Flow triggers

A flow that is on only starts when one of its triggers matches. You set them up in the Triggers tab with Add trigger, and each has its own switch: when off, it is saved but starts nothing.

What can start a flow

1. 1
   The first message

   Starts when someone writes for the first time. Ideal for a welcome.

2. 2
   A keyword

   Starts if the message contains that whole word: “menu” does not fire on “menus”. Punctuation separates words.

3. 3
   A conversation tag

   Starts with the next message in a conversation that already has that tag.

4. 4
   When a tag is added

   Starts the moment someone —or a flow— adds that tag to the conversation or the contact. Useful for “tag whoever you want to survey”.

5. 5
   When something happens

   Starts with a platform event about a person: a booked appointment, an appointment that could not be booked or a new contact. With Filters (optional) it only starts if the event brings exactly that value, for example the assistant that booked it.

6. 6
   When the person stops replying

   Starts when some time goes by (After, between 1 minute and 30 days) without a reply from the person. With Only if the assistant is handling it, it stays out if someone on the team took the conversation. It is checked every 5 minutes, so it can come up to 5 minutes late.

7. 7
   A new contact

   Starts when a contact is created, from the channel you choose in Where it comes from.

8. 8
   By hand, from the inbox

   Does not start on its own: someone on the team starts it from the conversation with Start a flow….

9. 9
   Through the API

   Another system starts it with POST /flows/:id/start, giving the contact or the conversation and the variables the flow needs (they arrive as disparo_<name>). It needs the Flows · operate permission.

There is one more path, not configured here: a WhatsApp number with Answers first: A flow starts that flow on every new conversation without looking at its triggers (see the Flows guide).

What fires first: priority

If two triggers match the same thing, the one with the lowest Priority wins: Before the rest · 10, Normal · 100 or After the rest · 500. Priority applies across all your organization’s flows, not just within one: that is how you decide that the word “unsubscribe” beats the welcome. Each card says in which place it is checked.

A conversation has only one flow at a time, and a person cannot be in the same flow twice: if they are already inside, the trigger does not start another run.

Rest

Rest keeps a flow from starting too often. It only shows on the triggers that use it, and it depends on the type:

• In When the person stops replying it is per conversation: the same reminder does not reach the same person again before that time.
• In When a tag is added, When something happens and A new contact it is per trigger: after starting the flow, it does not start it again for anyone until that time goes by.
• The first message, A keyword, A conversation tag, By hand, from the inbox and Through the API have no rest: what holds them back is that a person cannot be in the same flow twice.

By default it is No rest. Each card shows when it last started the flow, with any trigger.

The brake against loops

A flow can start another one —with Go to another flow, or because it adds a tag or books something that fires another flow—. So that it does not turn into an endless chain, up to three chained jumps are allowed from the flow that a person, a provider or your system started: the fourth does not start. A flow started by something a person did always starts from zero.

While the flow runs

Below the triggers, While the flow runs sets what happens if the person writes during a wait, the entry channel and the words to leave. They are explained in the Flows guide.