Automations turn "I'll remember to add that reminder later" into things that just happen. Bill a vaccine and Lupa sets next year's vaccination reminder. Bill a neutering service and Lupa flips the pet's Neutered flag automatically. The pattern is always the same: when these items are billed → do this thing to the pet. Set them up once, and every clinic in your group benefits. Staff stop forgetting follow-ups and your reminder data stays clean.
💡 In short: Open Admin Settings → Automations to create company-wide rules that fire when specific products or services are billed. The rule sets or cancels reminders on the pet, and/or updates pet details (Neutered, Deceased). Triggers fire automatically the moment a matching invoice is saved or completed.
Before You Begin
Automations are company-wide, they apply across every clinic in your organisation. They live in Admin Settings, not the per-clinic Settings page.
📍 Where to find it: Admin Settings → Automations. Admin Settings is separate from the per-clinic Settings page. To access Automations you will need admin permissions turned on for your account.
You should also have these pieces set up before creating an automation:
The products and services you want to use as triggers must already exist in your current product or services lists.
Any reminder types (e.g. Annual Vaccination, Booster Due) you want to set or cancel must be configured in your reminder section in your clinic.
How automations work
Every automation follows the same shape:
Component | What it does |
Trigger | Currently this consists of **Billed Items. **The trigger waits for a specific product or service to appear in an invoice. You can list multiple trigger items (products or services) so the rule fires on any of them. |
Action(s) | Once an item is an in invoice, Lupa should perform an automated action to this pet. Each automation can have one or more actions; they all run. |
Available actions:
Action | Options | Typical use |
Update Reminder | SET or CANCEL a chosen reminder type | SET Annual Vaccination when a vaccine is billed; CANCEL Microchip Reminder when the chip implant is billed. |
Update Animal | Neutered or Deceased | Mark a pet as Neutered when the neutering service is billed; mark as Deceased when an end-of-life service is billed. |
Update Medical Highlights | Preventive or Diagnosis — give the highlight a title and optional description | Automatically add a Rabies vaccination given preventive highlight to the pet's record when the rabies vaccine is billed. |
⚠️ "Update Animal" and "Update Medical Highlights" actions only run on completed invoices. These changes are significant enough that Lupa waits until the invoice is finalised before applying them. Reminder actions, by contrast, run as soon as the invoice is saved.
Create an automation
Open Admin Settings → Automations.
Click + Create Automation in the top right.
Give the automation a clear, descriptive Automation Name, e.g. Set vaccination reminder after vaccine or Auto-mark neutered. The name shows up in the audit trail.
The "When" section is where items are billed panel, tick the products and services that should fire the automation. The picker is a searchable, filterable table of every product and service in your catalogue. Use the Filter and Search controls to narrow it down. You can tick as many as you like; the automation fires when any of them appear on an invoice.
The "**Then" **section performs the actions. Click + Add to add an action.
For a reminder action: choose Update Pet Reminder, pick the reminder type, then pick SET or CANCEL.
For a pet-detail action: choose Update Pet Details, then pick Neutered or Deceased.
For a medical highlight action: choose Update Medical Highlights, select Preventive or Diagnosis, then give the highlight a title and optional description.
Repeat + Add for any additional actions you want this trigger to perform.
Click Create. The automation is live immediately for new invoices.
Worked examples
Goal | Trigger items | Actions |
Set vaccine reminders automatically | DHPPI booster, Lepto 4 booster | SET Annual Vaccination reminder; SET Post-vac check-up reminder |
Stop chasing pets that have already been chipped | Microchip implant (service) | CANCEL Microchip Reminder |
Mark neutered pets without staff intervention | Castration, Spay (cat), Spay (dog) | Update Pet Details → Neutered |
Mark deceased and clear active reminders | Euthanasia (service) | Update Pet Details → Deceased; CANCEL Annual Vaccination and any other relevant reminders |
Run a flea-and-worm reminder cadence | Flea/worm 3-month course | SET Flea & worm refill reminder |
Edit an automation
Edit: click the automation in the list, change anything, then Update.
