# Fundamentals

## Overview

This guide covers the essential concepts you need to understand how Kognitos works. You'll learn core concepts, the automation lifecycle, and how Kognitos works.

## Structure

Let's start with how your work is organized and structured in Kognitos. Three levels are used to organize your work: **Organizations** *(your company)*, **Workspaces** *(teams or projects)*, and **Automations** *(individual workflows)*.

{% @mermaid/diagram content="graph TB
subgraph Org\[" **Organization** "]
subgraph WS1\[" **Workspace** "]
B1\[Automation]
B2\[Automation]
B3\[Automation]
end
end
style Org fill:#2A2A2A,stroke:#E0E0E0,stroke-width:3px,color:#FFFFFF
style WS1 fill:#3A3A3A,stroke:#A0A0A0,stroke-width:2px,color:#FFFFFF
style B1 fill:#F2FB90,stroke:#D4E157,stroke-width:2px,color:#1C1C1B
style B2 fill:#F2FB90,stroke:#D4E157,stroke-width:2px,color:#1C1C1B
style B3 fill:#F2FB90,stroke:#D4E157,stroke-width:2px,color:#1C1C1B" %}

### Organization

An **organization** is your company's account: the top-level container for everything in Kognitos. Every user belongs to one. Organizations allow you to manage users, roles, and settings in one place.

### Workspace

A **workspace** is a dedicated section within an organization where one or more automation projects live. Think of them as folders that keep your work organized. You can create multiple workspaces within an organization to organize different processes, teams, or initiatives.

### Automations

**Automations** are the individual tasks or processes you want to execute. Each automation lives in a workspace and represents a specific workflow, like "Validate Invoice" or "Send Payment Reminder". Every automation begins as a **draft**, allowing you to edit and test it before publishing.

### Example Structure

Here's how this might look for a company like **Acme Corp**, with separate workspaces for **Finance**, **Logistics**, and **HR** teams - each containing their own automations.

{% @mermaid/diagram content="graph TD
AcmeCorp\["Acme Corp"]
Finance\["Finance<br/>───────────────<br/>Validate Invoice<br/>Send Payment Reminder<br/>Reconcile Payments"]
Logistics\["Logistics<br/>───────────────<br/>Track Shipments<br/>Update Inventory<br/>Generate Labels"]
HR\["HR<br/>───────────────<br/>Onboard New Employee<br/>Process Time Off Request<br/>Generate Payroll Report"]

```
AcmeCorp --> Finance
AcmeCorp --> Logistics
AcmeCorp --> HR

style AcmeCorp fill:#5B5C59,stroke:#F2FB90,stroke-width:3px,color:#F2FB90
style Finance fill:#1C1C1B,stroke:#CBCCC5,stroke-width:2px,color:#F3F4ED
style Logistics fill:#1C1C1B,stroke:#CBCCC5,stroke-width:2px,color:#F3F4ED
style HR fill:#1C1C1B,stroke:#CBCCC5,stroke-width:2px,color:#F3F4ED
```

" %}

## The Automation Lifecycle

In Kognitos, automations move through three distinct phases:

{% @mermaid/diagram content="graph LR
A\[1. Draft] --> B\[2. Publish]
B --> C\[3. Monitor]
C --> A

```
style A fill:#F2FB90,stroke:#D4E157,stroke-width:2px,color:#1C1C1B
style B fill:#F2FB90,stroke:#D4E157,stroke-width:2px,color:#1C1C1B
style C fill:#F2FB90,stroke:#D4E157,stroke-width:2px,color:#1C1C1B" %}
```

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

#### 1. Draft

Every automation begins as a **draft**, allowing you to build and refine your instructions through conversation with Kognitos. Drafts are editable workflows that evolve as you make changes.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

#### 2. Publish

When a draft is ready, you publish it to create an automation. An **automation** is the locked, production-ready version of a draft, designed for reliable and repeatable execution.
{% endstep %}

{% step %}

#### 3. Monitor

After publishing, your automation is live and ready to run independently. You don't need to do anything else, but you can **monitor** as needed - observe how your automation performs, check results, handle exceptions, and refine guidance. You can also **archive** completed runs to keep your run history organized.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

This lifecycle is iterative. When changes are needed, you return to the draft, update the logic, publish, run, and monitor a new version.

## Inputs & Outputs

Automations transform data. Understanding how data flows into and out of your automations is key to building workflows that connect your business processes.

### Inputs

**Inputs** are the data your automation needs to run. Kognitos identifies inputs based on your task instructions. For example, if you write "*validate each invoice in the uploaded spreadsheet*," the system knows it needs a spreadsheet file as input. Inputs can be **manual** or **automatic**:

#### **Manual**

* Files (PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, CSVs)
* Text (letters, words, numbers, dates)
* References (invoice numbers, customer IDs, order codes)

#### **Automatic** *(scheduled or event-triggered)*

* New files uploaded to a folder
* Rows added to a spreadsheet
* Form submissions from your website
* API responses from external systems

### Outputs

**Outputs** are what your automation produces - representing completed work and generated results. There are different types of outputs:

#### **Data**

* Updated spreadsheets with processed records
* Database entries created or modified
* Generated reports or summaries

#### **Communication**

* Emails sent to specific recipients
* Notifications triggered in other systems
* API calls made to external systems

## Summary

Kognitos organizes your work into three levels: **organizations** *(your company)*, **workspaces** *(teams or projects)*, and **automations** *(individual workflows)*. Automations follow a simple lifecycle: build as a **draft**, **publish** when ready, and **evaluate** results in production.

{% hint style="success" %}
Ready to see it in action? Head to the [**Quick Start**](https://docs.kognitos.com/guides/getting-started/quick-start) guide to create your first automation.
{% endhint %}