This document is a work in progress and is subject to change.
We will walk through the process of creating an automation using an Interval trigger type on Latch that will run an automation workflow hourly. We assume that you understand how to write and register Workflows on Latch. Terms:
  • Automation Workflow: workflow which will be called by automation. This is the workflow we create in step 1 of this tutorial.

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1: Create the Automation Workflow

Below is a simple workflow example which creates folder output with a file locally and pushes it to Latch Data.
  1. Initialize a new workflow using latch init automation-wf.
  2. Replace __init__.py and task.py with the following sample code. 
    # __init__.py

from wf.task import task

from latch.resources.workflow import workflow
from latch.types.directory import LatchDir, LatchOutputDir
from latch.types.file import LatchFile
from latch.types.metadata import LatchAuthor, LatchMetadata, LatchParameter

metadata = LatchMetadata(
    display_name="Interval Automation Workflow",
    author=LatchAuthor(
        name="Your Name",
    ),
    # Note: parameters have to be empty for this workflow to be successfully run by the automation
    parameters={},
)


@workflow(metadata)
def workflow() -> None:
    task()

    # task.py

import os
from urllib.parse import urljoin

from latch import message
from latch.resources.tasks import small_task
from latch.types.directory import LatchDir, LatchFile, LatchOutputDir

@small_task
def task() -> LatchDir:
    os.mkdir("output")
    with open("output/hello_world.txt", 'w') as file:
        file.write("Hello World!")

    return LatchDir("output", "LDATA PATH FOR THE DIRECTORY")
  3. Register the sample target workflow with Latch using 
$ latch register --yes automation-wf
  1. Test the workflow by running it on Latch

​
2. Create Automation

Navigate to Automations tab via Worfklows > Automations and click on the Create Automation button.
  1. Input an Automation Name and Description.
  2. Select the Event Type as Interval.
  3. Specify Interval to 1 hour.
  4. Select the automation workflow that you have just registered with Latch.
Create Interval Automation Example