Added "last run created at" stat to automation browse endpoint (TryGhost#29951)

closes https://linear.app/ghost/issue/NY-1523

*I recommend reviewing this one commit at a time.*

This adds `stats.last_run_created_at` to each automation, which we'll
display in the UI soon.

In addition to unit and E2E tests, I also verified that the data
appeared by checking the Network tab of the Firefox devtools:

![devtools screenshot](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/61db3645-ef0d-48f5-be8c-5336af2021dc)

Author: EvanHahn

ghost/core/core/server/services/automations/automations-repository.ts

@@ -65,6 +65,12 @@ export interface AutomationSummary {
     updated_at: string;
 }
 
+export interface AutomationBrowseResult extends AutomationSummary {
+    stats: {
+        last_run_created_at: Date | null;
+    };
+}
+
 export interface Automation extends AutomationSummary {
     actions: AutomationAction[];
     edges: AutomationEdge[];
@@ -136,7 +142,7 @@ export type AutomationStepTerminalStatus =
     | 'member unsubscribed';
 
 export interface AutomationsRepository {
-    browse(): Promise<Page<AutomationSummary>>;
+    browse(): Promise<Page<AutomationBrowseResult>>;
     getById(id: string): Promise<Automation | null>;
     getAutomationActionLinks(automationId: string, actionId: string): Promise<AutomationActionLink[] | null>;
     edit(id: string, data: EditAutomationData): Promise<Automation | null>;

ghost/core/core/server/services/automations/database-automations-repository.ts

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {DEFAULT_EMAIL_DESIGN_SETTING_SLUG, MEMBER_WELCOME_EMAIL_SLUGS} from '../
 import type {
     AutomatedEmailEvents,
     Automation,
+    AutomationBrowseResult,
     AutomationAction,
     AutomationEdge,
     AutomationEmailStats,
@@ -52,6 +53,9 @@ interface AutomationRow {
     updated_at: DatabaseDate;
 }
 
+interface AutomationBrowseRow extends AutomationRow {
+    last_run_created_at: DatabaseDate | null;
+}
 
 interface ActionRow {
     id: string;
@@ -145,12 +149,12 @@ export function createDatabaseAutomationsRepository({
     fakeWaitHoursMultiplier: number | null;
 }): AutomationsRepository {
     return {
-        async browse(): Promise<Page<AutomationSummary>> {
+        async browse(): Promise<Page<AutomationBrowseResult>> {
             return await knex.transaction(async (trx) => {
                 await ensureDefaultAutomations(trx);
                 const rows = await loadAutomations(trx);
                 return {
-                    data: rows.map(row => buildAutomationSummary(row)),
+                    data: rows.map(row => buildAutomationBrowseResult(row)),
                     meta: {
                         pagination: buildPagination(rows.length)
                     }
@@ -1013,10 +1017,24 @@ async function loadAutomationBySlug(trx: Knex.Transaction, slug: string): Promis
     return row ?? null;
 }
 
-async function loadAutomations(trx: Knex.Transaction): Promise<AutomationRow[]> {
+async function loadAutomations(trx: Knex.Transaction): Promise<AutomationBrowseRow[]> {
+    const latestRunDates = trx('automation_runs')
+        .select('automation_id')
+        .max({last_run_created_at: 'created_at'})
+        .groupBy('automation_id')
+        .as('latest_run_dates');
     return await trx('automations')
-        .select('id', 'slug', 'name', 'status', 'created_at', 'updated_at')
-        .orderBy('name');
+        .select(
+            'automations.id',
+            'automations.slug',
+            'automations.name',
+            'automations.status',
+            'automations.created_at',
+            'automations.updated_at',
+            'latest_run_dates.last_run_created_at'
+        )
+        .leftJoin(latestRunDates, 'automations.id', 'latest_run_dates.automation_id')
+        .orderBy('automations.name');
 }
 
 async function updateAutomation(trx: Knex.Transaction, automation: AutomationRow): Promise<AutomationRow> {
@@ -1355,6 +1373,15 @@ function buildAutomationSummary(automation: AutomationRow): AutomationSummary {
     };
 }
 
+function buildAutomationBrowseResult(automation: AutomationBrowseRow): AutomationBrowseResult {
+    return {
+        ...buildAutomationSummary(automation),
+        stats: {
+            last_run_created_at: automation.last_run_created_at ? fromDatabaseDate(automation.last_run_created_at) : null
+        }
+    };
+}
+
 function serializeDate(date: DatabaseDate) {
     const normalizedDate = fromDatabaseDate(date);
     normalizedDate.setMilliseconds(0);

