Butler - failing to complete automation

Charlotte D_mktfel

Hi, Please help. I've been spending way too much tries and times to make this work, but from doing 3 of the original 5 actions, it went down to performing only 2 and it gives the same error over and over, no matter in which order Butler is supposed to do the tasks!

"This action requires a checklist item name, or a trigger related to a checklist item, e.g. when an item is checked."

I checked forums but it gave no answer to me as these were solved without an actual action. I don't understand the error as my goal is to create a NEW checklist that of course I didn't check off yet?

I just added the checklist prompts one by one (as seens below) but it doesn't help a thing. Please help, I'm about to give up on automation.

Thursday, January 8, 2026 11:47 AM Running automation on board Weekplanning.   Renamed card https://trello.com/c/fkLJizsR from "mreel" to "maandelijkse reel maken". This action requires a checklist item name, or a trigger related to a checklist item, e.g. when an item is checked. The automation finished running. Total operations: 2

Thursday, January 8, 2026 11:46 AM The automation has been modified from: when the name of a card contains "mreel", rename the card to "maandelijkse reel maken", set due date to the 1st of the month, add the red "POST 🌻🛤" label to the card, add the rocket sticker to the card, and add the "recap reel" checklist to the card to: when the name of a card contains "mreel", rename the card to "maandelijkse reel maken", set due date to the 1st of the month, add the red "POST 🌻🛤" label to the card, add the rocket sticker to the card, add an empty checklist named "recap reel" to the card, add item "fan favorites" to checklist "recap reel", add item "personal favorites" to checklist "recap reel", add item "CTA: goal progress update" to checklist "recap reel", and add item "new card 'mreel'" to checklist "recap reel" This automation is now enabled on 1 boards. Previously, it was enabled on 1 board(s). (Edit: I got "Your post has been changed because invalid HTML was found in the message body. The invalid HTML has been removed. Please review the message and submit the message when you are satisfied." while I just copied the automation log. Can't see what it removed.

Guilherme Michelotto

Hi Charlotte,

Guilherme here from the Trello Support Team, welcome to the community!

This is a definitely interesting scenario. I tried creating the exact same rule on one of my boards and it worked just fine. It added the checklist and the following content on it as well:

when the name of a card contains "mreel", rename the card to "maandelijkse reel maken", set due date on the 1st of this month, add the red label to the card, add the rocket sticker to the card, add an empty checklist named "recap reel" to the card, add item "fan favorites" to checklist "recap reel", and add item "goal progress" to checklist "recap reel" 

 This was the result from the Automation log

Monday, January 12, 2026 3:35 PM Running automation on board test. Renamed card (redacted) from "mreel" to "maandelijkse reel maken". Added a due date on Thursday, January 1, 2026 11:59 PM -03 to card (redacted) Added a red label to card (redacted) Added a rocket sticker to card (redacted) Added checklist "recap reel" to card (redacted) Added item "fan favorites" to checklist "recap reel" in card (redacted) Added item "goal progress" to checklist "recap reel" in card (redacted) The automation finished running. Total operations: 7

I noticed that it's cutting off at the second step. I believe you may have used the "due date" from the checklist item section rather than the due date from the due date section of the Automation panel. Could that be the case?

Best regards,
Guilherme Michelotto
Atlassian Cloud Support