Repeat Finding Root Cause

IT / AUTOMATE.md

On the first Monday, group the findings that have reappeared on the same host, then open one ticket per host naming the coverage gap that let it back in.

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

Repeat hosts identified
Coverage gaps named
Permanent fix tracked to closure

How it runs

1. Starts
On the first Monday of each month
2. Delivers to
Jira
3. You decide
Approve each time, or let the steps you trust run. Your choice.

Why IT and security teams set this up

Scanners produce tens of thousands of findings and nobody agrees which ones matter this month. Exceptions live in a spreadsheet, deadlines pass quietly, and the same finding on the same internet-facing host is patched for the fourth time without anyone looking at why it keeps coming back.

See the whole job: Vulnerability SLA tracking

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.

Repeat Finding Root Cause

Approve before it files the ticket?

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.

Critical CVE Triage

When a critical CVE is published, check the asset list for the affected product, open one ticket per owner, and post the host count and the patch deadline.

When a critical CVE is published for a product in the asset list

SLA Breach Escalation

Every weekday at 9am, pull findings within three days of deadline that have no approved exception, and escalate them to the owner and that owner's manager.

Every weekday at 9:00am

Vulnerability Exception Approval

When an owner asks to accept a finding, pull the asset owner and the compensating control from the exception request, set an expiry date, and send it to the named approver for a decision.

When an owner asks for a finding to be accepted as a risk

Related workflows

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

Patch window coordination

Sequences reboots so the same host is patched once, in dependency order, without a maintenance page.

4 automations

Audit trails

Joins the scattered administrative change records into one timeline, so an auditor's question is a search rather than a fortnight of exports.