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Creating Automation rules in Garson.Pro

Welcome to Garson.Pro. In this video, you’ll learn what automation rules are, how scheduled rules work, what they can change, and how to run a rule manually.

Automation rules help you keep your menu up to date without doing repetitive work. Typical use cases are daily lunch menus, weekend specials, happy hours, or temporarily hiding items when the kitchen is closed.

Automation rules are timer-based.

You choose when the rule runs, and what it changes.

A rule can target:

  • menu sections
  • menu items
  • tags (to update many linked items at once)
  • option groups
  • single options

And a rule can change only two things:

  • Visible (show or hide)
  • Available (allow ordering or disable ordering)

Now let’s create an example rule.

Open Automation Rules and click Create. [Open Automation Rules]
[Click Create — top left]

Enter a name that clearly describes what the rule does. [Type Lunch menu — show at 11:00 in Automation Name]

Choose what the rule will target. In this example we update a menu section, but the same flow works for menu items, tags, option groups, and single options. [Select Rule → Change Menu]

Assign the entities that this rule should control. Use the list button, select what you need, and apply. [Click List – Menus]
[Select menu sections → Click Apply]

Choose the action. “Make Visible” shows content. “Make Hidden” removes it from the customer menu. “Make Available” enables ordering. “Make Unavailable” keeps it visible but blocks ordering. [Select Action → Make Visible]

Next, set the schedule.

Optionally set a start date, for example “from next Monday”. [Set Start Date]

Set the time when the rule should run. [Set Time]

Set the duration. This defines how long the schedule window is active after each start. For example, a 2-hour duration works well for lunch specials. [Set Duration]

Choose how often the rule repeats. Daily is typical for lunch menus, weekly for weekend offers, hourly for periodic checks. [Select Frequency → Daily]

Choose when the rule ends:

  • No end (runs forever)
  • Until a date
  • Repeat for N times

[Select End Date → No end (infinite)]

You can also review the generated schedule rule text in the Rule field. [Review Rule]

Save the automation rule. [Click Create]

You don’t need a second “hide” rule. In Garson.Pro, Duration is made exactly for this: the rule applies the action, keeps it active for the set duration, and then automatically reverts the change.

Manual trigger

Even if a rule has a schedule, you can run it manually. This is useful for testing or when you need the change to apply immediately.

Open the automation rules list, select a rule, and run it. [Open Automation Rules]
[Select rule → Click Run now]

The rule runs instantly and applies its action right away.

If the rule has a Duration, the change is temporary and will be reverted automatically after the duration ends.

If you click Run now again while the rule is still active, the rule is toggled: * the current automation effect is reverted immediately * the rule is re-applied, starting a fresh duration from that moment

This allows you to quickly apply, reset, or re-test automation behavior without waiting for the original duration to finish.

Final recap.

Automation rules let you schedule menu changes automatically. You pick a target (menu, item, tag, group, option), pick an action (Visible/Available), set a repeating schedule, and you can always run the rule manually when needed.

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