When a run fails: find the cause and fix it

Automations fail for ordinary reasons: a page changed, a tab was closed, a key is missing, a limit was hit. Minda tells you, and shows you where to look.

You will hear about it

• On this computer, a failed run posts Automation failed with the reason, at most once an hour for each rule.
• After 5 failed runs in a row, Minda turns the rule off and says so: Automation turned off. Fix it, then turn it on again.
• A cloud rule that fails leaves a notice saying It failed with the reason.
• Each switch is in Settings → Notifications, under Minda: Automations and bots and Schedules.

Read the run log

Open Settings → Automations → Activity. The top counts how many rules are on, off, and failed last time, and the runs of the last 24 hours. All runs lists each run, this computer's and the cloud's together:

• Ran, Failed or Held back. Held back means the rule matched, but its pause between runs or its hourly limit stopped it.
• The trigger, and whether Then or Otherwise ran.
• One line a step, such as Send to a web address: failed (it did not answer), with retries and skipped steps.

The log keeps the last 200 runs and never the words of a message, a sender or a file name. On the Rules tab, the Failed filter shows only the rules whose last run failed, with the reason on the Status chip.

Test it safely

In the editor, press Test. It runs the rule on a made-up event and tells you which side would run: The conditions hold, so Then would run, or that nothing would run. A test sends, opens, starts and saves nothing.

If the test could not run, or nothing would run, press Ask AI to fix. It sends what the test said to Build with AI, which changes the steps. Nothing is saved until you press Save.

Then try Run now, for a rule that waits to be run or runs at a set time. It runs once, on or off, and its conditions, pause and hourly limit still hold. Save your edits first: Run now runs the saved version.

Common causes

• A watch reads nothing: What is watched says No tab open or Not found on the page. Open the page in a tab of a normal window, or pick the thing again.
• A click lands nowhere: the site renamed the button, or two things now share its name. Pick it again.
• Held back again and again: raise the pause or the runs-an-hour limit in the editor's Settings.
• Can't turn it on: your plan's count of cloud automations turned on is full. Turn one off first.
• A webhook or an n8n key is missing: a rule restored from a backup asks for its address again, and an n8n step shows Not set for a key you still need to type.
• An AI step fails: check that a model is set up in Settings → AI and that you have credits or your own key.

Schedules have their own trail: a failed run says Run failed, three in a row pause it, and Working again tells you when it recovers.