The best communities feel personal even at scale โ new members get welcomed, active members get rewarded, and the right people get notified at the right moment. MateFlow automations let you set that up once and let it run. Each automation is a rule built from a trigger, optional conditions, and one or more actions. This guide shows how to build, refine, and manage them.
How an automation rule works
A rule reads like a sentence: when something happens (trigger), if certain things are true (conditions), then do something (actions). You create rules from the Automations section of your admin dashboard, either from scratch or from a template.
1. Choose a trigger
The trigger is the event that starts the rule. MateFlow groups triggers by area:
- Member: member joins the community, joins a specific space, levels up, reaches a points threshold, or completes onboarding.
- Content: a post is created (optionally in a specific space) or a post is commented on.
- Event: a member RSVPs to an event.
Some triggers take extra configuration โ for example, "joined space" and "post created" can be scoped to a chosen space, and "points reached" takes a points target.
2. Add conditions (optional)
Conditions filter which events actually run the rule, so you can be precise. You can build conditions on fields such as:
| Field | Example use |
|---|---|
| Member tags | Only run for members tagged "founding-member" |
| Days since joining | Only for members who joined more than 30 days ago |
| Member points | Only for members above a points threshold |
| Space | Restrict to a specific space |
| Content type | Only discussions, questions, or articles |
Numeric and text fields support the usual comparison operators, and tag fields support list matching, so you can combine several conditions for tightly targeted rules.
3. Define actions
Actions are what the rule does. You can add more than one, and they run in order. Available actions include:
- Notify: send a direct message, send an email, or send an in-app notification.
- Membership: add to or remove from a space, assign or remove a tag, or change a member's space role.
- Gamification: award points or award a badge.
- Integration: send a webhook to an external system.
Message-based actions support variables drawn from the trigger โ such as {{user_id}}, {{space_id}}, or {{post_id}} โ which are substituted at send time so each message is contextual.
Testing and running rules
Before you rely on a rule, use the built-in test option to preview how it behaves, or run it manually against current members. The logs page records every execution with its result, so you can confirm rules are firing as expected and troubleshoot anything that is not. A quota indicator shows your remaining automation runs.
Enabling and disabling rules
Each rule carries a status badge showing whether it is enabled or disabled. Toggle it directly from the rule list or detail view โ disabling pauses the rule without deleting it, so you can turn a seasonal welcome flow off and on again without rebuilding it. New rules start disabled until you are happy with them, then flip them on when ready.
A few starter recipes
- Welcome flow: when a member joins, send a DM and assign a "new" tag.
- Reward engagement: when a member reaches a points threshold, award a badge and add them to a VIP space.
- Re-engage: when a member completes onboarding, send an email pointing them to your best spaces.
Next steps
- Build your first rule on the Automations page.
- Pair automations with gamification to reward the behavior you want, and connect external tools via integrations.
- Streamline the first-run experience with a community onboarding checklist.
- Measure the impact using community engagement metrics.