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Use a Trigger when you want Ari to do the same job on a schedule without being asked. For example, Ari can write a cash summary every Monday, or check last month’s spending after each close. A Trigger is a saved instruction with a schedule. Each time it runs, Ari works through it in a new chat of its own, and you read the result when it suits you. For how unattended runs work, see Skills, Triggers, and Guides.
Tell Ari what to do, when, and where to send the result:
Every Monday at 8am Pacific, summarize the prior week’s cash activity and flag expenses that differ from our recent pattern. Email me the summary.
Ari asks about anything it is missing, saves the Trigger, and tells you its name and schedule. A new Trigger is on, and it first runs at the next scheduled time. You can also set one up by messaging Ari in Slack; see Talk to Ari from Slack.

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Write instructions that work unattended

Nobody is in a Trigger’s chat while it runs, so Ari cannot ask you anything. When something is unclear, it makes a reasonable assumption, keeps going, and says what it assumed in its result. Write instructions that need no follow-up:
  • Name what to read: the Page, table, or Variable, and the Scenario if it is not Main. A run has no Page open.
  • Name the period, such as “the last closed month” or “the prior week”.
  • Say what to return and how to judge it, such as “flag any expense line more than 10% over Forecast”.
  • Say where to send it: “email me” or “send it to my Slack direct messages”. Without that, the result stays in the run’s chat.
  • Set any MCP server tool the job needs to Allow. A tool on Ask first does not run in a Trigger; see What a run cannot do on its own.
Compare Actuals with Forecast for Operating Expense in the last closed month on the Monthly P&L Page. Flag any line more than 10% over Forecast, and send the summary to my Slack direct messages.
If you want a report on every run, say so. A run sends a warning only when something has changed since the last run, so the same warning does not arrive week after week; see The record each run keeps.

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Choose where the result goes

Every run’s result is saved in its own chat, listed in the Trigger’s History. A copy goes somewhere else only when the instructions name the channel: A Trigger can message only you, and it cannot post to a Slack channel. To share a result with others, have the Trigger update a Page and share the Page. A Trigger can also export a Page as a spreadsheet. The file is saved in the run’s chat, and the email or Slack message can carry a download link that works for a limited time. See Limits.

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Change, pause, or delete a Trigger

Ask Ari, for example “Pause my weekly cash Trigger”, “Move it to Tuesdays at 9am”, or “Delete the old variance Trigger”. Or open the account menu, choose Manage triggers, and select the Trigger:
  • To change its name, instructions, or schedule, select Edit trigger (the pencil), make the change, and select Save changes.
  • To pause it, select Edit trigger, turn off the switch so it reads Disabled, and select Save changes. Turn the switch back on to resume. A paused Trigger reads Paused in the list.
  • To run it once right away, select Run now. This works on a paused Trigger too and leaves the schedule as it is.
  • To delete it, select Delete trigger (the trash can) and confirm. A run that already started still finishes.
You see and manage only your own Triggers. Your teammates’ Triggers do not appear on your Triggers page, and you do not appear on theirs.

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Check whether a Trigger ran

Open the account menu and choose Manage triggers. Each Trigger in the list shows what happened last, such as Finished, Did not complete, or Skipped: Ari was still busy. Select a Trigger to see Next scheduled and its History: every run, newest first, with its status. A run that did not complete shows its own one-sentence reason. Select a run to read its chat. For what each status means, see The cfo.ai interface. You can also ask Ari:
Did my Monday cash Trigger run last week, and did it finish?
Ari tells a run that only started apart from a run that finished its task. A Trigger does one run at a time. When a run is still going at the next scheduled time, that scheduled run is skipped, and the Trigger’s details read The last scheduled attempt was skipped.

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Reply to a run that needs you

A run never waits for an answer. When it has a question, such as which bank account to use, it works on an assumption and leaves the question in its chat. The run then reads Needs response in History. Open the run and answer there; Ari picks up from your reply. From your first reply, the chat is listed with your other chats. Your reply does not change the result the run recorded.

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If something goes wrong

Schedules are saved in UTC, so a run set for a local time moves by an hour when daylight saving time starts or ends. Edit the Trigger’s time after the change.
Check that the instructions name the channel. Then open the run from History: Ari’s activity in the chat shows whether the email service or Slack accepted the message. For Slack, check that Slack is connected and that your Slack email matches your cfo.ai email; see Talk to Ari from Slack.
The message reads This trigger already has a queued or active run. Open its latest conversation. Open that run from History, or wait for it to finish.