Tracing what an automation has done
Every time an automation fires, Lupa records the invocation: which automation, which pet, which product or service triggered it, and the before/after state of the change. This audit trail lets you confirm that "the vaccine reminder appeared because of the Post-vaccination follow-up automation, not because someone added it manually". Reminders set by automations show up on the pet's reminder list alongside any manual entries.
Automated medical highlights
When Lupa creates a medical highlight through an automation, the record is locked. If you open it from the pet's record, you will see the message "This record was created automatically and cannot be edited." The fields are read-only and there is no Save button. This protects the integrity of automatically generated records.
The one exception is scheduling: if a preventive highlight created by an automation does not yet have a due date, the Add due date button is still available so you can attach a schedule. Once a schedule exists, that button is hidden.
Tips
✅ Best practices:
Name automations like sentences. Post-vaccination follow-up reads better than Auto1.
Group trigger items by intent. A single Annual vaccination automation that fires on every vaccine product is easier to maintain than a separate automation per product.
Pair SET and CANCEL. When you bill the actual procedure, cancel any reminder that nudged the client toward it. It keeps the pet's reminders clean.
Keep pet-detail actions to one trigger family. Neutered should only fire on neutering services; mixing with anything else risks marking pets incorrectly.
Audit quarterly. Pull up the automation list and ask "is this still right?" Catalogue items get renamed; reminder types get retired; rules silently stop firing.
Treat Deceased with care. Once a pet is marked deceased it disappears from default lists. Make sure your trigger items genuinely correspond to end-of-life events before adding the action.
Troubleshooting
Problem | Solution |
I can't see the Automations menu | Automations are in Admin Settings, not the per-clinic Settings page. You also need access to Admin Settings, ask your admin to grant it. |
Automation isn't firing on a product I just billed | Check the trigger items list contains the exact product/service. If you renamed or duplicated the product recently, the new item won't be in the trigger list automatically. |
Reminder didn't appear after the invoice was saved | Reminder actions run when the invoice is saved. Check the pet's reminder list, the reminder may exist but be filtered out by status. Confirm the chosen reminder type still exists. |
Pet wasn't marked Neutered even though the service was billed | Pet-detail actions only fire when the invoice is Completed, not while it's still a draft. Finalise the invoice and the action will run. |
A medical highlight didn't appear on the pet's record after billing | Medical highlight actions only fire when the invoice is Completed. Finalise the invoice and the highlight will be added. Also confirm the automation's trigger list includes the exact product or service you billed. |
I opened a medical highlight but can't edit it | If the highlight was created by an automation, it is read-only by design. You will see the message "This record was created automatically and cannot be edited." If you need to correct the record, create a new highlight manually on the pet's record. |
An automation is firing on the wrong service | Open the automation and review the trigger items. A service may have been added by mistake. Remove it and save. |
I can't add an action because the reminder type isn't in the picker | The reminder type doesn't exist yet, or has been archived. Configure the reminder type first, then return to the automation. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an automation apply to every clinic in my group? {toggle="true"}
Yes. Automations live at company level, so a single rule fires across every clinic in your organisation. There's no per-clinic toggle.
What triggers can I use besides billed items? {toggle="true"}
Today, only billed items. Lupa's automation engine is built around the trigger-action model so other triggers (e.g. appointments completed, lab results received) will be added in future, but they aren't available yet.
Can the same automation set multiple reminders? {toggle="true"}
Yes. Add as many actions as you need to a single automation, they all run together. A common pattern is one trigger that sets both an annual reminder and a short-term follow-up.
Will automations re-fire if I edit and resave an invoice? {toggle="true"}
Reminder actions run when the invoice is saved with matching items. Pet-detail actions run when the invoice transitions to Completed. Re-saving doesn't duplicate reminders if they already exist; the system de-duplicates by reminder type and pet.
Can I bulk-import automations? {toggle="true"}
Not currently. Automations are created one at a time in the UI.