Automations and scenes
An automation is a rule Cora runs for you: when this happens, check that, then do this. Scenes group several actions into one thing you can run or schedule.
Settings → Automation.
The screen has two tabs (Automations and Scenes) and a New automation button. Each rule shows a one-line summary of what it does, an enable switch, and a menu for editing or deleting it. A rule that has not run yet is marked as such.
The shape of a rule
Every rule is the same three parts:
Trigger: what wakes it up Conditions: what must also be true Actions: what it then does, in order
What can wake a rule
Four things:
| Trigger | Fires when |
|---|---|
| Metric | A parameter crosses a value you set, in a direction you choose |
| Alert | An alert is raised, cleared, or either |
| Schedule | A time of day, in your own timezone |
| Device status | A device goes offline or comes back |
Conditions
Conditions decide whether the actions actually run. You get the usual comparisons (equals, not equals, greater than, less than, and so on) and you can combine them with and, or and not.
There is also a step condition, which checks how the previous step turned out. That is what lets you write "try this; if it did not work, do that instead."
What a rule can do
An action that needs equipment is offered only on a tank that has that equipment:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Control Apex Equipment | Switch an outlet |
| Control a Red Sea™ Equipment | Drive a ReefBeat unit |
| Control a wavemaker | Set a Jecod™ pump's flow, wave mode or power, or Pause for feeding: the Cora Max at the tank puts the pump back when the feed ends |
| Control a Cora Equipment | Switch a smart plug |
| Control IR Device | Send an infrared command |
| Run Apex Feed Cycle | Start a feed |
| Run a Trident Test | Trigger a test |
| Notify Me | Send yourself a push |
| Wait Before Next Step | Pause before continuing |
| Run a Scene | Run another scene from inside this rule |
| Manage an Automation | Turn another rule on or off |
| Dose a DŌS Head | Run a measured dose on a DŌS head |
Scenes
A scene is a named group of actions you can run on demand, from a schedule, or from inside another rule: "Water change", "Photo mode", "Night".
A scene may call another scene. Cora refuses to run a scene nested beyond its depth limit, and refuses a scene that would call itself, to prevent a loop that would continue acting on the tank indefinitely.
After a scene runs you are told what happened, step by step, including anything that failed.
Turning a rule off
Every rule has an enable switch. Turning one off keeps its definition, useful when you want a rule back next season rather than rebuilding it.
Seeing what a rule did
Every action a rule takes is recorded with the rule as its cause. See Activity.
Written for Cora Max 0.28.60 and Cora Mobile 0.5.70. Last checked 2026-09-17.
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