Triggers

📘What it really is

• Workflow automation connects steps across apps without someone doing each one by hand: "When a new enquiry arrives, classify it, create a CRM record, and notify the right person."

• Every workflow starts with a trigger:

• event (webhook): another system calls your workflow's URL when something happens: a form submitted, a payment received, a GitHub push (Module 76's signature checks apply);
• schedule: at set times ("every weekday at 9 am", written in cron syntax like 0 9 * * 1-5);
• polling: check a source regularly for new items (a mailbox, a spreadsheet, an RSS feed) when it can't send events;
• manual: a person clicks "run" (useful for one-off jobs and testing);

• app events: changes in your own database (a new row, a status change), often sent as webhooks by your backend.

• Choose events over polling where possible: faster and cheaper.

• Triggers can fire twice (retries, duplicate webhooks). Design workflows to be idempotent: running twice with the same input gives the same result (check "already processed?" with an event ID, Module 76).

• Not everything should be automated. Automate tasks that are frequent, repetitive, rule-based and low-risk, or where AI drafts and a person decides.