Umbraco launches Automate with AI workflow controls

Umbraco has launched Umbraco Automate, a workflow automation product built into its content management system. It adds AI agent integration with human oversight controls.

The software is designed to let developers and technically proficient website owners create automated processes inside the Umbraco back office through a drag-and-drop interface. Automations begin with an event trigger and then follow a sequence of actions, such as updating records, sending messages, or starting content tasks.

Examples include automating customer onboarding, translating updated content across international sites, and handling routine administrative work. Trigger events can include a content editor publishing an update, a visitor submitting a form, making a purchase, or downloading a marketing asset.

A typical sequence could begin with a customer sign-up, then create a contact, send a welcome email, update a CRM system, notify a sales team, and generate a discount code.

Umbraco is positioning the product around control of both process and data. Because the tool runs inside the CMS and within an organisation's own environment, customer data does not need to be routed through a separate external automation platform.

That approach can support data-handling requirements under EU GDPR rules. Administrators can also control who is allowed to build automations, edit connections, and activate kill switches through Umbraco's existing user-group model.

Built-in controls

The AI element comes through integrations with Umbraco.AI, allowing automated sequences to cover routine tasks such as onboarding emails, discounts, content translation, and regular content updates. Users can also set points in a workflow where a person must approve the next step before the automation continues.

Developers can limit how often an automation runs and add a kill switch so employees can halt a process before it finishes. The same controls can be used when AI is involved in decisions on branded content, discounts, or other operational steps.

"Automate provides a drag-and-drop automation engine directly within the Umbraco CMS. Developers and tech-savvy web owners can set up triggers and actions within minutes to empower marketing teams to automate common steps in the customer journey," said Bolette Kern, CMS Product Manager, Umbraco.

The new product ships with pre-built triggers and actions, and developers can also create their own. Umbraco has introduced a .NET template intended to speed up the creation of custom triggers or actions, reducing the need to build each automation structure from scratch.

Wider integrations

Automate can connect to marketing applications, CRM systems, payment services, and messaging tools. Outbound links are handled through HTTP requests, while inbound links use webhooks.

Several of Umbraco's other paid products now include an integration package that adds triggers and actions to the new automation canvas. Those products include Umbraco Forms, Workflow, Commerce, and Engage.

"Umbraco Forms, Workflow, Commerce, and Engage now ship with an integration package that contributes Automate triggers and actions into the drag-and-drop canvas. This means that Automate users can add an Umbraco Forms submission as a trigger, elevate persona scoring in Umbraco Engage, or tap into a content approval requested in Umbraco Workflow," said Kern.

The product is also aimed at reducing reliance on developers for routine website changes. That could appeal to marketing teams and web managers that want to alter customer journeys or maintenance processes without raising development tickets.

Tasks cited include adding alt text to images, removing outdated content, and notifying colleagues when one part of an international site changes so translations can be checked before publication. There is no limit on the number of automations users can run.

"Sequences that previously required a developer ticket to add a step, change a connection, or tweak part of a customer journey can now be set up in the back office, with no limit on the number of automations," said Kern.

Founded in 2003, Umbraco sells an open-source CMS built on Microsoft .NET and says it is used by a global community of more than 250,000 developers and users. The company is headquartered in Odense, Denmark, and has offices in the US, UK, and Australia.

"Automate allows Umbraco users to benefit from unlimited automations, with the flexibility and extensibility of an open-source platform that retains data within your own environment. This is another major step in our mission to help our users build and scale their digital operations without limiting their future technology choices and flexibility," said Mats Persson, Chief Executive Officer, Umbraco.