monday.com App · v1.5.0 · In review

Automation Guard

Stop monday automations firing twice for the same event.

Duplicate prevention
Fails open
Per item or per value
AI duplicate report

The gap it closes

monday automations are stateless. They fire every time the trigger condition is met, so a status going Done, then Working on it, then Done again sends the “it’s done” actions twice, and an integration retry can send them a third time.

The result is duplicate emails, duplicate invoices and duplicate items. The usual workaround is a helper “flag” column plus extra automations to set and reset it, rebuilt on every board.

Automation Guard replaces that with one step at the front of the chain.

How it works

Three steps, then it runs itself.

01
Put the guard first in your workflow

In monday Workflows, add the Block duplicate runs step straight after your trigger, before the actions you want protected.
02
Choose what “the same event” means

Per item, per item and value, per board and value, or once per item per day: whichever matches the duplicate you are actually seeing.
03
Set how long the memory lasts

Minutes, hours or days. The first run goes through; repeats inside the window stop the chain quietly, with no error and no disabled automation.

How it behaves

The decisions that matter.

It fails open, never closed

If the guard cannot read its own history, it lets the event through. Blocking a real event is worse than allowing a rare duplicate, so the failure mode is deliberately the safe one.
monday’s own retries are recognised

A platform retry carries the same trigger event ID, so it is passed through rather than mistaken for a duplicate.
Suppression is calm

A blocked repeat stops the rest of the chain without an error notification and without disabling your automation.
Values are compared sensibly

Case and surrounding whitespace are ignored, so “Done” and “ done ” are correctly recognised as the same event.
Going over your plan does not block real work

If the account exceeds its plan, the guard passes events through rather than stopping them. A billing state must never silently halt your operations.
AI that cannot break your chain

The optional Post AI duplicate report step summarises what was blocked using monday AI, billed to your account’s own AI credits. If AI is unavailable, it posts a standard report instead.

Pricing

Free tier that actually works.

Billed per account through monday.com's built-in monetization — not per seat. The free tier is deliberately functional so the app can prove itself on a real board before you pay for it. Trials get full Pro.

Free

1 guarded automation, fully functional

Basic

$12/mo

Up to 5 guarded automations

Standard

$29/mo

Up to 25 guarded automations

Pro

$59/mo

Unlimited guarded automations

Documentation & data handling

Everything it touches, stated plainly.

Installing & getting started

Install Automation Guard into your monday.com account and approve the permissions listed below.
Open the board you want it on and add the app’s Workflow steps (monday Workflows) / Sidekick skill.
Follow the three steps above. The free tier covers 1 guarded automation, fully functional, so you can prove it works before paying.
Stuck? Email [email protected]. I reply within 24 hours.

Step-by-step guide: How to use Automation Guard

Permissions, and why each one

updates:write: Post the duplicate report as an update on the item, when you add the report step.
ai:consume: Write the duplicate report with monday AI (run_prompt). Usage draws on your account’s own monday AI credits; there is no outside AI provider and no developer key.

What is stored, and where

For each guarded event, the app keeps a small record keyed by a one-way fingerprint (a SHA-256 hash): when the event was seen, the guard scope, monday’s trigger ID and the first 80 characters of the value being compared.
It also keeps a journal of the 50 most recent blocked repeats (item ID, board ID, scope, the first 60 characters of the value and the reason) so the duplicate report can say what was blocked.
Both live in monday’s own app storage for your account, which monday keeps separate from every other account. The app runs entirely on monday code; there is no external database and no server of mine in the path.
Operational logs go to monday code’s own logging: the account ID, the hashed fingerprint and error messages. Never tokens, item contents or personal details.
The AI report sends only the blocked-run summary to monday AI. The app contacts no third-party domains and uses no cookies, analytics or trackers.
Uninstalling revokes the app’s permissions immediately. monday does not erase app storage on uninstall, so email me and I will delete everything the app holds for your account within 10 days.

Full policy: Privacy · Terms

Technical detail

Version: 1.5.0
Hosting: monday code (hosted on monday.com infrastructure)
Runtime: Node.js 18
Authentication: monday-signed JWT on every request (short-lived monday token, nothing stored)
monday surfaces: Workflow steps (monday Workflows), Sidekick skill
App ID: 11822356
Support: [email protected]
Support SLA: 24 hours
Publisher: Builds By Luke, Canada

Questions people ask.

Does it store my board data?

Only what it needs to recognise a repeat: a hashed fingerprint per event with the first 80 characters of the compared value, and a journal of the last 50 blocked repeats. It all stays in monday’s app storage for your account.

What if the guard itself breaks?

Your events go through. It is built to fail open, because silently swallowing real work is the worse outcome.

Where do I find the step?

In monday Workflows: add a step after your trigger and search for “Block duplicate runs”.

Does the AI cost me anything?

The AI report uses your account’s monday AI credits, like any native monday AI feature. If credits run out, the step posts a standard report instead, so your automation never fails.