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The Automate view in Agent Canvas is the in-app control center for your automations. From here you can see all automations on the active backend, inspect their configuration and run history, and manage their lifecycle without leaving the app.
Automations run on the active backend. Switch backends from Connect and Manage Backends to see automations on a different backend.

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Browse and inspect automations

Open the Automate tab in the sidebar to see all automations on the active backend. Each row shows the automation name, trigger type, and enabled state. Click an automation to open its detail view. The detail view shows:
  • The full prompt the automation runs
  • Trigger configuration (schedule, webhook, or event)
  • LLM profile used for runs
  • Recent run history and status

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Enable and disable automations

Toggle an automation on or off from the kebab menu (⋮) on the automation row, or from the detail view. Disabled automations do not fire on their scheduled trigger or in response to events, but their configuration is preserved.

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Run an automation manually

Select Run now from the automation’s kebab menu to trigger an immediate run outside the normal schedule. Useful for testing or for one-off executions.

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Export an automation

Agent Canvas can export any automation as a portable JSON file. Use this to:
  • Share a reusable automation with teammates
  • Back up automation configuration in version control
  • Move an automation between backends or accounts
To export:
  1. Open the Automate view.
  2. Click the kebab menu (⋮) on the automation you want to export.
  3. Select Export.
The file downloads as <slug>.automation.json, where <slug> is derived from the automation’s name.

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Exported file format

The file contains a versioned JSON document with the automation’s full configuration: 
{
  "version": 1,
  "kind": "automation",
  "spec": {
    "name": "Daily GitHub Summary",
    "trigger": {
      "type": "schedule",
      "schedule": "0 9 * * 1-5",
      "schedule_human": "Weekdays at 9:00 AM",
      "timezone": "America/New_York"
    },
    "enabled": true,
    "prompt": "Summarize the previous day's PRs and post to #engineering.",
    "repository": "openhands/docs",
    "model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5"
  }
}
The spec object includes the automation’s name, prompt, trigger, schedule, repository, model, plugins, and notification settings. You can hand-author, diff, or version-control this file using any standard tool.

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Import an automation

You can import an automation from a JSON file previously exported by Agent Canvas, or from a hand-authored file that follows the same versioned schema. To import:
  1. Open the Automate view.
  2. Click Import automation at the top of the list.
  3. Pick the .json file to import.
  4. Review the preview — it shows the automation’s name, trigger type, and prompt.
  5. Confirm to create the automation.
Imported automations are created disabled. After importing, open the automation from the list, review its configuration, and enable it when ready.