Flows/Triggers

Triggers

Triggers define when your flow runs. Every flow must have exactly one trigger.

Trigger Types

Webhook Trigger
Run your flow when receiving HTTP requests

Creates a unique URL that triggers your flow when it receives data. Perfect for integrating with external services and building APIs.

Best for:

  • Real-time integrations with external services
  • Processing data from third-party apps
  • GitHub, Stripe, or other service webhooks
  • Custom API endpoints

Configuration Options:

  • Method: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE
  • Response Mode: Immediately or after processing
  • Authentication: Optional secret key validation

Webhook Response: Use the "Webhook Response" utility to customize what data is returned to the caller. Without it, the webhook returns a default success response.

Keep your webhook URL private. Anyone with the URL can trigger your flow.

Schedule Trigger
Run your flow at specific times or intervals

Automatically run your flow based on a schedule - every minute, hour, day, or using custom cron expressions.

Best for:

  • Daily/weekly reports
  • Regular data syncs
  • Scheduled notifications
  • Cleanup and maintenance tasks

Configuration Options:

  • Interval: Every X minutes/hours/days
  • Time: Specific time of day
  • Days: Specific days of week
  • Cron: Advanced cron expression for complex schedules

Example: Run every day at 9:00 AM to send a daily summary email.

Table Event Trigger
Run your flow when Base table rows change

Automatically triggers when rows are created, updated, or deleted in your Base tables. Perfect for building reactive automations.

Best for:

  • Reacting to new rows (e.g., new customer signup)
  • Processing updates (e.g., status change triggers notification)
  • Cleanup on deletion (e.g., archive related data)
  • Data validation and enrichment

Configuration Options:

  • Base: Select which Base to monitor
  • Table: Select which table to watch
  • Events: Create, Update, Delete (select one or more)
  • Column Filter: Only trigger on specific column changes

Trigger Data: The trigger output includes the full row data, plus metadata like which columns changed (for updates) and the previous values.

Manual Trigger
Run your flow on-demand with a single click

Manually trigger your flow whenever you want by clicking the Run button. Perfect for testing, one-off tasks, and flows you want to control directly.

Best for:

  • Testing and debugging flows
  • One-off data processing tasks
  • Flows you want to run on-demand
  • Development and prototyping

How it works:

  • Run Button: Click "Run" in the flow editor to execute
  • Pinned Data: Use pinned test data as trigger input
  • No External Events: Only runs when you manually trigger it

Tip: Pin sample data on the manual trigger to simulate real inputs when testing your flow. This data will be used as the trigger output.

How Triggers Work

1

Event Occurs

Webhook receives a request, schedule time arrives, or table row changes

2

Trigger Outputs Data

The trigger produces output data (webhook body, schedule timestamp, or row data)

3

Flow Executes

Connected nodes run in sequence, using the trigger's output data via {{#1.field}}

Tips

One trigger per flow

Each flow can only have one trigger. If you need multiple entry points, create separate flows.

Test with pinned data

When building a flow, you can "pin" sample data on the trigger to test downstream nodes without waiting for real events.

Trigger is always node #1

The trigger is always sequence number #1, so access its data with {{#1.fieldName}}.

Triggers - Flows Guide - Serenities