The Rundown: In this tutorial you’ll learn how to use Replit’s new Agent 3 feature to build a weekly competitor-news email automation (no code, just a prompt). This goes beyond “make a web app” and into agents, triggers, and workflows - similar to Zapier/n8n/Lindy, but inside Replit.

Who is this useful for:

• Founders and marketers who need regular competitor briefs
• Operators who want time-based automations without wiring code
• Analysts who prefer traceable, step-by-step runs
• Educators building AI workshop demos for non-developers

STEP 1: Getting started and accessing Replit

Go to Replit.com and you’ll see a chat box to enter your prompt. Here you have a variety of choices regarding what you want Replit to do. You can build web apps, you can build integrations, or agents and automations.

Choose the “Agents & Automations” path (not just web or data apps).

Replit offers everyone who signs up some free credits - enough to build and test one basic workflow before deciding to upgrade.

STEP 2: Describe your automation workflow or the triggers it should have

Once you’re in the creation interface, you can choose either predefined “triggers” or write your own custom description.

A variety of triggers available and creating agents. Some include:

• Slack
• Telegram
• Time-based
• Event-based (which is coming soon)

Select “time-based” if you want the automation to trigger at regular time intervals. Here’s the prompt I used:

“Every Monday at 8 a.m., send me a summary of any news about my competitors using web search. We are Rundown AI - the world’s largest AI newsletter and University. Rundown University offers AI workshops, tutorials, and courses for professionals upskilling in AI.”

STEP 3: Submit your automation request

Click “Build the entire app.”

The agent shows its thinking process while it provisions resources. In my run:

• It created a PostgreSQL database automatically.
• It then asked for my API keys.

The agent progressed task-by-task:

• Checked system logs
• Created an email utility file
• Set up the time trigger, search, analysis, and summary nodes

STEP 4: Make changes to your workflow and publish

Here’s what the final automation looked like: Agent 3 named my app “Competitive Brief” and generated a plan:

• Weekly time trigger (Mon 8 a.m.)
• Web search for competitor news
• Analysis + automated summary
• Email delivery via Replit Mail

In the above screenshot you can track how the automation is running.

The free credits are enough to get a feel - one basic, working automation- then you’ll likely upgrade if you want more runs or more complex builds. Mine ran out after building and testing this single workflow.

Pro Tips: Be explicit in your brief. Mention your niche (e.g., “AI newsletter and education space”) and competitor categories to focus the search. Save API keys to Account Secrets to avoid repeat prompts and failed runs.