Build Automations by Chat with TRAI

Can you build automations just by chatting with an AI?

Yes. In Trainera you describe the flow in plain words ("when a client hasn't trained for 5 days, send...") and TRAI, acting as Automations AI, creates a draft from a fitting template or builds a custom flow. A draft sends nothing, and TRAI turns an automation on only after you confirm. In October 2026 this needs AI automations on the plan: trainer Enterprise, or for gyms Studio, Enterprise or the Automations add-on on Core and White Label.

This guide walks through welcome, win-back and reminder flows by chat, with example prompts, the preview and explain tools, and the safety rules every automation follows.

How building an automation by chat works

You describe what should happen; TRAI prefers a template that fits, creates the draft at once, then asks whether to turn it on.

1. You describe the goal. Who, when, what they get, when it stops.
2. TRAI reads the template gallery and the catalog of triggers and steps, and picks a template or builds the flow.
3. It creates a draft. A draft sends nothing. TRAI describes the flow in two to four plain sentences (when it starts, what the person gets and when, when you are notified, when it stops) and shows the message texts.
4. You adjust. Change a text, the timing, a channel, or switch a step off, in the same chat.
5. TRAI asks whether to turn it on. The app shows a summary: the automation's sentence and who enters. You answer yes or no with one click.

On an automation that is already active, edits are saved as unpublished changes until you apply them, again with a confirmation. Pausing works right away without asking, because it stops new messages and resuming undoes it.

The fastest place to do this is the "Ask AI" button inside Automations. There the input reads "Ask your Automations AI...", and when you have one automation open in the builder, TRAI treats "it", "the second message" or "the reminder" as that automation, so you never have to name it.

Welcome flows

A welcome flow starts when someone becomes a client or member and walks them through the first days.

Trainer templates include welcome and first week, first workout, plan is ready and not started yet. Gym templates include member welcome, first visit and install the app.

Example prompt (trainer): "When a new client is accepted, send a welcome in chat right away, a short message on day 2 asking if the app works, and on day 7 ask how the first week went. Stop if they complete a workout."

Example prompt (gym): "Welcome new members: push on day 1 with how to use the QR check-in, an email on day 3 about booking classes. Notify reception if they haven't checked in by day 7."

Texts can use variables such as the client's first name, each with a fallback, so a missing name does not leave a gap. For more message ideas, see automated check-in message examples.

Win-back flows

Win-back flows react to people going quiet, and the channel has to fit the situation.

For active clients who stop training, trainers have the inactive client ladder and missed workout templates. Gyms have the absence ladder. When no built-in trigger fits, TRAI can save a custom trigger, such as "member absent 10 days", and build the flow on it.

Someone who has left is a different case. A client who left is no longer a client: the app's chat and push no longer reach them and nothing can be assigned to them. A win-back to them goes out by email, SMS, WhatsApp or Viber as a marketing message, and TRAI builds it that way.

Example prompt (trainer): "If a client hasn't trained for 5 days, send a friendly nudge in chat. After 10 days, notify me so I can call. Stop as soon as they train."

Example prompt (gym): "Create a trigger for members absent 14 days and a flow that sends one push, then an email a week later, and creates a task for staff if they still haven't come."

Reminder flows

Reminders are the simplest flows and often the most useful: they replace messages you would otherwise type by hand.

Trainer templates cover missed check-in, check-in received, plan ending and finished, subscription renewal and ended, and thanks for the payment. Gym templates cover class reminder, class cancelled, and membership expiring and expired.

Example prompt (trainer): "Remind clients the day before their weekly check-in is due, and again if it's a day late."

Example prompt (gym): "Remind members 7 days before their membership expires, by push and email, and stop when they renew."

The renewal side is worked through in detail in the membership renewal reminder playbook.

The template gallery in the app is the source of truth; these are the ones TRAI knows about in October 2026.

Preview, explain and fix by chat

Before turning a flow on, ask who would enter; after it runs, ask why someone did or did not get a message.

Example prompt: "Preview who would enter this automation today."

Example prompt: "Why didn't Sara get the check-in reminder yesterday?"

Example prompt: "What did the win-back flow send in the last 7 days?"

TRAI reads the automation log, where every automated step has a status and a reason in plain words, and explains it. When you turn on a flow with a state trigger, people who already match can be included or left out in the same confirmation.

Translations work the same way. Ask "add a German version of the messages" and TRAI writes each translation into the steps, including a formal variant where the step has one. More on languages in TRAI in 26 languages.

Safety rules every automation follows

These rules apply to every automation, however it was built. Quiet hours and the per-person limits are defaults you can change in the Automations settings.

• Nothing is sent until an automation is turned on.
• Quiet hours default to 21:00 to 08:00; messages wait until they end.
• At most 2 automated messages per person per day and 6 per week by default.
• STOP, mute and unsubscribe are respected. A person who writes STOP, mutes automated messages or unsubscribes from an email no longer gets engagement or marketing messages from that sender; transactional ones (payments, bookings, membership) still arrive.
• A reply stops the flow and notifies you.
• A soft message is skipped if you wrote to that person yourself in the last 24 hours.
• An emergency stop in Settings pauses everything.

Marketing messages also fall under the law where your clients live, such as the FTC's CAN-SPAM rules for commercial email in the US or the EU ePrivacy Directive for electronic marketing in the EU. This is not legal advice; check consent rules for your country with a lawyer or regulator.

Which plans include automations and Automations AI

Automations themselves start at Trainer Starter; building and editing them through TRAI needs AI automations on the plan.

Every automation tool TRAI uses, in the app and through an external MCP connection, checks on each call that the plan includes Automations and AI automations. A plan change applies at once.

Prices are monthly in US dollars and differ by country on trainera.fit/pricing. Gyms in a trial do not include automations. On a downgrade, sequences above the new limit are paused, not deleted. On Starter, Pro and Business you still run automations, set up by hand on the Automations page from templates (and with the builder on Business).

Messages to TRAI about automations are ordinary TRAI requests from the monthly allowance (200 on trainer Enterprise and on every gym plan); there is no separate quota. Gym staff using "Ask AI" spend the owner's allowance. See TRAI request limits.

What Automations AI will not do

It will not switch a flow on by itself, and it will not message people in place of an automation.

• No silent activation. A new automation is never turned on in the same step it is created.
• Deletes only on your explicit word. Drafts that never ran, custom triggers and tags can be deleted when your own latest message asks for it, after one confirmation that names what goes. An automation that has run is archived, not deleted.
• Texts are short and honest. TRAI writes messages in your clients' language, with one clear next step and no promises of results. You can always rewrite them.
• Names and notes are data. Text inside people's names, notes or lead messages is never treated as an instruction.

For the bigger picture of what to automate first, read automation for personal trainers and lead follow-up automation. Gym owners can pair this with questions to ask TRAI about your gym.

Your first automation in three messages

On a plan with AI automations, three messages are enough to go from idea to a running flow.

Example message 1: "When a client hasn't trained for 5 days, send a short nudge in chat; after 10 days notify me. Stop when they train."

Example message 2: "Make the first message warmer and add a German version."

Example message 3: "Preview who enters today." Then click Yes on the card to turn it on, which does not use a request.

Check the log after the first week and ask TRAI why anyone was skipped. Adjust from there.

See every trigger, channel and template on the Trainera Automations page.