
Each version maintains its own runtime configuration values. Changes to the Live version's runtime settings don't affect previously committed or deployed versions.
Committing versions
To commit a version:
Click Commit in the canvas toolbar
Add a descriptive note explaining your changes
Choose how to increment the version number:
Minor version (e.g., 1.05 → 1.06) for smaller updates (default)
Major version (e.g., 1.0 → 2.0) for significant changes
Click Commit
Important
You cannot commit a version if the automation has any validation errors. Resolve all errors before attempting to commit.
When you commit a version:
The committed version becomes a read-only snapshot
The current runtime configuration is saved with the committed version
A new Live version is created based on that snapshot to continue editing
Important
Only committed versions can be deployed. The Live version must be committed first before it can be made deployed.
Viewing versions
View versions in two places:
Version dropdown in canvas - Defaulted to the Live version. Choose any previous version from the dropdown to view in read-only mode on the canvas.
Versions tab - Found within Project details. Shows a complete version history including version number, when the version was committed, the user that committed the version, and any version notes. Click on the actions menu to view version details or deploy the version.
Restoring previous versions
To restore a previous version and continue editing it as the Live version:
Select the version from the version dropdown above canvas
Choose Restore live version
The selected version replaces your current Live version
Continue editing the Live version to make any needed adjustments
Commit as a new version to take a snapshot or deploy the updates
Note
Restoring a version creates a new working copy but doesn't delete any version history.
Best practices
Add clear version notes to track the purpose of changes
Commit versions after significant updates
Test changes before committing
Review runtime configuration before committing
