# Joomla workflow automation without custom plugins

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## Overview

Joomla automation for articles, users, and events. Visual workflow automation that replaces custom plugins — 100+ Joomla hooks, webhooks, cron, and AI.

Replace one-off Joomla plugins, helper files, and cron scripts with visual flows. JOrchestrator listens to native Joomla events, then creates articles, notifies people, and talks to the rest of your stack.

## What “Joomla automation” actually means

Most Joomla sites already automate something: a content plugin that emails the editor, a system plugin that syncs users, a CLI cron that republishes the homepage. That work is real Joomla automation — it just lives in PHP you have to maintain on every upgrade.

Joomla workflow automation is the same jobs on a canvas. A Joomla event starts the flow. Action nodes update the CMS. Logic and AI nodes decide what happens next. You keep Joomla. You stop shipping a new plugin for every request.

## The work that should not be a plugin

If a client asks for “when an article is saved, do X”, that is a flow, not an extension. Typical Joomla automation that teams move onto the canvas:

- Notify Slack or email when an article, banner, or contact is saved
- Create or publish a Joomla article from a form, webhook, or schedule
- Sync users and groups after login, registration, or a CRM update
- Run AI rewrite / translate / alt-text steps, then write back to the article
- Call a REST API, sheet, or warehouse when Joomla content changes

## How a Joomla workflow runs

Install the JOrchestrator plugin, link the domain, and turn on Platform Events. A trigger node listens for a Joomla hook — Content After Save, user login, menu change, or an inbound webhook. Downstream nodes run against that same site.

You can also start from a hosted schedule instead of an event. That is how daily banners, stale-content audits, and overnight publishing jobs work without relying on Joomla’s CLI cron alone.

- Trigger: Joomla event, webhook, or schedule
- Decide: If, Iterator, and payload mapping
- Act: create/update/publish Joomla content, users, media, or categories
- Reach out: email, Slack, HTTP, sheets, S3, or another CMS

## Start with these Joomla workflows

These three recipes are the shortest path from “we should automate Joomla” to a live flow. Each one links the exact nodes on the canvas.

- [Publish a Joomla article from a flow](/use-cases/joomla-publish-article) — Webhook or schedule → Create Article → Publish Article
- [Scheduled Joomla content and banners](/use-cases/joomla-scheduled-content) — Hosted cron → AI or media → update the live site
- [Same canvas for WordPress](/wordpress-workflow-builder) — Agencies running mixed fleets stay on one designer

## Nodes for this work

These are the Joomla nodes behind the recipes above. Open a node page when you want the hook or the action — not the tour.

- [Content After Save](/nodes/event-onContentAfterSave) — Joomla article saved trigger (onContentAfterSave)
- [Create Article](/nodes/create-article) — Write a Joomla article from webhook, AI, or schedule data
- [Publish Article](/nodes/publish-article) — Flip state to published when the flow says it is ready
- [Trigger Workflow](/nodes/trigger-workflow) — Hand off to a native Joomla workflow after the canvas runs
- [Webhook](/nodes/webhook) — Start Joomla automation from a form, CRM, or payment event
- [Send Email](/nodes/send-email) — Notify editors without a custom mail plugin
- [All 288+ workflow nodes](/nodes) — Joomla events, actions, AI, and logic

## FAQ

### Is JOrchestrator a Joomla automation plugin?

The Joomla plugin is the runtime. The product is a visual workflow builder: you design flows in the cloud canvas, and the plugin executes them on the linked site. You are not writing another system plugin for each job.

### Does this replace Joomla Workflow?

No. Native Joomla Workflow still owns editorial states. Use Trigger Workflow when a flow should hand a completed item into that process. JOrchestrator covers the work around it — events, integrations, AI, and schedules.

### Which Joomla versions does workflow automation support?

Joomla 4, 5, and 6. Platform Events must be enabled in System → JOrchestrator on the linked site before event triggers fire.

### Can I automate Joomla on localhost or a LAN site?

Yes. Paid plans include j-orchestrator-proxy tunnels, so the same flow can hit localhost, a private LAN, or production behind a firewall without opening inbound ports.

## Related pages

- [WordPress workflow builder](/wordpress-workflow-builder) — Same canvas for WordPress sites
- [Node reference](/nodes) — Every Joomla and WordPress node
- [FAQ](/faq) — Flows, schedulers, tunnels, security