Create an Automation verified

Learn how to create an Automation in Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) with SSJS (server-side JavaScript). Code snippets include the WSProxy and REST API methods.

WSProxy

var api = new Script.Util.WSProxy();

api.setClientId({
    "ID": Platform.Function.AuthenticatedMemberID(),
    "UserID": Platform.Function.AuthenticatedEmployeeID()
});

var config = {
    Name: "MyAutomation",
    CustomerKey: GUID(),
    Description: "",
    AutomationType: "Scheduled",
    CategoryID: null
};

var result = api.createItem('Automation', config);

<script runat="server">

    Platform.Load("core", "1");

    var api = new Script.Util.WSProxy();

    api.setClientId({
        "ID": Platform.Function.AuthenticatedMemberID(),
        "UserID": Platform.Function.AuthenticatedEmployeeID()
    });
	
	try {

        var config = {
            Name: "MyAutomation",
            CustomerKey: GUID(),
            Description: "",
            AutomationType: "Scheduled",
            CategoryID: null
        };

        var result = api.createItem('Automation', config);

        Write(Stringify(result));
		
	} catch(error) {
        Write(Stringify(error));
    }	

</script>

{
    "Status": "OK",
    "RequestID": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
    "Results": [
        {
            "NewID": 0,
            "NewObjectID": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
            "PartnerKey": null,
            "Object": {
                "Schedule": null,
                "AutomationTasks": null,
                "IsActive": true,
                "AutomationSource": null,
                "Status": 0,
                "Notifications": null,
                "ScheduledTime": "0001-01-01T00:00:00.000",
                "AutomationType": "Scheduled",
                "UpdateModified": false,
                "LastRunInstanceID": null,
                "CreatedBy": 0,
                "CategoryID": null,
                "LastRunTime": "0001-01-01T00:00:00.000",
                "LastSaveDate": "0001-01-01T00:00:00.000",
                "ModifiedBy": 0,
                "RecurrenceID": null,
                "LastSavedBy": 0,
                "InteractionObjectID": null,
                "Name": "MyAutomation",
                "Description": "",
                "Keyword": null,
                "Client": {
                    "ID": 100000000,
                    "ClientID1": 0,
                    "PartnerClientKey": null,
                    "UserID": 100000000,
                    "PartnerUserKey": null,
                    "CreatedBy": 0,
                    "ModifiedBy": 0,
                    "EnterpriseID": 0,
                    "CustomerKey": null,
                    "CustomerID": null
                },
                "PartnerKey": null,
                "PartnerProperties": [
                    {
                        "Name": "AutomationType",
                        "Value": "Scheduled"
                    }
                ],
                "CreatedDate": "0001-01-01T00:00:00.000",
                "ModifiedDate": null,
                "ID": 0,
                "ObjectID": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
                "CustomerKey": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
                "Owner": null,
                "CorrelationID": null,
                "ObjectState": null,
                "IsPlatformObject": false
            },
            "CreateResults": null,
            "ParentPropertyName": null,
            "StatusCode": "OK",
            "StatusMessage": null,
            "OrdinalID": 0,
            "ErrorCode": 0,
            "RequestID": null,
            "ConversationID": null,
            "OverallStatusCode": null,
            "RequestType": "Synchronous",
            "ResultType": null,
            "ResultDetailXML": null
        }
    ]
}

WARNING

setClientId is required to avoid the "Create Access is denied!" error.

REST API

var payload = {
    "name": "Scheduled Automation",
    "description": "Example for a scheduled automation",
    "key": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
    "steps": [
      {
        "annotation": "",
        "stepNumber": 0,
        "activities": [
          {
            "name": "1 Minute Wait",
            "objectTypeId": 467,
            "displayOrder": 0,
            "activityObjectId": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
            "serializedObject": "{\"duration\":1,\"durationUnits\":\"Minutes\"}"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "startSource": {
      "typeId": 1,
      "schedule": {
        "icalRecur": "FREQ=DAILY;INTERVAL=1;UNTIL=20241012",
        "startDate": "2024-12-01T06:00:00-04:00",
        "timezoneId": 1,
      }
    }
};

var endpoint = restInstanceUrl + "automation/v1/automations";

var request = new Script.Util.HttpRequest(endpoint);
    request.emptyContentHandling = 0;
    request.retries = 2;
    request.continueOnError = true;
    request.setHeader("Authorization", "Bearer " + accessToken);
    request.method = "POST";
    request.contentType = "application/json";
    request.encoding = "UTF-8";
    request.postData = Stringify(payload);

var results = request.send();

var result = Platform.Function.ParseJSON(String(results.content));

<script runat="server">

    Platform.Load("core", "1");

    var restInstanceUrl = "https://YOUR_SUBDOMAIN.rest.marketingcloudapis.com/",
        accessToken     = "YOUR_REST_API_TOKEN";
	
	try {

        var payload = {
            "name": "Scheduled Automation",
            "description": "Example for a scheduled automation",
            "key": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
            "steps": [
                {
                    "annotation": "",
                    "stepNumber": 0,
                    "activities": [
                        {
                            "name": "1 Minute Wait",
                            "objectTypeId": 467,
                            "displayOrder": 0,
                            "activityObjectId": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
                            "serializedObject": "{\"duration\":1,\"durationUnits\":\"Minutes\"}"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "startSource": {
                "typeId": 1,
                "schedule": {
                    "icalRecur": "FREQ=DAILY;INTERVAL=1;UNTIL=20241012",
                    "startDate": "2024-12-01T06:00:00-04:00",
                    "timezoneId": 1,
                }
            }
        };

        var endpoint = restInstanceUrl + "automation/v1/automations";

        var request = new Script.Util.HttpRequest(endpoint);
            request.emptyContentHandling = 0;
            request.retries = 2;
            request.continueOnError = true;
            request.setHeader("Authorization", "Bearer " + accessToken);
            request.method = "POST";
            request.contentType = "application/json";
            request.encoding = "UTF-8";
            request.postData = Stringify(payload);

        var results = request.send();

        var result = Platform.Function.ParseJSON(String(results.content));

        Write(Stringify(result));
		
	} catch(error) {
        Write(Stringify(error));
    }	

</script>

{
    "id": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
    "legacyId": "0M3-1D-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
    "name": "Scheduled Automation",
    "description": "Example for a scheduled automation",
    "key": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
    "categoryId": 1234,
    "statusId": 4,
    "lastSavedByName": "johndoe",
    "createdDate": "2024-11-01T12:00:00.000",
    "createdByName": "johndoe",
    "updateInProgress": false,
    "steps": [
      {
        "annotation": "",
        "stepNumber": 0,
        "activities": [
          {
            "id": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
            "name": "1 Minute Wait",
            "description": "",
            "activityObjectId": "S0M3-GU1D-K3Y-G03SR1G4T-H3R3",
            "objectTypeId": 467,
            "displayOrder": 0,
            "serializedObject": "{\"duration\":1,\"durationUnits\":\"Minutes\"}"
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "startSource": {
      "typeId": 1,
      "schedule": {
        "scheduleTypeId": 3,
        "startDate": "2024-12-01T06:00:00-04:00",
        "endDate": "2024-12-01T06:00:00-04:00",
        "rangeTypeId": 1,
        "occurrences": 61,
        "icalRecur": "FREQ=DAILY;INTERVAL=1;UNTIL=20241012",
        "timezoneId": 1,
        "statusId": 0
      }
    }
}

Reference

Ressources and references related to the current methods.

REST documentation

SOAP documentation

SOAP object