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Immediate Value

After this tutorial, you’ll enforce your deal process with List triggers, automate field updates and Slack notifications with the Automation Builder, and use list templates for repeatable workflows.

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Prerequisites

  • Tutorial 9: Building Your Pipeline
  • Tutorial 7: Master List Views
  • List triggers: any list with a status field. Creating Require Fields and Create Opportunity triggers needs list admin access; anyone with access to the list can create Create Reminder triggers.
  • Automation Builder: the Advanced or Enterprise plan, and an account Admin (on Enterprise, Enterprise Admins can extend this to Standard users).

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Quick-Start Roadmap

  1. Enforce your process with List triggers
  2. Automate field updates and Slack notifications
  3. Set up list templates for repeatable workflows
New Lists is the default Lists experience for every customer. A few features still need Classic Lists — where one comes up, this tutorial says so. To switch a single list, see Switching between New and Classic Lists.

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Why Automation Matters

Affinity has two kinds of rules. List triggers step in when a record changes status — asking for the fields you require, prompting an opportunity, or creating a reminder when a deal goes quiet. Automations update a field or send a Slack notification when a field meets a condition. Once configured, both run without anyone remembering to do it.
Affinity guide: Affinity Automation Builder walkthrough and Triggers & Automations overview.

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Task 1: Enforce Your Process with List Triggers

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Context

List triggers keep your pipeline honest at the moments that matter — when a deal moves into Due Diligence, when it qualifies, or when nobody has touched it for weeks. They’re set up per list, in New Lists.

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🎬 Watch

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Action

  1. Open the list you want to add a trigger to.
  2. Open List Options — the gear icon, top right — and choose List triggers. The item appears on any list with a status field.
  3. Click New Trigger and pick a type:
    • Require Fields — when a record enters a status, the listed fields must be filled in before the change saves.
    • Create Opportunity — when a record enters a status, you’re prompted to create an opportunity in the opportunity list you choose.
    • Create Reminder — when a set number of days pass since the last interaction, a reminder is created for the teammate you pick. You can narrow it to a status (it defaults to Any status).
  4. Configure it and save. The trigger shows as Active in the list.
  5. Test it by moving a record to the trigger status.
Example triggers:
  • Require Fields on “Due Diligence”: require Round Size and Lead Investor
  • Create Opportunity on “Qualified”: create an opportunity in your Active Pipeline opportunity list
  • Create Reminder: remind the deal owner when a deal has had no interaction for 14 days
Coming from Classic? These are the same features under new names: Require Fields was Status Triggers, Create Opportunity was Opportunity Triggers, and Create Reminder was Reminder Triggers. Both experiences read the same triggers, so anything you set up in Classic is already there.
To move a Require Fields trigger to a different status, remove it and create a new one — the status can’t be changed on an existing trigger.
To copy records into another company or people list, select them and use the bulk Copy to List action (see Tutorial 15), or ask AI Chat to add a record to a list.

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Expected Outcome

Moving a record to a trigger status asks for the right information or prompts the right follow-up, without anyone having to remember.

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📚 Help Center

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Task 2: Automate Field Updates and Slack Notifications

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Context

The Automation Builder runs an “if this, then that” rule on your fields: when a field meets a condition, update another field or send a Slack notification. It’s available on the Advanced and Enterprise plans.

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🎬 Watch

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Action

  1. Go to Settings → Automations and click New Automation. In New Lists you can also open List Options → Automations if your permissions allow managing automations.
  2. Name the automation — for example, Deals: Status -> Fund Stage.
  3. Set the If section: choose a list-specific or global field, the list, the field, and an operator and value (for example, Status is any of Closed Won).
  4. Set the Then section:
    • Update Field — choose the field to update and enter the new value it should get, or
    • Send Slack Notification — if your Slack integration is connected.
  5. Click Save.
Example automations:
  • Status is any of “Closed Won” → set Fund Stage to “Portfolio”
  • Owners is any of “Jordan Lee” → set Team to “Healthcare”
  • Status is any of “IC Review” → send a Slack notification to your deal channel
Use automations for objective values like stage assignments and team routing. Leave subjective fields (notes, assessments, scores) for human input.
Automations only run on edits made after you create them. They don’t backfill existing records, they don’t run on data imports, and enriched and formula fields can’t be used. Applying a suggested field update from Ascend also doesn’t trigger status or stage automations.

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Expected Outcome

Field changes that meet your condition update the configured field, or post to Slack, without manual input.

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📚 Help Center

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Task 3: List Templates for Repeatable Workflows

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Context

If your firm runs the same type of list repeatedly (e.g., a new fund pipeline, a quarterly LP tracking list), templates save setup time and keep configuration consistent across lists.

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Action

  1. In the left sidebar, click “Add New” → “New List”.
  2. The new-list dialog opens with built-in templates shown by default.
  3. Pick a template that matches the workflow you’re building (or click “Build from scratch” if none fit) → name your list → Create. Built-in templates typically include common pipelines (VC deal flow, PE pipeline, LP tracking, portfolio monitoring). The exact list and naming may vary by account.
Already have a list set up the way you like? Open it, go to List Options → Duplicate list, and choose No views (fields only), With views, or With views + permissions. It’s the quickest way to reuse a proven configuration.

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Expected Outcome

You can create new lists from templates with consistent fields and configuration.

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📚 Help Center

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Task 4 (Optional): Manage Apps & API Access

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Context

For admins integrating Affinity with external tools, the Manage Apps page lists approved integrations, OAuth apps, and API keys for the account — including the keys used by Zapier, custom workflows, and the AI tools that connect to Affinity MCP with an API key.

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Action

  1. Open the admin settings menu.
  2. Select “Manage Apps”.
  3. Review approved apps, revoke unused keys, and click ”+ New App” (then API Key, if a menu opens) to provision new API keys as needed.
Admin only. Revoking an active API key will immediately break any integration using it. Confirm the key is unused before revoking.
Affinity MCP lets compatible AI assistants query and update your Affinity data through a secure connector. API keys for clients that need one are created here in Manage Apps — you can create a separate key for each client, and creating a new one doesn’t revoke the others. MCP itself is administered separately at Settings → Affinity MCP, where an admin can enable or disable individual OAuth clients (API-key clients can still connect). See Connect AI Tools to Affinity with MCP.

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Expected Outcome

You know where to view and manage your account’s integrations and API keys.

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Common Questions

Yes, if your account has the Slack integration configured. See Affinity field value updates to Slack integration for setup.
In Settings → Automations. Click an automation’s name to see its details, or use the ⋯ menu to Edit or Delete it. Automations created by someone who leaves your account keep running, and anyone with permission to manage automations can pause, edit or delete them.
Your team can create up to 500 automations between you. Affinity runs up to 10 chained automations at a time — automations triggered by other automations.
Use a list trigger when a status change should ask someone for information, prompt an opportunity, or create a reminder. Use an automation when a field should update itself, or Slack should hear about it, with no one in the loop.

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See It In Action

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Where to Go Next

  • Next tutorial: Tutorial 14: Analytics and Reporting
  • 🗺️ Learning Paths: Deal Management (Step 5), New Admin Setup (Step 5)