Automation Policies

Getting Started with Automation Policies

Automation policies let you create event-driven rules that automatically create tasks, send notifications, and route work when specific things happen in your Shopify store. Think of them as your store's autopilot for task management.

What is a Policy?

A policy is a rule made up of three parts:

• Trigger — the Shopify event that kicks off the policy (e.g. a new order is placed, a refund is issued, inventory drops below a threshold).
• Conditions — optional filters that narrow when the policy should fire (e.g. only orders above $200, only specific product types).
• Actions — what happens when the trigger fires and conditions are met (e.g. create a task, send a Slack notification).

Creating Your First Policy

1. Navigate to the Policies page from the sidebar.
2. Click Create policy in the top-right corner.
3. Choose a trigger event. Available triggers include:
   • Order created
   • Customer created
   • Fulfillment created
   • Inventory low
   • Refund created
4. Add conditions to filter which events should activate the policy. For example, you might only want to trigger for orders where the total exceeds a certain amount.
5. Configure the action. You can:
   • Automatically create a task with a pre-filled title, description, assignee, priority, and board.
   • Send a notification to your team via email or Slack.
6. Give your policy a descriptive name and click Save.

Your policy is now live and will start processing matching events immediately.

Using Safeguard Templates

Not sure where to start? ShopTasks includes 7 pre-built safeguard templates designed for common Shopify workflows:

• High-Value Order Review — flags orders above a configurable dollar amount for manual review.
• Risky Orders — creates follow-up tasks for orders flagged as potentially risky.
• Fulfillment Failure Recovery — triggers a task when a fulfillment fails so your team can intervene quickly.
• Low Stock Reorder — alerts your team when inventory drops below a threshold.
• First Order Follow-Up — creates a welcome task for first-time customers.
• Refund Ownership — assigns a task to review and process refund requests.
• Large Order Handling — ensures big orders get special attention from your fulfillment team.

To use a template, go to Policies > Safeguard Templates, browse the gallery, and click Use template. The policy will be pre-configured — you just need to review and save.

Monitoring Executions

Every time a policy fires, it's recorded in the Execution History. You can:

• See which events triggered the policy
• View the resulting task or notification
• Check for failed executions and debug issues

Click on any policy and select the Executions tab to view its history.

Tips

• Start simple. Create one policy, test it, then expand. You can always add more conditions and actions later.
• Use the simulation panel to test your policy with sample data before going live.
• Name policies descriptively — names like "Flag orders over $500" are much easier to manage than "Policy 1".
• Check your plan limits. Each plan tier has a maximum number of policy executions per month.