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Running an Automation creates a run and one or more actions underneath it. Each action represents work on a specific target, such as a repository or project selected by the trigger configuration. Use this page when you want to start an Automation manually, monitor progress, inspect failures, or review what the agent actually did.

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What a run contains

  • Run: the top-level execution record
  • Actions: per-target executions created under that run
  • Execution details: action status, step progress, failures, and, when available, the full agent session for an action

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Start an Automation

Disabled Automations cannot be started. The Run button is hidden and triggers are ignored while an Automation is disabled. Re-enable it first.
  1. Open the Automation (or use the three-dot menu from the list).
  2. Click Run to start immediately with the Automation’s configured targets when it has no parameters.
To change the targets for one execution, click the arrow next to Run, then select Run with options. Clicking Run opens the same dialog automatically when the Automation has no usable configured targets, uses an event-derived context, or references run parameters. The dialog prevents the run from starting until it has at least one accessible project or a complete repository target. Projects you cannot access are removed from the execution target list.

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Run with parameters

When an Automation references parameters, Run with options lists every detected parameter. Enter a non-empty value for each one before clicking Run. Ona also validates required parameters on the server, so a manual run cannot start with unresolved templates through another client. A parameter named ticket_id, for example, replaces {{ .Parameters.ticket_id }} in templated commands, prompts, and pull request fields. An Automation can reference up to 10 parameters.
For this example, the dialog requires values for both ticket_id and repository. Spaces alone do not count as a value. To define parameters in the Automation editor, see Add parameters to manual runs. Do not use parameters for sensitive values. Configure service account secrets instead.

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Run with parameters through the API

Call WorkflowService/StartWorkflow with a personal access token or service account token. Put each template parameter in the parameters object.
This request uses the Automation’s configured manual context. If the Automation has no manual trigger, Ona uses its scheduled trigger context. To choose targets for one run, add contextOverride:
The API applies the same rules as the UI:
  • Every parameter referenced by a manual run must have a non-empty value. Spaces alone do not count.
  • Parameter names must match ^[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*$.
  • A request can contain up to 10 parameters.
  • contextOverride supports project, repository, and agent contexts. An event-derived fromTrigger context is not valid for a manual run.
  • The caller must have access to every target in contextOverride.
If your organization uses a custom domain, set ONA_API_URL to that management-plane origin and use a token created on the same domain.

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Monitor progress

The run details page shows real-time execution status. Action statuses:
  • Pending: queued, waiting to start
  • Running: currently executing
  • Done: finished successfully
  • Failed: finished with errors
  • Stopped: canceled before completion
Click any action to inspect its steps, current state, and, when available, the full agent session. Action logs

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What to look for while monitoring

When a run is active, focus on:
  • whether actions are starting as expected
  • which step a failed action stopped on
  • whether failures are isolated to one target or systemic across many targets
If many actions fail in the same place, the problem is usually in the Automation configuration, repository setup, or shared credentials. If only one action fails, the issue is usually specific to that target.

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Cancel execution

  • Single action: three-dot menu > Cancel
  • Entire run: click Cancel on the run details page
Running actions stop immediately. Pending actions are skipped.

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Review results

After completion:
  • View execution summary (completed/failed/canceled actions, time)
  • Click individual actions to review execution details
  • Check your SCM for pull requests created by the Automation

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Execution history

View past runs from the Automation’s Execution History section. Each run retains action status and execution details for later inspection. For Enterprise organizations with per-run intelligence metrics enabled, agent details are available to anyone who can view the run. Codex runs show the effective model and reasoning effort; Ona runs show Ona Agent.
  • Organization admins and Automation admins also see intelligence usage for each run.
  • Billing Viewers see intelligence usage only for automation runs they already have permission to view.
  • Other scoped organization roles do not see intelligence usage unless another assigned role grants one of these permissions.
After a run finishes and its final usage has been calculated, managed usage is shown in credits and bring-your-own-key usage is shown in your organization’s billing currency. If any bring-your-own-key prices are missing, the run shows its token usage instead of a partial cost. An organization admin can add model pricing under Cost & Budgets. Use history to compare configuration changes over time or to confirm whether a failure started after a workflow, secret, or trigger change.

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Common follow-ups

After reviewing a run, the next step is usually one of:

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Next steps