Overview
Automation ideas usually die in the backlog, not because the rule is complicated but because building it means knowing your way around the automation designer, knowing what each field is really called, and knowing which values a selection list actually accepts. Ask AI removes that step: describe the rule you want in plain language and Ask AI builds it, checked against your own data model, and saves it switched off for review.
It's ideal for teams with a list of "we should automate that" ideas and limited designer expertise to spare.
To Get the Best Results from Ask AI Automations
Put the trigger, the condition and the result in one sentence. For example: when a deal is set to Won, create a task for the deal owner to send the welcome kit within two days. Describe the outcome, not the mechanics.
Let it check your selection lists. If you name a value that doesn't exist, Ask AI stops, shows you the values that are actually available, and offers ways forward rather than inventing one.
Read the Good to know notes before you save. That's where you'll see things like the rule firing on imports as well as manual edits.
Refine in the same conversation. If the proposal comes back slightly wrong, say so and Ask AI rebuilds it. Don't start over.
How It Works
Step 1. Describe the automation in Ask AI
Open Ask AI and describe the rule you want in your own words.
Step 2. Review the proposal card
Ask AI returns a proposal card with the trigger under When, every step under Then, and a Good to know section covering anything worth understanding before you commit — for example, that the rule fires on every matching change including imports, or that removing a referenced list value will switch the automation off.
Nothing is live at this point.
Behind the Scenes
Ask AI inspects your data structure and resolves the field names you used to the real fields in your database.
It checks which record subtypes the trigger will cover and tells you.
It validates any selection list values you named against the options that exist.
It checks your request against what automations can actually do, and tells you immediately if your idea needs the designer instead.
Step 3. Refine or save
If the proposal isn't right, correct it in the same conversation. When you press Save, the automation is stored switched off.
Step 4. Review and switch it on
The saved automation appears in the automation designer, switched off, under a descriptive name. Review it there and switch it on. From that point it's an ordinary TribeCRM automation — fully editable, with its own timeline, logs and change history.
What Ask AI can build
Automations can be triggered by a record being created, a field changing value (optionally only from or to specific values), or a link changing. You can layer up to eight conditions on the triggering record, combined with All or Any, plus a branching if/then/else step.
Up to eight action steps can update fields or links on the triggering record or on a single related record, create a new linked record, or link an existing record. Values can be fixed text, numbers or dates, copied from a field on the triggering record, calculated with simple arithmetic, set relative to today, or set to whoever made the change.
Scheduled automations, deletion triggers, email steps, macros and action templates still belong in the automation designer, as do subtype changes such as converting an organisation from Prospect to Customer. Ask AI tells you straight away when your idea needs one and links you to the right place.
Why This Matters
The work this removes isn't the thinking — it's the translation between "I want this to happen" and the field names, list values and step wiring that make it happen. That translation is the reason automation backlogs grow while teams keep doing the admin by hand.
Because every automation lands switched off, the speed comes without giving up control: Ask AI does the construction, a human still decides what goes live.
FAQ
Does the automation start running as soon as I save it?
No. Every automation Ask AI builds is saved switched off. Someone has to review it in the automation designer and switch it on before anything happens.
Can I change the automation afterwards?
Yes. Once saved it's a normal TribeCRM automation, editable in the designer like any other, with full logs and change history.
What happens if I ask for a field or a value that doesn't exist?
Ask AI won't invent one. For fields, it maps your wording to the closest real field and tells you what it matched. For selection list values, it stops, shows you the available options, and offers you ways forward.
Can Ask AI build a rule based on time passing, like "no activity for 14 days"?
No. Triggers are limited to a record being created, a field changing, or a link changing — there are no scheduled triggers. Ask AI will say so immediately and link you to the automation designer.
My proposal card stopped working before I saved it. Why?
Proposal cards expire after roughly fifteen minutes. If that happens, ask again in the conversation and Ask AI will rebuild it.