Your Umbraco website may publish content in seconds, yet the follow-up can take an afternoon. A form reaches an inbox, details are copied into a CRM, Slack gets a message, and someone sends the email.
The waste is in the handover.
Umbraco Automate, launched on 9 July 2026, puts that chain into the backoffice, where one trigger can begin several actions.
Quick summary
Umbraco Automate is an open-source engine for workflow automation in Umbraco CMS. Content events, schedules, signed webhooks, manual requests and Umbraco add-ons can begin a run. Actions can call APIs, send messages, publish content, request approval, write logs and use AI.
The opportunity is fewer manual handovers. Before publication, define the data path, access rules, failure response and responsibility.
Umbraco places no product cap on runs, triggers, actions, users, workspaces or connections. Developers can also add providers for new triggers, actions and credential types.
What is Umbraco Automate?
Umbraco Automate is a visual tool in the Umbraco backoffice. Each automation has one trigger followed by actions or control-flow steps. Branches, loops and conditions guide the run.
The open-source package is built for Umbraco 17 on .NET 10 and distributed through NuGet. Add-ons provide extra triggers, actions and connection types. Developers can also create providers. Draft edits are kept apart from the published version.
Why this launch deserves attention
Automation around Umbraco has existed for years. A form submit might continue in Zapier or Power Automate, call a custom API and finish with an inbox rule.
That arrangement can work well, yet it may scatter credentials, permissions, run records and responsibility. Umbraco Automate gives CMS-led work one place for design, publication and run history.
Developers can extend it in C# or use signed webhooks and HTTP actions for external applications. Add-on packages can also add integrations without placing every requirement in the main package.
What can you automate in Umbraco?
Form enquiries: A submitted form can send a confirmation, alert a person in Slack and pass selected fields to a CRM through an API. The Forms add-on lets the event begin in Umbraco.
Content publication: Publishing a page can call an API, write a run log or begin another content task. Draft and published versions keep workflow edits away from the active version.
Commerce and operational alerts: Umbraco Commerce events can begin work after an order is created, finalised or updated. Stock changes can trigger a message or API call.
AI with a person in the loop: Automate can ask an AI service to prepare alt text, a summary or a transcript. An approval step can pause the run until an authorised person checks the result.
The model prepares the draft, the person makes the call, and the run records what happened.
The canvas is the easy part
Drag-and-drop editing lowers the entry barrier, while the impact can be large. A workflow may send customer data to another provider, publish content or repeat an API call.
Workspaces decide which users and connections are available. Credentials are encrypted at rest, masked in run logs and excluded from exported automation files.
Run history records inputs, outputs, errors and timing. Approval records capture the decision, person and comment. Version history provides a route back after an unwanted edit.
For an enterprise website, these controls separate a useful flow from an undocumented shortcut
The GDPR question needs a precise answer
The Automate engine runs where the Umbraco CMS runs. The data path may still leave the hosting environment through Slack, AI, a CRM or a webhook.
Record the destination, fields sent, purpose, legal basis, processor, retention period and access rights.
For EU and UK websites, ask four questions before publication:
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Which trigger reads personal data?
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Which action receives that data?
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Who can view the run record?
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How long are run records and external copies kept?
The full data path decides the GDPR position.
Uncapped runs do not mean uncapped cost
Umbraco states that runs, triggers, actions, users, workspaces and connections are uncapped.
Hosting capacity, AI tokens, CRM quotas and external API charges can still add cost. Estimate event volume, retry behaviour and downstream quotas before publication.
This distinction belongs in the business case. The Umbraco licence may avoid metered automation runs, while services called by the workflow can use their own charging model.
Which workflow should you build first?
Begin with one weekly task that has known inputs, a result that can be checked and a manual route when an external service is unavailable.
Answer five questions before opening the canvas:
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What event begins the job?
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Which data enters every step?
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Who approves sensitive output or exceptions?
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What happens after a failed action?
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Which record proves completion?
A small workflow with good records teaches better lessons than a large flow built around assumptions.
Does Umbraco Automate replace every integration tool?
Umbraco Automate is a strong candidate when the event begins in Umbraco or the response is tied to content, forms, commerce, members or approvals.
A wider integration platform may suit logic shared by several applications, payment orchestration or high-volume transaction processing.
The answer depends on where the event begins, who supports it and how failure affects the business. The presence of a drag-and-drop canvas should never decide the application boundary by itself.
Review a workflow
Bring us one task your staff repeat each week, along with what begins it, which data is involved and who checks the result.
As an Umbraco Gold Contributing Partner, Phases can have a senior Umbraco engineer review the trigger, actions, data path, approval route and support needs.
You will get a grounded view of whether Automate, a custom provider or another route fits better.