Budibase/budibase · error · Error

Automation with ID ${automationId} not found

Error message

Automation with ID ${automationId} not found

What it means

Thrown by the `trigger` function in packages/server/src/sdk/workspace/automations/execution.ts when an automation lookup by ID fails. `context.getWorkspaceDB().get<Automation>(automationId)` returned nothing (or the row is falsy), so Budibase aborts before checking trigger types. It protects callers from proceeding with an undefined automation document.

Source

Thrown at packages/server/src/sdk/workspace/automations/execution.ts:17

import { context } from "@budibase/backend-core"
import { features } from "@budibase/pro"
import { Automation, AutomationActionStepId } from "@budibase/types"
import sdk from "../.."
import * as triggers from "../../../automations/triggers"
import env from "../../../environment"

export async function trigger(
  automationId: string,
  fields: Record<string, any> = {},
  timeout?: number
) {
  const db = context.getWorkspaceDB()
  const automation = await db.get<Automation>(automationId)

  if (!automation) {
    throw new Error(`Automation with ID ${automationId} not found`)
  }

  // Check if automation has APP trigger (required for manual triggering)
  const triggerType = automation.definition?.trigger?.stepId
  if (triggerType !== "APP") {
    throw new Error(
      `Cannot manually trigger automation '${automation.name}'. Only automations with APP trigger type can be manually triggered. This automation has trigger type: ${triggerType}`
    )
  }

  let hasCollectStep = sdk.automations.utils.checkForCollectStep(automation)
  if (hasCollectStep && (await features.isSyncAutomationsEnabled())) {
    const response = await triggers.externalTrigger(
      automation,
      {
        fields,
        timeout: timeout ? timeout * 1000 : env.AUTOMATION_THREAD_TIMEOUT,
      },

View on GitHub (pinned to a81a902e9a)

Solutions

1. Verify the automation ID exists: GET /api/automations in the target workspace and match the _id
2. Confirm you are calling the correct app/workspace URL and that dev vs prod deployment matches
3. Re-create the automation if it was deleted, and use the new ID
4. If using the SDK, ensure context.getWorkspaceDB() is bound to the workspace that owns the automation

Example fix

// before
await sdk.automations.execution.trigger("auto_abcdef")
// after
const automations = await sdk.automations.fetch()
const target = automations.find(a => a._id === "auto_abcdef")
if (!target) throw new Error(`Automation auto_abcdef not found in this workspace`)
await sdk.automations.execution.trigger(target._id!)

const exists = (await sdk.automations.fetch()).some(a => a._id === automationId)
if (!exists) throw new Error(`Automation ${automationId} missing`)

function isAutomation(a: Automation | undefined): a is Automation {
  return !!a && typeof a._id === "string"
}

try {
  await sdk.automations.execution.trigger(id)
} catch (err: any) {
  if (err.message.includes("not found")) {
    // refetch automations and correct ID
  } else {
    throw err
  }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling the manual trigger path (e.g. POST /automations/{id}/trigger or sdk.automations.execution.trigger(id)) with an automation ID that does not exist in the workspace DB — deleted automation, typo'd ID, ID from a different app/workspace, or a prod/dev database mismatch.

Common situations: Developers copy an automation ID from a dev environment and call the API against prod; automations deleted by another user while a UI client still references them; using the internal _id from an export instead of the live document ID; passing an automation ID to the wrong app's API endpoint.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• Automation not found
• Agent not found
• Escalation ${escalationId} not found
• DB does not exist
• CouchDB error: ${err.message}

AI-assisted analysis of Budibase/budibase@a81a902e9a (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7940eea85ee57290. Report an issue: GitHub.