Patch Dependency Order

IT / AUTOMATE.md

When a patch window opens, pull the fleet list and write the restart order so domain controllers go first and workstations last, with an owner named per batch.

This is the whole automation. Run it as it is, or change any word, including the tools it names.

Dependency order written down
No double restart per host
Change record links every batch

How it runs

1. Starts
When a patch window is opened for a server fleet
2. Reads
the fleet list
3. Delivers to
Spreadsheets
4. You decide
Approve each time, or let the steps you trust run. Your choice.

Why IT and security teams set this up

Patching is scheduled per team, so a server gets restarted twice in one night and a domain controller is patched after the machines that depend on it. The hosts that need a restart are the ones nobody owns, so they sit unpatched for weeks while the report still says the patch was deployed.

See the whole job: Patch window coordination

Use it as is. Or make it yours.

Edit it the way you would edit a note to a colleague. It follows the new version from the next run.

Change when it runs
Move it to another day or time, or start it when something arrives, like a new email.
Add your own rules
Limits, exceptions and what good looks like go in the same file, in plain words.
Decide what waits for you
Mark the steps that need your OK, and let the rest run.

You stay in charge.
At every step.

It triages and sweeps. People approve every change.

No change without approval
Blocking, revoking and purging wait for an analyst's OK.
Every run on the record
What it read, what it did and what it is waiting on, kept for review and audit.
Scoped per automation
Each automation gets only the access you grant it, and a local model can keep processing on your machine.

Patch Dependency Order

Approve before it updates the sheet?

ReviewApprove

Before you download.

Where does it run?: On your Mac or Windows computer, in the background. It keeps working after you close its window, and only reaches the folders and apps you connect for each automation.
How does it connect to our CRM and other tools?: Through each app's own connection where it offers one, signed in once by you, or by using the app in a browser the way you would. Each automation gets only the connections you give it, and the tools a page names are examples you can swap for your own.
Does it run when my computer is asleep?: It keeps your computer awake while a job runs and just before a scheduled one. While the computer is closed or off, nothing runs; when it wakes, it checks the inbox, calendar and other sources it watches for anything that arrived meanwhile.
How does my team use it?: Each person who runs automations installs the app. Keep a project in a shared folder, such as Google Drive or a network drive, and teammates can open it and follow every run, while one person owns it and runs it.
Do I need anyone technical to set it up?: No. Download the app, add an automation in plain words, and connect only what that job needs. Nothing runs until you switch it on.

Already have tools for this? Here is the difference.

Instead ofGood atWhere it stops

Scripts and scheduled jobs

Precise, repeatable system tasks.

They break on the unexpected, and only their author can read or change them.

Security automation platforms

High-volume response playbooks in large teams.

They need a project to set up and an engineer to maintain each playbook.

AI chat assistants

Explaining an alert when you paste it in.

Nothing runs on schedule, and there is no scoped access or record of what was done.

AUTOMATE.md

Your routine, written in plain words. It runs on its own, follows your rules, handles the exceptions a flowchart can't, and asks you when it matters. The file stays yours, whichever AI model runs it.

Other setups for the same job.

Emergency Patch Rollout

When a vulnerability is exploited in the wild, list the exposed systems, push the patch through device management, and report which hosts are done and which need hands.

When an actively exploited vulnerability affects an internet-facing system

Mac Reboot Queue

Every Friday at 4pm, list the Macs waiting on a restart by site and criticality, then post the order for the change window and who is covering it.

Every Friday at 4:00pm

Patch Compliance Report

Every weekday at 7:30am, list the devices past the patch window with the days overdue, and assign each one to the owning team with a restart date.

Every weekday at 7:30am

Related workflows

Vulnerability SLA tracking

Assigns every open finding an owner and a deadline, and escalates only the ones about to breach.

4 automations

Vulnerability reports

Builds the periodic report from the scanners themselves, so every open finding carries an owner, a deadline and a visible status.

Write your own

Backup verification

Restores a real file and a real service on a schedule, so a green job status stops standing in for a proven recovery.