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Automations let you set up rules that automatically enrich new products when they’re created. Select a category, define optional filters, choose which attributes to generate, and Cernel handles the rest. Every new product that matches your rule gets AI-generated content without anyone lifting a finger.

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How it works

An automation watches for new products in a specific category. When a product arrives that matches your conditions, Cernel automatically runs enrichment using the agents linked to your selected attributes. The results appear as jobs on your Dashboard, ready for review. You configure automations by walking through a four-step wizard: choose a category, set optional filters, select attributes, and name your automation.

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Why you would use this

No content bottleneck for new products

New products get descriptions, meta titles, and structured data the moment they arrive. No waiting for someone to manually trigger enrichment.

Consistent coverage across your catalog

Every product that matches your rules gets the same treatment. No products slip through without content.
Automations only apply to newly created products. Existing products are not affected. Use manual enrichment for products already in your catalog.

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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 automation wizard

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Creating an automation

1

Navigate to Automations

Go to Settings > Automations in the sidebar. You’ll see a list of existing automations (or an empty state if this is your first).
The Automations page showing a table of existing automations with columns for Name, Category, Filters, and Attributes, with a 'Create automation' button
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Click Create automation

Click Create automation to open the four-step wizard.
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Step 1: Select a category

Choose which product category this automation applies to. The wizard shows your taxonomy tree - click a category to select it.
The automation creation wizard showing step 1 Category with a tree of product categories to select from, including Cernel Taxonomy, Apparel & Accessories, Health & Beauty, and more
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Step 2: Set filter conditions (optional)

Optionally define conditions to narrow which products trigger the automation. Leave this empty to apply to all new products in the selected category.Filters support:
  • Attribute filters - match on specific attribute values
  • Property filters - match on product properties like whether the product has images
You can set the match type to Match All (all conditions must be met) or Match Any (at least one condition must be met).
The automation wizard step 2 Filters showing filter configuration options for the automation
Filters are optional. If you want every new product in the category to be enriched, skip this step and leave it empty.
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Step 3: Select attributes to enrich

Choose at least one attribute to automatically generate when the automation triggers. Only attributes that have an AI agent linked will appear here.
The automation wizard step 3 Attributes showing a list of attributes to select for automatic enrichment
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Step 4: Review and save

Give your automation a name and review your configuration:
  • Selected category
  • Number of filter conditions (or “All products”)
  • Selected attributes
Toggle the Active switch to enable the automation immediately.
Your automation is created. New products matching your conditions will be automatically enriched with the selected attributes.

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Managing automations

Once created, automations appear in the list at Settings > Automations. Each automation shows its name, category, filter count, and attribute count.

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Available actions

  • Pause / Activate - Toggle an automation on or off without deleting it. Paused automations don’t process new products.
  • Edit - Reopen the wizard to change the category, filters, or attributes.
  • Run History - View past runs to see which products were processed and their status.
  • Delete - Permanently remove the automation.

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Viewing run history

Click the history icon on any automation to see its past runs. Runs are grouped by job and show:
  • Status - Pending (yellow), Running (blue), Done (green), or Failed (red)
  • Product count - How many products were processed in each run
  • Start time - When the run began
Expand a run group to see individual products with links to their detail view.

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Example setup

A typical e-commerce team might set up automations like this:
AutomationCategoryFiltersAttributes
Auto-enrich all new productsCernel TaxonomyNoneMeta Title, Meta Description
Rich content for products with imagesApparelhas_images = trueProduct Description, Materials, Care Instructions
Footwear specialistShoesNoneCushioning Type, Sole Material, Recommended Use
The first automation catches everything with basic SEO content. The second adds rich descriptions only when images are available. The third generates specialized attributes for a specific product type.

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Tips for success

Don’t try to generate everything at once. Start with Meta Title and Meta Description, since they’re universally needed and relatively simple for AI to get right.For richer fields like Product Description, it helps to first enrich structural attributes (things like Color, Materials, Features, or Fit) in the way your team prefers them described. When a description agent can build on those structured values as references in its prompt, the output lines up with the preferences you’ve already encoded in your setup, instead of the AI inventing its own wording. Add broader descriptive content once the structural pieces are in place.
AI generates better descriptions when it can see the product. Add a has_images = true filter to automations for description-heavy attributes so the AI has visual context to work with.
Check auto-triggered job results for the first week. If quality is consistently good, you can trust the system more. If you spot patterns to fix, refine your agent prompts and Data Sources.

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Frequently asked questions

Check three things:
  1. Is the automation active? - Paused automations don’t process products. Look for the play/pause toggle.
  2. Do the filters match? - If you set filter conditions, new products must match them. Try removing filters temporarily to test.
  3. Are attributes configured? - The selected attributes must have AI agents linked. Check the category’s attribute configuration.
No. Automations only apply to newly created products. For existing products, use manual enrichment from the product table - select products, click Enrich Products, and choose your attributes.
Changes take effect for the next trigger. Products currently being processed will complete with the original configuration. New products arriving after the edit will use the updated settings.
Yes. You can create multiple automations with different filters and attributes for the same category. Each automation runs independently when its conditions are met. For example:
  • Automation 1: All new products → Meta Title, Meta Description (basic SEO)
  • Automation 2: Products with images → Product Description, Materials (rich content)
Check the run history. Failed runs show a red “Failed” badge. Click on the run group to see which specific products encountered errors and navigate to their detail view.
Yes. If you’re importing a large batch of products and don’t want automations to trigger for each one, pause your automations first. Resume them after the import completes, then manually enrich the batch.

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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

Learn how to manually enrich existing products that automations don’t cover.