Workflow Triggers: Every Trigger Type Explained

What a trigger does#

The trigger is the event that starts a workflow. Every workflow has exactly one trigger, added from the Triggers group in the node palette. When the trigger's event happens on a record in your target module, the workflow begins running for that record.

The available triggers#

Record Created — fires when a new record is created in the module. Ideal for onboarding automation: welcome emails, first-touch tasks, and lead assignment for new records.
Record Updated — fires when an existing record is updated. Use it to react to changes, such as a status or stage moving forward.
Create or Edit — fires when a record is either created or updated. Use this when the same automation should run in both cases.
Record Deleted — fires when a record is deleted. Useful for clean-up or notification flows.
WhatsApp Reply Received — fires when a contact sends you an inbound WhatsApp message. Using the trigger's Source options you can match a text reply or a WhatsApp Flow form submission. This trigger always runs against the Contact created or updated from the submission.

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For WhatsApp Reply Received, set your target module to Contacts. In the trigger config you can pick specific approved forms under Match forms — leave it empty to fire for any form in your account.

Pairing triggers with conditions#

The record triggers fire for every matching event. To narrow things down — for example, "only when Lead Source is Website" — add an If / Else condition after the trigger. The trigger casts a wide net; the condition decides whether the rest of the workflow should run. See Conditions & Branching.

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A workflow only fires on events that happen after it is activated. Activating a "Record Created" workflow does not run it retroactively on records that already exist in your CRM.

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Choose the most specific trigger you can. If you only care about new records, use Record Created rather than Create or Edit — otherwise the workflow will also fire on every future edit.

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