# Automation and repeating cards

> Let rules, schedules and buttons move, label, assign, comment on or archive cards – like Butler in Trello – and let cards repeat every day, week, month or year with the Card repeater.

Source: https://contals.com/docs/en/power-ups/automation/  
Last updated: 2026-10-20

Two Power-Ups take repetitive work off your hands: **Automation** runs rules, schedules and buttons on a board, and **Card repeater** creates a fresh copy of a card on a schedule. Board admins switch them on under **Power-Ups** (category Automation).

## Automation

Open the board page **Automation** (board header). It has four groups:

| Group | Runs … | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| **Rules** | when something happens on a card | a card is added, moved into a list, marked done, gets a label or a comment |
| **Scheduled** | at a time, or when a due date is near | every Monday at 08:00; three days before the due date |
| **Card buttons** | with one click in the card details | "Hand over to the kitchen team" |
| **Board buttons** | with one click in the board header | "Archive everything in Done" |

Create one with **New rule**, **New schedule**, **New card button** or **New board button** and fill in the parts right on the page:

- **Conditions** (optional): the card is in a list, has a label or not, is assigned to a person, to the person who acted, to anyone or to nobody, or its title contains a word.
- **Actions**: move the card (top or bottom of a list), add or remove a label, assign or unassign people, set or clear the due date, mark done or open, archive, add a comment (with placeholders for the card, list, board and date), create a card, sort a list.

**Enabled** switches a rule on or off, **Test run** tries it on a card you choose, and the **Run log** shows the last 100 runs. Rules run on the server as soon as their trigger happens – also when nobody has the board open – and every action appears in the activity as "Automation". They also react to changes made through the API.

Safety nets: a rule never reacts to its own actions, chains of rules stop after a few steps, and a rule that runs too often in a minute pauses itself.

### Runs per month

Every time a rule or a card repeater changes something, that is one run of your organization's monthly budget: 500 on the free plan, 5,000 on Team, any number on Business. Runs whose conditions do not hold cost nothing. When the month's runs are used up, rules and repeaters on every board pause until the next month: this page shows **Automations are paused until …**, the run log shows *paused* entries, and the board admins get an inbox item. Owners and admins see the count on the billing page under **Automation runs this month** – see [automation runs](/docs/en/settings/billing/#automation-runs).

## Card repeater

1. Open a card → **Repeat this card**.
2. Choose **Daily**, **Weekly** (on chosen weekdays), **Monthly** or **Yearly**, the time and the time zone, the list the copy goes to (**Create in**) and, with due dates on, how many days after creation the copy is due.
3. Save. The next runs are previewed under **Next:**.

Each copy takes the title, description, labels, assignees, checklists (all items unchecked), custom fields and links of the original. People who lost access to the board are left out. After a break, only the latest missed copy is created – never a flood. Every copy is one of your organization's automation runs; while the month's runs are used up, the card says **Paused until …** and no copy is made.