Manus automates tasks across apps, without building step-by-step workflows

Manus enhances its AI automations with triggers, cross-app actions, and natural language-configurable workflows.

Receiving an invoice, extracting its information, saving the document in Google Drive, and updating a tracking spreadsheet, without intervening at every step. With its new Automations, Manus aims to simplify the creation of business processes executed by AI agents. Rather than manually building a succession of rules and actions, the user describes the expected outcome and the circumstances under which the work should begin. The agent then takes care of configuring and executing the operations in the connected applications. Describing the Outcome Rather Than Building Every Step

Automation platforms like Zapier or Make generally rely on workflows composed of triggers, conditions, and actions. Each step must be configured, then linked to the following ones.

Manus offers a different approach. The user can describe a complete procedure in natural language, without having to individually specify all the intermediate operations.

A company can, for example, ask Manus to monitor new leads recorded in HubSpot, look up information about their company, prepare a presentation tailored to their business, and draft a follow-up email.

The agent turns this request into an automation. It can generate code to execute certain operations, but this part remains handled by the system. The user can review the conditions, actions, and accounts involved before activation.

This approach does not eliminate the need to properly define objectives. It primarily shifts the configuration work to the agent, rather than asking the user to build every branch of the process themselves. Three Ways to Trigger an Automation

Manus groups automations around three operating modes.

Scheduling allows a task to be launched at a set time, either as a one-time event or on a recurring basis. A sales report can thus be prepared every morning using figures recorded in Google Sheets, then posted on Slack.

Event-driven triggers start a task when a change is detected in a connected application. The arrival of an invoice in Gmail, the opening of a pull request on GitHub, or a new Shopify order can serve as a starting point.

Finally, Advanced Automation allows users to describe situations involving multiple sources, conditions, and operations. A team can ask Manus to monitor reports of the same issue and create a bug report when at least five similar cases have been identified.

Scheduled tasks and triggers are available, while Advanced Automation remains offered in beta. Agents That Make Decisions Between Operations

One of the system's key features lies in Manus's ability to interpret received information before choosing the next step in the process.

A Gmail inbox can contain customer messages, invoices, and promotional communications. Instead of building a separate filter for each case, the user can describe how these categories should be handled.

Manus can then prepare a response to customer requests, save invoices in Google Sheets with their attachments on Drive, and ignore promotions.

The principle can also apply to job searching. When a job posting matches certain criteria, the agent can examine the required skills, tailor a resume, produce a PDF, and send the result by email.

This capacity for interpretation makes automations less dependent on strictly predefined rules. However, it introduces a degree of uncertainty: misclassification or incorrect interpretation can trigger an inappropriate operation. Gmail, Slack, GitHub, and Shopify in the Same Process

Automations leverage connections between Manus and business applications.

Supported services notably include Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Slack, GitHub, Shopify, Notion, and Google Workspace, as well as RSS feeds and webhooks.

Integrations serve as both starting points and destinations. New information in one application can trigger an analysis, the result of which will be saved or transmitted in another.

However, not all events are detected at the same speed. Some platforms directly transmit their notifications, while others require periodic checks, which can result in a delay of several minutes.

For applications that are not directly integrated, Manus offers triggering via webhook, provided the service concerned can send this type of request. A Memory to Avoid Repeating the Same Work

Manus also allows the context of previous executions to be retained.

An automation can start a new independent task at each launch or continue its work within an existing session.

In the latter case, the agent has access to the information and results already produced. It can thus compare a web page to its previous version, avoid processing an invoice twice, or ignore a job posting that has already been flagged.

Automations can also be linked to a Manus Project to reuse its instructions and resources.

This continuity is particularly useful for monitoring or tracking tasks, where the result depends as much on what has changed as on the information available at the time of execution. Testing, Approving, and Correcting Executions

Agent autonomy raises a question of control, especially when they can modify data or send messages.

Manus provides a Test Run feature allowing users to verify a workflow's behavior before activation.

Users can also maintain mandatory approval for actions that send or publish content. A sales email can thus remain pending validation rather than being sent automatically.

Each execution appears in a history log that includes its status and a summary of the work completed. Tasks whose conditions were not met are also noted.

In the event of a failure, the user can open the execution concerned, ask Manus to explain the cause, and modify its configuration. Automations can be paused, edited, or deleted.

These mechanisms facilitate supervision, but they do not guarantee that every decision made by the agent will be correct. Sensitive operations still require appropriate permissions and verification proportional to their consequences. An Evolution from Manus 2.0 Toward Recurring Work

Automations are part of the