Skip to content

AI Automators

When to Use

Use this guide when auto-generating field content on entity save. Use AI Agents when you need autonomous decision-making rather than fixed field generation.

Decision

Situation Choose Why
Interactive editor save batch worker JS-driven progress bar for editors
Programmatic/API save direct worker Batch requires JS — won't run in API context
High-volume background queue worker Cron queue; no timeout risk
Only generate when empty edit_mode: false Prevents overwriting manual edits

Pattern

use Drupal\ai_automators\Attribute\AiAutomatorType;
use Drupal\ai_automators\PluginBaseClasses\RuleBase;

#[AiAutomatorType(
  id: 'my_string_generator',
  label: new TranslatableMarkup('My Generator'),
  field_rule: 'string',
  target: NULL,
)]
class MyStringGenerator extends RuleBase {

  public function generate(ContentEntityInterface $entity, FieldDefinitionInterface $fieldDef, array $config): array {
    $instance = $this->prepareLlmInstance('chat', $config);
    $prompt = $this->buildPrompt($entity, $config);
    $values = [$this->runChatMessage($prompt, $config, $instance, $entity)[0] ?? ''];
    return $values;
  }
}

Config Entity: ai_automator

Field Description
rule AiAutomatorType plugin ID
worker_type direct (sync), batch (JS), queue (cron)
edit_mode If false, only generate when field is empty
base_field Source field to read from
prompt Prompt template (supports tokens)

Workers

Worker Execution Best For
direct Synchronous on save Fast operations, programmatic saves
batch JS-driven batch UI Interactive saves with progress bar
queue Cron queue Background processing, high volume

Built-in Plugin Types (52 total)

  • Text/String: LlmSimpleString, LlmString, LlmTextWithSummary, LlmTextCreateSummary
  • Reference: LlmEntityReference, LlmTaxonomy, VectorSearchEntityReference
  • Media: LlmImageGeneration, LlmImageAltText, LlmMediaAudioGeneration
  • Audio/Video: LlmAudioToStringLong, LlmVideoToHtml, LlmVideoToVideo
  • Numeric: LlmBoolean, LlmInteger, LlmDecimal
  • JSON: LlmJsonField, LlmJsonNative
  • Contrib: LlmCustomField, LlmMetatag, LlmModerationState

Automator Chains (Programmatic API)

$service = \Drupal::service('ai_automator.automate');

// Run a chain — creates temp entity, runs automators, returns results.
$output = $service->run('my_chain_machine_name', [
  'field_input_text' => 'source text here',
]);
// $output['field_output_text'] contains the generated value.

Events

Event Purpose
AutomatorConfigEvent Alter config before rule runs
ValuesChangeEvent Alter generated values before verify/store
RuleIsAllowedEvent Override whether a rule should run
ProcessFieldEvent Force-process or force-skip a field

Common Mistakes

  • Wrong: Using batch worker for programmatic saves → Right: Batch requires JS — only works in browser context
  • Wrong: Not setting edit_mode: false for existing content → Right: Regenerates on every save, overwriting manual edits
  • Wrong: Forgetting base_field → Right: Automator needs a source field to read from

See Also