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Automations let you set up rules that automatically enrich products as they’re created or updated. Pick a taxonomy and category, choose which attributes to generate, optionally narrow with filters, and Cernel handles the rest. Every product that matches your rule is enriched without anyone lifting a finger.

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How it works

An automation watches for products in a specific taxonomy and category. When a product arrives or changes in a way that matches your conditions, Cernel automatically runs enrichment using the agents linked to the attributes you selected. The results appear as jobs you can review from the Dashboard and on the automation’s Run history tab. You configure automations by completing a one-page sentence builder — three lines that read as a single sentence and let you fill in each slot from the same screen.

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Why you would use this

No content bottleneck for new or changed products

Products get descriptions, meta titles, and structured attributes the moment they arrive or change. No one has to remember to trigger enrichment.

Consistent coverage across your catalog

Every product that matches your rules gets the same treatment. No products slip through without content.
Key concept: the automation sentence. Each automation reads as one editable sentence — “New and updated products in [taxonomy › category] will automatically enrich [attributes] narrowed to only products matching [filters]”. Click any slot to change it; the rest of the sentence updates around your choice.

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Before you begin

To create an automation, you need:
  1. A category with attributes: the category must have attributes configured with linked AI agents
  2. At least one linked agent: only attributes with agents appear in the attribute picker

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Creating an automation

1

Open Automations

Go to Tools > Automations in the sidebar. You’ll see a list of existing automations, each shown as a compact sentence summary so you can scan the configuration at a glance.
The Automations page listing existing automations as sentence summaries with Name, Configuration and Active columns and a Create automation button
2

Click Create automation

Click Create automation to open a blank automation on its own page. Give it a name in the Unnamed automation field at the top, then fill in the sentence below.
The new automation page showing the sentence builder with empty slots: Pick a taxonomy and category, will automatically enrich Pick a category first, All products are included
3

Pick a taxonomy and category

Click Pick a taxonomy and category. A popover opens with a taxonomy selector at the top and an expandable category tree below. Pick a taxonomy, then choose any category in the tree — or pick Unclassified products to target products that haven’t been classified yet.
The taxonomy popover open over the sentence builder showing a Cernel Taxonomy dropdown, a search field, and a tree of categories with Unclassified products at the bottom
Switching taxonomies or categories after you’ve chosen attributes or filters clears them — attributes and filters are scoped to the category you picked.
4

Pick attributes to enrich

Click the Pick attributes slot in the second line of the sentence. Choose one or more attributes — only attributes that have an AI agent linked appear here. Add as many as you need; each one becomes a chip in the sentence, and + Another attribute adds the next.
5

(Optional) Narrow down with filters

The third sentence line starts as “All products are included.” To restrict the automation to a subset, click Narrow down with a filter and add one or more conditions on attribute values or product properties. Each filter becomes a chip; + AND adds another condition.
Filters are optional. Leave them empty if you want every product in the category to be enriched.
6

Save the automation

Toggle Active in the top-right if you want the automation running immediately, then click Create automation.
Your automation is created and appears in the Automations list. Matching products will be enriched automatically with the selected attributes.

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Managing automations

Click any row in the Automations list to open the automation’s detail page. The detail page uses the same sentence builder as creation — edit any slot in place, then click Save changes. Toggle Active in the top-right to pause or resume without losing the configuration, and use the red delete icon to remove an automation permanently.
The automation detail page with the Overview tab active, showing the editable sentence with chips for taxonomy, attribute, and filter, plus Cancel and Save changes buttons

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List-view actions

From the Automations list itself, each row also exposes inline icon buttons for the same actions, so you don’t have to open the detail page for quick changes:
  • Run history — Jump straight to the automation’s Run history tab.
  • Pause / Activate — Toggle the automation on or off. The icon shown reflects the current state.
  • Edit — Open the detail page so you can change the sentence.
  • Delete — Permanently remove the automation.

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Viewing run history

Each automation detail page has a Run history tab next to Overview. The tab lists the runs that have processed products for this automation:
The Run history tab on the automation detail page showing a table with Status, Products, and Started columns, with multiple rows of completed runs
Each row shows:
  • Status — Done (green), Running (blue), Pending (yellow), or Failed (red)
  • Products — How many products the run processed
  • Started — Relative time the run began
Expand a row to see the individual products processed in that run, with links into the product detail view.

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Multi-taxonomy and Unclassified products

Each automation is scoped to one taxonomy and category. If you have several taxonomies on the same products, create one automation per taxonomy / category combination — they run independently and write into different attribute sets. You can also pick Unclassified products as the category. An Unclassified automation targets products that haven’t been classified into the chosen taxonomy yet, and is limited to setting the classifying attribute of that taxonomy so the automation can place the product in the right category before any further enrichment runs.
Cernel ships with a built-in Cernel Classification Automation that classifies unclassified products into the Cernel Taxonomy. It appears in the Automations list with a System badge and can be paused but not edited or deleted.

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Frequently asked questions

Yes. Automations run on both newly created products and existing products that are updated — the automation re-evaluates products whose data has changed, and enriches any that match. To enrich a batch of unchanged products on demand, use manual enrichment from the products table instead.
Check three things:
  1. Is the automation active? — Paused automations don’t process products. Look for the play / pause toggle in the row’s actions or the Active switch on the detail page.
  2. Do the conditions match? — If you set filters, products must match them. Open the automation and check the sentence; remove a filter temporarily to test.
  3. Are the attributes still configured? — The selected attributes must have AI agents linked. Check the category’s attribute configuration.
Changes take effect for the next products that match. Products currently being processed complete with the previous configuration; products evaluated after you save use the new sentence.
Yes. You can create multiple automations with different attributes and filters for the same category. Each runs independently when its conditions are met. For example:
  • Automation 1: Cernel Taxonomy › Apparel → Meta Title, Meta Description (basic SEO for everything)
  • Automation 2: Cernel Taxonomy › Apparel, filtered to has images → Product Description, Materials (rich content only where the AI can see the product)
Open the automation and switch to the Run history tab. Failed runs show a red Failed badge; expand the row to see which specific products encountered errors and follow the link into the product detail view.
Optional. If you’re importing a large batch and don’t want each new or updated product to enqueue a job, pause the relevant automations first, complete the import, then resume them and manually enrich the batch on your own schedule.
It’s a built-in system automation that classifies products into the Cernel Taxonomy when they don’t have a Cernel category yet. You can pause it from the list view if you want to take full control of classification, but it can’t be edited or deleted.

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What’s next

AI Agents

Make sure your agents are configured before setting up automations — automations use linked agents to generate content.

Enriching products on demand

Manually enrich products that automations don’t cover, or kick off a one-off run for a specific batch.