In the world of software development and operations, automation is the backbone of efficiency. From nightly database backups to sending weekly reports, we rely on automated tasks to keep our systems running smoothly. For decades, the go-to tool for this has been the humble cron job. But as our applications grow more complex and interconnected, the limitations of time-based scheduling become increasingly apparent.
It's time for an evolution. A shift from rigid schedules to intelligent, event-driven automation. This is the journey from the classic cron job to the power of modern, code-based triggers.
If you've ever worked on a Linux server, you've met cron. The syntax is iconic: * * * * * command_to_execute. It's a simple, powerful, and incredibly reliable daemon for running tasks at fixed times, dates, or intervals.
For simple, isolated tasks, cron is perfect.
But as soon as your needs move beyond a single machine or a simple schedule, the cracks in the foundation begin to show.
The need to react to events in real-time led to the rise of event-driven architecture, with webhooks at the forefront. Services like Stripe, Shopify, and GitHub could now tell your application when something important happened by sending an HTTP request to an endpoint you control.
This was a major leap forward. Now, instead of checking for new orders every five minutes, your system could react the instant an order was placed. This new paradigm brought incredible benefits:
However, it also introduced a new layer of complexity. Every webhook integration required custom endpoint code, payload parsing, security validation, and error handling. Managing dozens of different webhook formats and ensuring retries on failure became a significant development and maintenance overhead.
What if we could combine the simplicity of a scheduled task with the power of a real-time event, and manage it all as clean, version-controlled code?
This is the core philosophy behind Triggers.do. We believe that defining the entry point to your workflows should be as simple and robust as writing any other piece of critical code.
A trigger is a declarative definition of what should start a workflow. It can be a schedule, a webhook, a message queue event, or any other system signal. You define it once, as code, and let our platform handle the rest.
Consider this example. You want to start a special workflow for any Shopify order over $100. Instead of setting up a public-facing web server, writing Express/Flask boilerplate, parsing the request, and implementing the conditional logic, you simply define a trigger:
import { trigger } from '@do-sdk/triggers';
// Define a trigger that starts a workflow when a new
// high-value order is received from Shopify.
await trigger.create({
name: 'High-Value Shopify Order',
event: 'shopify.order.created',
filter: 'body.total_price > 100.00',
workflow: 'process-high-value-order',
});
Let's break down why this is a game-changer:
Declarative and Simple: The code clearly states its intent. When a shopify.order.created event occurs, if the total_price in the payload is greater than 100, run the process-high-value-order workflow. All the underlying complexity of receiving, validating, and filtering the webhook is abstracted away.
Powerful Filtering at the Edge: The filter property is incredibly powerful. It ensures that your workflow logic only runs when it's absolutely necessary, saving you compute costs and reducing system noise.
Managed as Code: Your triggers live in your Git repository. They can be code-reviewed, tested, and deployed through your CI/CD pipeline. This brings a level of robustness and manageability that UI-based automation tools or scattered crontabs can't match.
Unifying Time and Events: With Triggers.do, a cron schedule is just another event type. You can define a scheduled trigger with the same simple, code-based approach, unifying all your automation entry points in one place.
A trigger is just the beginning. It's the spark that lights the fire. At Triggers.do, that spark ignites powerful agentic workflows.
Once an event passes the trigger's filter, it launches one or more autonomous agents designed to carry out complex business processes. The workflow for our high-value order might involve:
A single event trigger can orchestrate a symphony of complex, parallel actions without you having to write a single line of glue code.
The cron job served us well, but the demands of modern applications require a more sophisticated approach. Stop wrestling with brittle crontabs and boilerplate webhook handlers. It's time to embrace an event-driven, code-first approach to automation.
Define your business logic as simple, declarative triggers. Connect them to powerful agentic workflows. And focus your energy on what matters most: building incredible products.
What is a trigger in the context of agentic workflows?
In .do, a trigger is a defined event that automatically initiates one or more workflows. Think of it as the 'When this happens...' part of a 'When this happens, do that' rule, all managed as simple code.
What kinds of events can I use as triggers?
You can trigger workflows from virtually any event source: incoming webhooks from services like Stripe or GitHub, messages from a queue, database changes, scheduled times (cron jobs), or custom events emitted from your own applications.
Can I filter events so a workflow only runs under certain conditions?
Yes. Our platform allows you to apply conditional logic to incoming event payloads. You can write simple expressions to filter events, ensuring that workflows only run when specific criteria are met, such as an order value exceeding $100.
Can one trigger start multiple workflows?
Absolutely. A single event can be configured to trigger multiple, parallel workflows. This enables you to orchestrate complex, branching business processes, like notifying sales, updating inventory, and starting fulfillment, all from one new order event.