How triggers start flows
A trigger starts your flows when something happens: a webhook is called, a schedule's time comes, or something changes in your workspace or a connected service. Several flows can be on one trigger.
Why it matters
A trigger stands apart from any one flow, so you can change or add flows without giving the sender a new link. It starts only a published flow: your draft runs only with Test run.
How it works
Kinds of trigger
Make each one with New trigger, on Triggers or a flow's Triggers tab. The first three are built in; below a line, each connected service that can start a flow has a row.
| Trigger | Starts its flows when | How quickly |
|---|---|---|
| Webhook | another system calls its private link | Instant |
| Schedule | the time you set comes | At its times |
| Workspace event | something happens in Flowmage, such as a run that fails | Instant |
| Stripe, or an AFAS Profit dossier | the service sends an event | Instant |
| A watch on an AFAS Profit or Asana list | a row is added, changes or is removed | Checked every few minutes |
Where you see them
Triggers lists every trigger in the workspace. A trigger's page shows its flows, its settings and, in the header, View activity for the runs it started.
A flow's Triggers tab lists what starts that flow, with Add trigger for a new or existing one.
Test and Prod
A trigger belongs to the environment the sidebar showed when you made it, starts its flows' version there, and never moves. Prod keeps its own triggers: put the flow on Prod, switch the sidebar to Prod, click New trigger on Triggers, then Add a flow on the trigger's page.
What its status says
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| On | It starts its flows. |
| Paused | It starts nothing until you resume it. |
| No flows yet | No flow is on it. What comes in is kept until you add one. |
| Not published | None of its flows has a version in its environment yet. |
| Getting ready | Flowmage is still setting it up, or is waiting for the first message. |
| Waiting for your OK | A watch holds the rows it found until you deliver or skip them. |
| Needs attention | Something only you can fix, such as a connection the service refused. |
Arrivals, deliveries and refusals
| Word | What it is |
|---|---|
| Arrival | One request to a webhook, or one tick of a schedule. |
| Delivery | The arrival handed to one flow on the trigger. Each starts one run, with the trigger payload as input. |
| Rejected | A request a webhook turns away before any run is tried, such as one without its key. |
| Refused | A delivery whose run cannot start, such as when the workspace has used up its tasks. |
An example
A web shop sends each new order to one webhook with two flows on it: one saves the order, one emails the warehouse. Change and publish the email flow, and the shop keeps the same link.
Limits
- A flow is on a trigger once.
- A schedule's time that cannot start its run is skipped, not run later.
- Events a flow causes never start it, and a chain of event triggers stops after four flows.
- Limits on runs and webhook requests are on Limits.