> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.trysight.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Monitoring & Troubleshooting

> Activity logs, email and Slack notifications, and fixes for common automation issues.

## Activity log

Every automation run is recorded with a full audit trail.

### View recent runs

1. Open **Automations** for your site
2. Click an automation to open its detail sheet
3. Click **Activity** (history icon) to open the activity panel

Each run shows:

* **Status** — completed, failed, or running
* **Summary** — natural-language description of what the automation did
* **Action count** — how many real actions were taken (articles created, links inserted, etc.)
* **Timestamps** — start and finish time

### Tool-call drilldown

Click a run to expand every tool call:

* Tool name and input parameters
* Output (truncated for large responses)
* Latency per call

This is how you verify *why* an automation skipped an opportunity, which articles it created, or where a run failed mid-flight.

## Notifications

Configure notifications when creating or editing an automation.

### Email

* Toggle **Email notifications** on
* Select team members as recipients
* Add optional **context** — extra instructions appended to the notification (e.g. "Flag anything about competitor X")

Email summaries include the run status, action count, and the automation's natural-language summary.

### Slack

1. Connect Slack for your site at **Integrations → Slack** (`app.trysight.ai/integrations/slack`)
2. Invite the Sight AI bot to the channel you want notifications in
3. In the automation's notification settings, enable **Slack** and pick a channel

Slack posts include the automation name, run outcome, and summary. You can also `@mention` the Sight AI bot in Slack threads to ask questions about your site (read-oriented; mutations still require confirmation in chat).

[Full Slack integration guide →](/integrations/slack)

<Note>
  Slack must be connected **per site**. Switch sites before connecting if you manage multiple properties.
</Note>

## How scheduling works

* Schedules are stored as **cron expressions in UTC**
* A platform cron evaluates due automations every **15 minutes**
* Each automation fires **at most once** per 15-minute evaluation window
* Schedules whose minute doesn't land exactly on a tick boundary (e.g. `5 * * * *`) still fire once per window

**Manual-only** automations (`schedule_cron` empty) never run on the cron — trigger them with **Run now** or via Agent chat.

### End dates

Set an optional **end date** to auto-disable an automation after a campaign. Past end dates are skipped and the automation is turned off automatically.

## Common issues

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Automation never runs">
    Check these in order:

    1. **Enabled** — toggle is on
    2. **Schedule** — not set to Manual only (unless you're triggering manually)
    3. **End date** — not in the past
    4. **Plan** — site is on Pro or Advanced with AI credits remaining
    5. **Site license** — site is licensed on your team plan
    6. **Activity log** — look for failed runs with error messages

    Scheduled runs are blocked at **0 AI credits**. [Add extra credits](/billing/extra-credits) or wait for your monthly reset.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Run stuck in 'running' status">
    Sight AI enforces one in-flight run per automation. If a run crashes without finishing, a **30-minute janitor** automatically marks stale `running` rows as failed and releases the lock. Wait up to 30 minutes, then trigger a new run or check the activity log for partial tool calls.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Agent created no articles / took no actions">
    Usually one of:

    * **Empty queue** — no eligible opportunities (connect [GSC](/integrations/google-search-console), wait for opportunity sync)
    * **Score threshold** — opportunities below the agent's threshold were skipped (check activity log for skip reasons)
    * **Dedup** — articles already exist for those keywords
    * **Action budget exhausted** — previous rows in the same run used the full budget

    Open the tool-call drilldown to see skip explanations per row.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Articles created but not on my site">
    Automations create articles in Sight AI first. They sync to your CMS when:

    1. A [CMS integration](/integrations/wordpress) is connected and active
    2. The agent calls `sync_article` (template agents do this for refreshes; new articles may need Planner scheduling depending on your settings)

    Check **Planner** for unsynced ready articles and verify CMS connection under **Integrations**.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Outreach Agent not sending">
    The Outreach Agent is configured in the **[Inbox](/ai-visibility/outreach-inbox) → Settings**, not on the Automations page. Confirm:

    * **Advanced plan** active
    * The agent is turned **on** under **Inbox → Settings** (Status)
    * **Sending domain** verified and assigned (**Domain** tab) and **Inbox setup** active (**Inbox** tab) under **Inbox → Settings**
    * [Outreach Opportunities](/ai-visibility/outreach-opportunities) have eligible rows
    * It only sends inside the fixed **Mon–Fri 9 AM ET** window — outside it, sends queue up for the next weekday slot

    Replies and triage happen in the [Outreach Inbox](/ai-visibility/outreach-inbox).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Slack notifications not arriving">
    1. Slack connected at `/integrations/slack` for this site
    2. Bot invited to the selected channel
    3. Slack notifications enabled on the automation with a channel selected
    4. Run completed successfully (failed runs still notify if configured)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Custom automation hit tool step limit">
    Custom automations cap at **15 tool steps** per run. Split work across multiple automations, reduce scope in instructions (e.g. "process at most 3 items"), or switch to a template agent with a dedicated engine.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Connector tool failed or missing from picker">
    1. Connector connected and enabled at [Integrations → Connectors](/integrations/mcp-connectors)
    2. Tool not set to **Don't allow** on the connector detail page
    3. Re-edit automation and re-select tools if the connector was refreshed or reconnected

    See [Automation tools reference](/automations/automation-tools#mcp-connector-tools) for connector naming and limits.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Credit usage

Every automation run consumes **AI credits** from your team's pool — the same credits used for article generation, AI visibility checks, and agent chat. Credit cost varies by:

* Number of LLM calls (custom automations)
* Number of actions taken (template agents — article generation is the largest cost)
* Tools invoked (research, image generation, outreach drafts)

Monitor usage under **Billing** and [Extra Credits](/billing/extra-credits). Runs are hard-blocked when credits reach zero.

## Best practices for monitoring

* **Review activity logs weekly** when first enabling an automation — drop to monthly once you trust it
* **Start with low action budgets** and increase after validating output quality
* **Enable email notifications** for the first two weeks, then switch to Slack for ongoing visibility
* **Pair Search + Boost agents** and watch both logs — Boost should target existing URLs, Search should create new ones

## Next steps

* [Automations overview](/automations/overview)
* [Getting started](/automations/getting-started)
* [Agent templates](/automations/agent-templates)
* [FAQs](/faqs/general) — general automation questions