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# Standalone workflows

> Run scheduled workflows that don't depend on a request, user, or asset

Some work doesn't belong to a single ticket. A morning digest, a weekly cleanup, a monthly report: these jobs just need to run on time. Standalone workflows run on a schedule without an underlying request, user, asset, or custom object record, so you can automate the routines that sit around your service desk.

With standalone workflows, you can:

* **Send digests and summaries** – Post a daily Slack summary of open urgent requests, or email a weekly backlog report to your team leads.

* **Run housekeeping jobs** – Look up stale records across workspaces and act on them in one run.

* **Sync on a timer** – Pull data from or push data to another system every hour.

> **Note**
>
> A [scheduled workflow](https://support.atomicwork.com/documentation/enterprise-workflows/workflow-foundations/scheduled-workflows) on requests or users runs once for **each record** that matches its conditions. A standalone workflow runs **once per schedule**, whether or not any record exists. If the workflow needs records, it looks them up in its own steps.

## Creating a standalone workflow

### Find the Standalone category

* Go to **Automations** and select **Schedule-based** in the Workflow library.

* In the object list, select **Standalone**. Choose **Organization** for workflows that apply across your organization, or a workspace to keep the workflow in that workspace.

![Standalone category in the Schedule-based workflow library](/_fern-files/_img/da982498dd871a151c15578a3218d5a9247874177ce60653664ba66afcdc7c0f.webp)

### Describe the workflow to AI Assist

* Click **New**. AI Assist opens with the **Scheduled standalone workflows** context already selected.

* Describe the schedule and what the workflow should do on each run. For example:

  > Every day at 9:00 AM Pacific time, find every request assigned to me across IT Support and IT Operations that isn't complete, and send me a Slack DM that lists them with links. If there are none, don't send anything.

* AI Assist builds the workflow and saves it as a draft. See [Build workflows with AI Assist](https://support.atomicwork.com/documentation/enterprise-workflows/workflow-foundations/build-workflows-with-ai-assist) for tips on writing prompts.

The draft opens in the **Builder**. The first step is the schedule trigger, followed by the steps that AI Assist created.

![Standalone workflow in the Builder](/_fern-files/_img/6eb10f32c1c2d81c7c0144404760570566ac0b01e168cbdadc4e40c133b87897.webp)

## Configuring the schedule

Standalone workflows always use a recurring schedule.

* Click the trigger step to open the **Trigger** panel. **Schedule** shows how often the workflow runs.

![Trigger panel with the schedule of a standalone workflow](/_fern-files/_img/fb3695bffc7d1c7402c7ae6d1e0517eeba0547206fab3f8c0e72da8d40f1a4b3.webp)

* Click the schedule to open **Configure recurring frequency**, and set:

  * **Every** – A number and a unit: **hour**, **day**, **week**, or **month**.

  * **At** – The time of day the workflow runs.

  * **Timezone** – The time zone for the run time, so the workflow runs at the right local time for your team.

* Click **Apply**, then **Done**.

![Configure recurring frequency for a standalone workflow](/_fern-files/_img/650a5c5e685cc854674517f9c9a672db8a0910bea4b81648ea3679aaa15e6923.webp)

## Using data in standalone workflows

Because there is no request or user behind a standalone run, request and user placeholders are not available. Use the `workflow` placeholder to read account and workspace details, and add steps such as **List Requests** to look up the records the workflow should act on. Later steps can use the results of those lookups.

## Publishing the workflow

* Review the steps in the **Builder**. You can ask AI Assist to change the workflow, or click the code icon to see the steps as code.

* Click **Publish**. The workflow runs on its next scheduled time, and then on every schedule after that.