> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wifipadi.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Recurring data grants

> Give a fixed group of people an allowance every month or every week, automatically.

An automation hands a set allowance to a set list of customers on a schedule. The case it exists for: hostel staff who should simply have 10 GB every month, without anyone remembering to do it.

Go to **Automations**.

## Creating one

| Field                | What it does                                              |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name**             | Yours, for the list. *Staff monthly*, *Warden allowance*. |
| **Customers**        | Who gets it. Pick them individually.                      |
| **Data (GB)**        | The allowance handed out on each run.                     |
| **Valid for (days)** | How long one grant lasts.                                 |
| **Cadence**          | Monthly or weekly.                                        |
| **Day**              | Which day of the month (1–28) or which weekday.           |
| **Devices**          | How many devices the grant covers.                        |
| **Speed limits**     | Optional caps, same as on a plan.                         |
| **Notify customers** | On by default.                                            |

<Note>
  **Valid for** is deliberately separate from **Cadence**. 10 GB valid for 30 days, handed out on the 1st, is not the same rule as an allowance that dies the moment the next one lands. Set them to match only if that is what you actually want.
</Note>

Days 29, 30 and 31 are not offered for a monthly schedule, because February would skip.

## What it does not touch

**An automation never overrides a plan somebody paid for.** A customer who currently holds a purchased plan is skipped on that run, and their plan is left alone. The run history shows those as *skipped* alongside the ones it granted.

That is why you can put a staff member on an automation without worrying about what happens if they also buy a day pass.

## Notifications

Leave **Notify customers** on unless you have a reason. Data that arrives silently gets spent without anyone knowing it was there — and then they buy a plan they did not need.

## Run history

Each automation lists its runs: when it ran, how many people were granted, how many were skipped, and whether a person or the schedule triggered it. That history is the answer to "did my staff actually get it this month".

You can also run one by hand from its page. A manual run is recorded with your name against it.

## How it appears elsewhere

The allowance is delivered as a hidden plan that the automation owns. You will see it on the customer's page as their current plan and in their session history, but it never appears on your captive portal and nobody can buy it. Do not edit or delete that plan from the **Plans** page — change the automation instead, and the plan follows.

## For a one-off

Automations are for recurring grants. To give one person data once, use the grant and top-up actions on that customer's page instead — see [Customers, devices and sessions](/customers).