---
title: Workflow Automation
description: Automate the routine work on your pull requests with rules that react to a pull request's state to label, comment, assign, rebase, merge, and more.
hubAccent: true
---

Workflow Automation handles the routine work on your pull requests. You write
rules in your Mergify configuration file, and Mergify carries them out: labeling,
commenting, assigning, rebasing, merging, and more. Your team spends less time on
pull request housekeeping.

## Anatomy of a Rule

Every rule lives under `pull_request_rules` and pairs a set of **conditions**
with the **actions** to run when a pull request matches them:

```yaml
pull_request_rules:
  - name: add "WIP" label when the title contains "WIP"
    conditions:
      - title ~= WIP
    actions:
      label:
        toggle:
          - WIP
```

Here, any pull request whose title contains `WIP` gets the `WIP` label. Once the
title no longer matches, Mergify removes it.

## How Rules Are Evaluated

Mergify evaluates the *state* of a pull request rather than individual events. It
checks the current status of a pull request and acts based on the conditions you
defined. This behavior is known as "edge triggering": an action only re-runs for
a pull request when its state flips back from unmatched to matched.

:::note
  Mergify never evaluates rules for pull request drafts it creates while
  processing the [merge queue](/merge-queue).
:::

## Building Blocks

<DocsetGrid>
  <Docset title="Rule Syntax" path="/workflow/rule-syntax" icon="lucide:badge-question-mark">
    The `pull_request_rules` format and how to structure a rule.
  </Docset>
  <Docset title="Conditions" path="/configuration/conditions" icon="lucide:list-checks">
    Match pull requests on title, labels, CI status, files, authorship, and more.
  </Docset>
  <Docset title="Actions" path="/workflow/actions" icon="lucide:rocket">
    The full catalog of tasks Mergify can run when a rule matches.
  </Docset>
  <Docset title="Configuration File" path="/configuration/file-format" icon="lucide:braces">
    Where rules live and how the overall config file is structured.
  </Docset>
</DocsetGrid>

## Popular Actions

<DocsetGrid>
  <Docset title="Merge" path="/workflow/actions/merge" icon="octicon:git-merge-16">
    Automate the merging of your pull requests.
  </Docset>
  <Docset title="Queue" path="/workflow/actions/queue" icon="mergify:merge-queue">
    Add the pull request to the merge queue.
  </Docset>
  <Docset title="Label" path="/workflow/actions/label" icon="lucide:badge-check">
    Add, remove, or toggle labels on a pull request.
  </Docset>
  <Docset title="Comment" path="/workflow/actions/comment" icon="lucide:message-square">
    Post a comment on a pull request.
  </Docset>
  <Docset title="Backport" path="/workflow/actions/backport" icon="lucide:git-branch">
    Copy a pull request to another branch once it is merged.
  </Docset>
  <Docset title="Rebase" path="/workflow/actions/rebase" icon="lucide:git-branch">
    Rebase the pull request on top of its base branch.
  </Docset>
</DocsetGrid>