Agent Programs overview
What an Agent Program is, the four ways one can start, how Run now and approvals work, and which plans include it.
An Agent Program is a worker you set up once and Willo runs for you: a weekly research digest, a reply to every enquiry that arrives by email, a lead logged each time a form is submitted. Each program has its own instructions, its own set of tools, a trigger that starts it, and limits on what it may spend.
Programs are separate from Willo's chat. Each run is its own job with its own record, and a program can only use the tools it was given.
Who can use them
Agent Programs come with the Builder plan and up. An owner or admin of the business sets programs up and changes them; editors and viewers can see them but not change them. If a business drops below Builder, its active programs pause at their next run and nothing is deleted; an admin switches each one back on after upgrading. See Pricing.
Building one
You build a program by describing it in Willo's chat: what it should do, when, and with which tools. Willo drafts it, suggests defaults, and you correct them. There is no separate builder to open; Build your first program in chat walks through it. Building a new program uses a few credits from the plan, whether you start from scratch or from a template. Saving an edit to a program you already have is free.
The Agents tab in the dashboard's left rail shows every program, its trigger, its runs and its limits.
Triggers
A program has one trigger. Run now is always available on top of it.
| Trigger | Starts a run when | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule | A set time comes round, such as Mondays at 9:00. | Digests, reports, regular checks. |
| Manual | Someone clicks Run now. | Jobs you start by hand. |
| A message arrives at the program's own address. | Replying to or filing what people send. See Email triggers. | |
| Webhook | Zapier, Make, n8n, a form tool or your own code calls the program's URL. | Reacting to events in other apps. See Webhook triggers. |
Each plan has a shortest allowed schedule (Schedules). Willo tells you if a schedule is faster than the plan allows.
Events in other apps
To start a program on a Gmail message, a Slack post, a HubSpot change or a Stripe payment, use a webhook: your other system, or a no-code tool watching it, calls the program's webhook when the event happens. For mail, an email trigger works too: forward the messages to the program's address.
Programs don't use connected accounts. A webhook or an email trigger is how a program hears about something new in another app.
Turning it on
A saved program starts as a draft. When you switch it on, Willo shows one card listing what the program could do without asking: sending messages, changing the business's data, running commands. You choose:
- Act on its own. Runs use those tools without stopping.
- Ask me first. A run pauses before each of those steps and waits for your approval.
Content work never waits in either mode: writing and editing CMS items and documents, generating PDFs and finding stock images. Publishing content goes live only where auto-publish is switched on for that collection; otherwise the item waits as a draft for you to review.
Approvals
When a run pauses, the business owner gets an email with approve and deny links, and the waiting step shows Approve & run and Deny on the Agents tab: Agents in the left rail, then the program, then the waiting run. An approval nobody answers within seven days expires, and that run closes as failed. While one run waits, the program's scheduled runs are skipped, so answer it rather than leaving it. See Working on its own or asking first.
Runs
Each run's trace on the Agents tab shows every step, what started it, what it produced and why it stopped. In Willo's chat you can ask how the last run went. See Runs and reading a run.
Programs that run on email or webhook calls have their own limits on runs and credits per day.