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Automations react to changes. A candidate moves to a new stage, a search changes status, a deal is won, and the automation runs its steps: it creates a task, adds a note, or emails someone. This guide starts with how automations work and two common examples, then covers the safeguards for bulk changes and for changes made through the API, MCP or Zapier.

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How automations work

Every automation has two parts:
  • A trigger: the change it waits for, for example “a candidate moves to Rejected”.
  • Steps: what it does each time the trigger happens, in order, for example “wait 2 days, then email the candidate”.
Each time the trigger happens, Stardex starts a run for that candidate, search or deal and works through the steps one by one. You can see every run, and what each step did, in the automation’s Runs tab. During the Beta, only organization admins can create or change automations. Everyone else can see them, read-only.

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Triggers

Coming soon: Candidate added to a search, New applicant, Client contact status changed, and On a schedule.

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Steps

Coming soon: Agent, Slack message, and Enroll in campaign.

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Adding details from the record

Emails, notes and tasks can include details from the record that started the run, such as the candidate’s name, the search name or the stage. Click Insert data in a step to add one. Each trigger only offers the details it has: a “New search created” automation has no candidate, so it can’t use the candidate’s name.

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Example: follow up after a rejection

Send a polite note two days after a candidate is rejected, from your own mailbox.
  1. Trigger: Candidate stage changed, narrowed to All rejection stages.
  2. Step 1, Delay: 2 days.
  3. Step 2, Send email: to the Candidate, from your mailbox, with Include signature on. For example: “Hi {Candidate first name}, thank you for the time you spent with us on the {Search name} search…”
If someone moves the candidate to Rejected by mistake and moves them back within the 2 days, the email is not sent.

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Example: invoice task when a candidate is placed

Make sure every placement gets invoiced.
  1. Trigger: Candidate stage changed, narrowed to Placed.
  2. Step 1, Create task: for the Search owner, due in 1 day: “Send the placement invoice for {Candidate name}”.

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Creating an automation

  1. Open Automations in the sidebar and click New automation.
  2. Pick Start from scratch. The templates listed below it show common setups and become available as their Coming soon parts are released.
  3. Choose the trigger and narrow it if you need to.
  4. Add steps with + and fill each one in.
  5. Click Save. A new automation is on as soon as it’s saved, and it only reacts to changes made from then on. Use the switch at the top to turn it off.

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Bulk changes, API, MCP and Zapier

Most changes happen one at a time, while you work in Stardex. Some don’t. A bulk edit can move 200 candidates in one click, and a script, an AI agent or a Zap can change hundreds of records through the API in a few seconds. Each of those changes starts every automation that matches, so an automation that emails candidates on rejection would send 200 emails. Stardex adds two safeguards for this: a confirmation before large bulk changes in the app, and a setting that keeps API, MCP and Zapier changes from starting automations unless you turn it on. The short version
  • In Stardex: changing more than 10 records at once shows which automations will run before anything changes.
  • Through the API, MCP or Zapier: changes only start automations that have Run on API and MCP changes turned on. It is off by default.

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Bulk changes in Stardex

When a bulk change would move more than 10 records and start at least one automation, Stardex asks before making it. The confirmation lists every automation that will run, so you can cancel if that isn’t what you meant. Only records that actually change count. If you set 30 candidates to Rejected and 25 of them are already there, only 5 change, and nothing is asked.

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Where you’ll see it

  • Edit status from the selection bar on candidates, searches and deals
  • Mark as closed for searches
  • CSV imports that move candidates already on the search to a new stage (the automations are listed in the “Overwrite existing candidate stages?” confirmation)
  • Adding candidates to a sequence with a stage selected
When you use Select all, Stardex can’t count ahead of time how many records will change, so the confirmation says “up to” and uses the number selected. 📷 Where you'll see it — screenshot 1 Before 11 candidates move to Longlist, Stardex lists the automation that will run. Choose Continue to make the change and start the automations, or Cancel to go back without changing anything.

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Changes made through the API, MCP or Zapier

Changes made outside the Stardex app don’t start automations by default. This covers:
  • The Stardex API, used with an API key
  • MCP, used by AI assistants such as Claude when they are connected to your Stardex account
  • Zapier, for example a Zap that updates a candidate’s stage
Nobody sees a confirmation before those changes are made, so a mistake in a script or a Zap could otherwise start hundreds of runs before anyone notices. The changes themselves still happen. A Zap that moves a candidate to Interviewing still moves them; it just doesn’t start your automations.

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Turning it on for an automation

If you want an automation to run for these changes too, for example because a Zap moves candidates and you want the automation to email them:
  1. Open the automation and select its trigger.
  2. Turn on Run on API and MCP changes.
  3. Read the warning and choose Turn on.
  4. Save the automation.
📷 Turning it on for an automation — screenshot 2 The Run on API and MCP changes setting, under the trigger. 📷 Turning it on for an automation — screenshot 3 The warning shown before the setting turns on. Scheduled automations don’t show this setting, because they run on their own schedule rather than reacting to a change. Ask Dex counts as Stardex. Changes you ask Dex to make inside Stardex start automations as usual, because you are working in the app. Only changes that come through an API key, an MCP connection or Zapier are affected.

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Seeing where a run came from

When a run was started by an API, MCP or Zapier change, its details in the Runs tab show Changed through: API (including Zapier) or Changed through: MCP. Runs started from the app don’t show this row.

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Automations that send from your mailbox

An automation that emails candidates or client contacts sends from a mailbox of the admin who created it. Because those emails go out under that person’s name, only the creator can edit the automation, including the Run on API and MCP changes setting. Other admins can still turn it off or archive it if something looks wrong. If the creator leaves your team, their automations are turned off. Any admin can then open one, edit it and turn it back on. Saving a change makes that admin the new owner, so pick a mailbox they can send from.

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FAQ

Does turning off Run on API and MCP changes stop the API from making changes? No. The API, MCP and Zapier can still make the change. Only the automations stop reacting to it. I turned it on and nothing ran. Why? Check that the automation is turned on and that the change matches its trigger, for example the right stage. Also check that you saved the automation after turning the setting on. Do bulk changes of 10 records or fewer start automations? Yes. They start automations as usual, without asking first. The confirmation only appears above 10. Do imports and bulk adds to a search start automations? Adding people to a search doesn’t, because automations react to stage changes, not to a candidate being added. A CSV import that moves candidates already on the search to a new stage does, and Stardex lists the automations before the import starts.