ghost/core/test/e2e-api/admin/__snapshots__/automations.test.js.snap

@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ Object {
       "id": StringMatching /\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{24\\}/,
       "name": "Free member welcome flow",
       "slug": "member-welcome-email-free",
+      "stats": Object {
+        "last_run_created_at": null,
+      },
       "status": "active",
       "updated_at": StringMatching /\\\\d\\{4\\}-\\\\d\\{2\\}-\\\\d\\{2\\}T\\\\d\\{2\\}:\\\\d\\{2\\}:\\\\d\\{2\\}\\\\\\.000Z/,
     },
@@ -16,6 +19,9 @@ Object {
       "id": StringMatching /\\[a-f0-9\\]\\{24\\}/,
       "name": "Paid member welcome flow",
       "slug": "member-welcome-email-paid",
+      "stats": Object {
+        "last_run_created_at": null,
+      },
       "status": "active",
       "updated_at": StringMatching /\\\\d\\{4\\}-\\\\d\\{2\\}-\\\\d\\{2\\}T\\\\d\\{2\\}:\\\\d\\{2\\}:\\\\d\\{2\\}\\\\\\.000Z/,
     },
@@ -37,7 +43,7 @@ exports[`Automations API browse returns automations sourced from the database 2:
 Object {
   "access-control-allow-origin": "http://127.0.0.1:2369",
   "cache-control": "no-cache, private, no-store, must-revalidate, max-stale=0, post-check=0, pre-check=0",
-  "content-length": "510",
+  "content-length": "584",
   "content-type": "application/json; charset=utf-8",
   "content-version": StringMatching /v\\\\d\\+\\\\\\.\\\\d\\+/,
   "etag": StringMatching /\\(\\?:W\\\\/\\)\\?"\\(\\?:\\[ !#-\\\\x7E\\\\x80-\\\\xFF\\]\\*\\|\\\\r\\\\n\\[\\\\t \\]\\|\\\\\\\\\\.\\)\\*"/,

ghost/core/test/e2e-api/admin/automations.test.js

@@ -15,14 +15,21 @@ const {anyContentVersion, anyEtag, anyErrorId, anyISODateTime, anyObjectId} = ma
 const {cacheInvalidateHeaderNotSet} = assertions;
 const hashRedirectDestination = url => createHash('sha256').update(url).digest();
 
-const matchAutomationSummary = () => ({
+const matchAutomationBase = () => ({
     id: anyObjectId,
     created_at: anyISODateTime,
     updated_at: anyISODateTime
 });
 
+const matchAutomationSummary = () => ({
+    ...matchAutomationBase(),
+    stats: {
+        last_run_created_at: null
+    }
+});
+
 const matchAutomation = () => ({
-    ...matchAutomationSummary(),
+    ...matchAutomationBase(),
     actions: [{
         id: anyObjectId
     }, {
@@ -106,6 +113,17 @@ describe('Automations API', function () {
     });
 
     describe('browse', function () {
+        async function createAutomationRun(automationId, createdAt) {
+            await models.Base.knex('automation_runs').insert({
+                id: ObjectId().toHexString(),
+                automation_id: automationId,
+                member_id: null,
+                member_email: 'member@example.com',
+                created_at: createdAt,
+                updated_at: createdAt
+            });
+        }
+
         async function deleteActionsForAutomationIds(automationIds) {
             const actionIds = await models.Base.knex('automation_actions')
                 .whereIn('automation_id', automationIds)
@@ -171,6 +189,27 @@ describe('Automations API', function () {
                 });
         });
 
+        it('returns null last run timestamps for automations without runs', async function () {
+            const {body} = await agent.get('automations').expectStatus(200);
+
+            assert.deepEqual(body.automations.map(automation => automation.stats.last_run_created_at), [null, null]);
+        });
+
+        it('returns latest automation run timestamp', async function () {
+            const {body: beforeBody} = await agent.get('automations').expectStatus(200);
+            const automationId = beforeBody.automations[0].id;
+            const olderRunCreatedAt = new Date('2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z');
+            const latestRunCreatedAt = new Date('2026-01-02T00:00:00.000Z');
+
+            await createAutomationRun(automationId, olderRunCreatedAt);
+            await createAutomationRun(automationId, latestRunCreatedAt);
+
+            const {body} = await agent.get('automations').expectStatus(200);
+            const automation = body.automations.find(candidate => candidate.id === automationId);
+
+            assert.equal(automation.stats.last_run_created_at, latestRunCreatedAt.toISOString());
+        });
+
         it('upserts the default free and paid automations', async function () {
             const existingAutomations = await models.Base.knex('automations')
                 .select('id')

ghost/core/test/unit/server/services/automations/automations-repository.test.ts

@@ -458,12 +458,11 @@ describe('automations repository', function () {
         return result;
     };
 
-    const insertRun = async (automationId: string) => {
-        const now = toDatabaseDate(new Date());
+    const insertRun = async (automationId: string, createdAt = new Date()) => {
         const run = {
             id: ObjectId().toHexString(),
-            created_at: now,
-            updated_at: now,
+            created_at: toDatabaseDate(createdAt),
+            updated_at: toDatabaseDate(createdAt),
             automation_id: automationId,
             member_id: ObjectId().toHexString(),
             member_email: 'member@example.com'
@@ -660,6 +659,27 @@ describe('automations repository', function () {
             ]);
         });
 
+        it('returns null for "last run created at" if the automation has no runs', async function () {
+            const result = await repo.browse();
+
+            assert(result.data.every(automation => automation.stats.last_run_created_at === null));
+        });
+
+        it('returns the newest run creation time for the automation', async function () {
+            const automationId = (await getAutomationBySlug('member-welcome-email-free')).id;
+            const latestRunCreatedAt = new Date('2026-01-02T00:00:00.000Z');
+            const olderRunCreatedAt = new Date('2026-01-01T00:00:00.000Z');
+
+            await insertRun(automationId, latestRunCreatedAt);
+            await insertRun(automationId, olderRunCreatedAt);
+
+            const browseResult = await repo.browse();
+            const automation = browseResult.data.find(candidate => candidate.id === automationId);
+            assert(automation);
+
+            assert.deepEqual(automation.stats.last_run_created_at, latestRunCreatedAt);
+        });
+
         it('creates missing default free and paid automations', async function () {
             const automationIds = await knex('automations')
                 .whereIn('slug', ['member-welcome-email-free', 'member-welcome-email-paid'])