Schedule and watches
The Schedule tab shows what Piste ran in the past 7 days and runs in the next 7. A watch posts when a store figure moves. Each automation has its own time zone.
The Schedule tab on Automations shows, day by day, what Piste ran over the last 7 days and what it will run over the next 7, in your workspace's time zone. A watch is an automation made from one question about your store: press Keep me posted under a chart, and Piste asks the same question again on a schedule and tells you only when the answer moves.
What does the Schedule tab show?
Open Automations and choose the Schedule tab, or go to /automations/schedule. The header reads "What Piste will do, and what it did. Times are in" your workspace's time zone.
| Part | What it lists |
|---|---|
| Earlier | The 7 days before today, folded away, with counts such as "7 reported, 3 quiet, 1 failed" |
| Today | Today's runs, with a "Now" line at the current time |
| The days ahead | Tomorrow and the next 6 days. Days with nothing on them collapse into one "Nothing scheduled" line. |
| Watching | Store triggers, with how often each is checked and when it last fired |
| Running often | Schedules that run more than 4 times a day, one line each, such as "Every 15 minutes" |
| Paused | "Paused, so not on the schedule:" and the paused automations' names |
Each row shows the time, the automation's name, where it came from ("Yours", "Template", a playbook's name, or "Store trigger") and where it posts. A past row opens the run's chat; an upcoming row opens the automation.
What do the statuses mean?
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Queued | "Starting within a minute." |
| Running | "Working on it." |
| Reported | It finished with something to report; the row shows its first line |
| Quiet | It found nothing worth your attention, so it wasn't posted |
| Failed | It stopped; the row says why |
| Skipped | It didn't run, for example because it was found more than 24 hours late or the automation was paused before it started |
| Due | An upcoming run whose time has come |
A dry run is marked "Dry run". When one automation runs more than 3 times in a day, that day's runs fold into one row with their counts.
Run now and Try it now from the Schedule
For the owner, each automation's next run has a menu with Run now and Try it now. There's no way to skip a single run: pause the automation instead. See Automations.
When several reports land together
When 3 or more automations run within the same quarter of an hour, the Schedule says so, for example "3 reports land together today at 08:00". It offers the owner a button such as Move Stock watch to 08:30, which moves the one that runs least often 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes later, to the nearest time clear of the others. The move changes its time of day and never its days. When no nearby time is clear, it says "edit one's schedule to spread them out."
What is a watch?
A watch is an automation that asks your store one question again and again, and tells you only when the answer has moved. You make one from a chart: when Piste answers a question about your store with a chart, in the web chat or in Slack, it offers Keep me posted.
A watch changes nothing in your store, so it isn't a proposal and has no Undo. Pressing Keep me posted twice makes one watch, not two.
How do I set up a watch?
- Ask a question about your store in the web chat. Piste answers with a chart.
- Press
Keep me postedunder the chart. - Pick where Piste tells you:
Here in Piste,iMessage,Slack DMor a Slack channel. iMessage and Slack are listed once they're connected. - Press
Set it up. Piste confirms: "Set up. I'll check this" with when and where, and that it's on your Automations page.
How often does a watch check, and when does it post?
| Question is about | Checks |
|---|---|
| Days, such as yesterday or the last two weeks | Every morning at 8:00 |
| Anything longer | Every Monday at 8:00 |
Both are in your workspace's time zone. Each check reads the store with the same query as the chart and compares complete periods only, so a day or week still in progress is left out. It starts from its last report.
A watch posts only when a figure has moved by more than 10% and by a real amount:
- a rate by more than 1 percentage point;
- a count by 5 or more;
- an amount by more than 1% of the total.
Otherwise the run is quiet and stays in its chat in Piste. When it does post, you get a few sentences with the figures, not a chart.
How do I stop a watch?
Press Stop under the chart or on the card. In the web chat, Piste confirms: "Stopped. I won't check this any more." In Slack, the card says who stopped it. Press Keep me posted again to turn it back on. In Slack, only the owner can stop a watch.
Each watch is also on your Automations list, named "Keep me posted:" and the chart's title. You can pause, edit or delete it there like any automation.
Watch for this, from any Slack message
In Slack, the Watch for this shortcut on a message asks Piste to propose a standing check about what the message raises. It creates nothing by itself: the owner replies "set it up" in the thread to create it. See Shortcuts and /piste.
Which time zone does an automation run in?
Every automation keeps its own time zone, and its times are local to it. The time zone it starts with depends on how you made it:
| Made with | Starts in |
|---|---|
| A template | Your workspace's time zone ("Already in your store's time zone.") |
| The New automation form | Your browser's time zone |
| Asking Piste | Your workspace's time zone, unless you name another. With none set, Piste asks. |
| Keep me posted | Your workspace's time zone |
Your workspace's time zone is your first Shopify store's, set when it connects. Before a store is connected, it's your browser's, or UTC. Connecting a second store doesn't change it. See Several stores.
To change an automation's time zone, open it, press Edit and pick another under Time zone, or ask Piste. Time zones show as a city, such as "London time", and in the picker with their full name, such as "Berlin time (Europe/Berlin)".
The Schedule tab shows every time in your workspace's time zone. An automation's own page shows its schedule in its own time zone, with its next three runs.
When the clocks change
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| A normal clock change | An 8:00 run stays at 8:00 local time |
| The time doesn't exist that day (clocks go forward) | It runs an hour later that day |
| The time happens twice that day (clocks go back) | It runs once, the first time |
Limits
| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Schedule window | 7 days back and 7 days ahead |
| One line under Running often | More than 4 runs a day |
| Runs folded into one row | More than 3 from one automation in a day |
| Reports that "land together" | 3 or more within 15 minutes |
| A suggested move | 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes later, same days |
| Runs the Schedule reads | 500; past that, the oldest are left out |
| A watch's checks | 8:00 daily or Mondays at 8:00 |
| A watch posts when | More than 10% and a real amount |
Related
- Automations: create, try, pause and delete automations.
- Store triggers: what's listed under Watching.
- Quiet hours and digests: when posts wait for your working hours.