Triggers

A trigger is the event that starts a flow. Every flow has exactly one trigger. To set it, click Choose trigger on the first step of the canvas, or choose Browse all triggers… to open the full picker.

Coherence Triggers

These triggers are built into Coherence and appear under Coherence triggers in the picker. Flows that start with one of them can use the Coherence actions.

Module trigger

Runs when a record in a module changes.

Once you've picked a module and event, the inspector shows a Conditions section: "Only fire this trigger when these field checks pass." Build checks against the module's fields, and group them to match all or any.

Use cases:

• Enroll new leads in a welcome sequence
• Create a follow-up record when a deal's status is updated
• Request approval when a high-value record is created

Document trigger

Runs when a Collab document changes.

Use cases:

• Request approval when a document moves to In Review
• Create an outreach item when a document is published

Outreach trigger

Runs when an outreach item changes.

Use cases:

• Request approval when a LinkedIn post moves to Review
• Create a companion post when a blog article is published

Approval trigger

Runs when an approval changes.

Use cases:

• Continue a process once a request created by a Request approval step is approved
• Record a follow-up when an approval is rejected

Booking

Runs when someone books, cancels, or reschedules a meeting through one of your scheduling links.

The Event type list shows the scheduling links you can see. If you set both filters, a booking has to match both.

Later steps can use these booking values:

In the builder, these values are listed as Booking · Attendee name, Booking · Starts at, and so on. A Condition step can check most of them (the IDs aside) — for example, continue only when Event type name equals "Demo".

Use cases:

• Create a follow-up record when a demo is booked
• Update the booker's People record — use a Module action on People with Record to update set to {{trigger.fields.personRecordId}}
• Record the reason when a booking is cancelled, using {{trigger.fields.cancellationReason}}

Schedule

Runs on a timetable instead of in response to an event.

Below the settings, the inspector sums up the schedule — for example, "Runs every Mon, Wed at 09:00 (Europe/London)."

How the timing works:

• Every N minutes counts from midnight in the schedule's time zone and starts again each midnight. If the interval doesn't divide the day evenly, the last gap before midnight is shorter — every 50 minutes runs at 00:00, 00:50, and so on up to 23:20, then at 00:00.
• Monthly on a day a month doesn't have — the 29th, 30th, or 31st — runs on that month's last day.
• Daylight saving time is handled for daily, weekly, and monthly schedules: a time that's skipped when clocks go forward runs just after the change, and a time that happens twice when clocks go back runs once. Hourly and every-N-minutes schedules stay evenly spaced in real time instead.
• After an outage, the flow runs once when the service recovers, however many runs were due while it was down. Missed runs are not replayed.
• Turning a flow off and on again, or changing its schedule, restarts the timetable from the next upcoming time. Runs missed while the flow was off aren't made up.

Later steps can use these values:

Use cases:

• Create a weekly planning document every Monday at 09:00
• Create an outreach item for a monthly newsletter on the 1st of each month

Integration Triggers

The Pieces section of the picker lists third-party apps and services. Choose a piece to see the triggers it offers. Flows that start with an integration trigger run on the integration engine and use integration actions — they can't be combined with Coherence actions in the same flow. See Integration steps.

Running a Flow

Published flows run automatically whenever their trigger event happens — or, for a Schedule trigger, at each scheduled time.

Flows that start with a Module trigger can't be run by hand. To test one, make a matching change — for example, create a test record — and check the flow's Runs panel.

For other flows, including Schedule and Booking flows, the Run automation button in the builder toolbar starts a run manually. A manual run uses placeholder trigger data rather than a real event, so it's best for checking that the steps are wired up:

• A Schedule flow runs as if its time had just arrived — {{trigger.fields.firedAt}} and {{trigger.fields.scheduledFor}} are both set to the current time.
• A Booking flow has no real booking behind it, so the booking values are empty. To check them, make a test booking on one of your scheduling links.

Integration flows must be published before they can be run.

Best Practices

1. Be specific — choose the narrowest event that fits, such as Status updated instead of Updated
2. Add conditions — limit a Module trigger to the records that matter
3. Use filters — narrow Document and Outreach triggers by status or content type, and Booking triggers by event type
4. Pick the time zone deliberately — a Schedule runs in the time zone you choose, not in each teammate's own
5. Check runs — review the Runs panel to confirm the trigger fires when you expect

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Next: Learn about Actions you can perform when triggers fire.