Playbooks extend Robin's automation capabilities by letting technicians teach the AI how to behave in specific support scenarios.

Similar to Automation Rules, each Playbook starts with a trigger — typically when an end-user initiates a chat with Robin via the Portal, email, or any other supported communication channel. Technicians then define the conditions that must be met and the actions Robin should execute when the trigger fires.

Technicians describe these rules in plain English through a free-text prompt, and Robin automatically generates a structured, step-by-step workflow.

This empowers IT teams to build tailored automations without scripting, ensuring faster and more consistent ticket handling.

Note: Full Admin permissions are required to access the AI Center.

Playbooks vs. Other Atera Features

Playbooks are exclusively for Robin. They do not apply to Copilot, and they are not designed to run continuous diagnostics on workstations (for that, use Threshold Profiles with self-healing scripts). Playbooks execute when Robin is triggered by an end-user interaction.

To access AI Playbooks:

1. Go to AI Center > Optimize > Playbooks.

The Playbooks tab appears.

From the Playbooks tab, you can:

• View all existing Playbooks

• See the category assigned to each Playbook

• Check whether a Playbook is enabled or disabled

• Enable or disable Playbooks as needed

This centralized view allows technicians to easily manage automations across customers and use cases.

Category

Playbooks can be organized into categories based on topic, use case, or purpose (e.g., Power BI, Onboarding, Access Requests, Security). Categorization helps technicians quickly browse, filter, and maintain multiple Playbooks across different customers and departments.

Enabled / Disabled

Each Playbook has an activation toggle:

• Enabled: The Playbook is live and will execute automatically when its trigger condition is met.
• Disabled: The Playbook remains stored but inactive — useful for testing, revising, or temporarily pausing automations.
   

Customer Selection (MSP Only)

For MSP environments, Playbooks can be assigned per customer, allowing automations to reflect each customer’s unique processes or systems.

Technicians can select which customer(s) a Playbook applies to, ensuring automation behavior remains relevant and context-aware across managed environments.

Creating a New Playbook

To create a custom AI-driven workflow:

1. Click Create Playbook

2. Enter a Playbook name

3. Select an existing category or create a new one

4. Add a description that clearly explains the Playbook’s purpose

When writing your Playbook, structure your prompt in plain English around three elements:

• The trigger: what event starts the Playbook (e.g., "When an end-user requests access to a system...")
• The conditions: any requirements that must be met (e.g., "...only if the user is in the Marketing department")
• The actions: what Robin should execute (e.g., "...send an approval request to their manager and assign the ticket to the IT Security group")

Supported Playbook Actions

Playbooks can perform a wide range of automated actions on tickets, allowing for fully customizable workflows.

Ticket Management

• Change ticket status
• Change ticket type
• Change priority
• Change custom statuses
   

Assignment & Ownership

• Change assigned technician
• Assign ticket to a technician group

• Forward ticket to an email

   

Communication & Documentation

• Add an internal note
• Write a public reply
• Send an email template
   

Approvals & Escalations

With the Entra ID integration enabled, Robin can pull organizational data such as a user's direct manager to dynamically route approval flows and automations.

• Create an approval with a named approver
• Create an approval routed to the requester’s direct manager (via Entra ID integration)
   

Automation & Integrations

• Run script
• Run cloud action
• Reference Knowledge Base (KB)
• Reference MCP integration
• Install software

Pair Playbooks with Cloud Actions and MCP integrations to let Robin control external software — for example, creating a task in Asana, provisioning a user in a third-party system, or querying data from an external API.

AI-Driven Workflow Creation

Technicians define Playbooks simply by describing their intent in plain English.
Robin interprets the description and generates a structured flow, including steps, conditional logic, and execution paths.

Example prompt:

“If a user requests access to SharePoint, assign it to Technician A, get approval from their manager, and notify IT Support.”

The AI translates this into a ready-to-run automation, which the technician can review, categorize, and activate.

Common Use Cases 

Playbooks typically fall into three categories:

• Approval flows: When an end-user requests specific hardware, Robin checks Entra ID for the user's manager and routes an approval request to them.
• Information gathering: When an end-user requests time off, Robin asks for start date, end date, and reason, then emails the details to the responsible HR manager.
• Autonomous actions: When an end-user reports a specific IT issue, Robin runs a designated script from the script library; if unsuccessful, it escalates to a predefined technician group.

Avoiding Conflicts with Other Features

Two Atera features can interact with Playbooks in ways that may cause unexpected behavior:

• Ticket Automation Rules: Automation Rules may overlap with Playbook triggers. When both apply to the same ticket, the Playbook takes precedence and will override the Automation Rule. Review existing rules to avoid unintended outcomes.
• Knowledge Base articles: KB articles can supply Robin with information that contradicts your Playbooks. To prevent conflicts, archive or delete any KB articles that cover processes now handled by a Playbook.