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Setting Up Triggers

Triggers automatically execute a workflow when something happens in your Drupal site — for example, when content is created, a user logs in, or cron runs. Instead of manually running workflows, triggers make them event-driven.

Module Required

Enable the flowdrop_trigger module before using triggers: 

drush en flowdrop_trigger

How Triggers Work

  1. You add a Trigger node to your workflow in the visual editor.
  2. FlowDrop automatically creates a trigger configuration linked to that node.
  3. When the matching event occurs in Drupal, FlowDrop executes the workflow and passes event data into the workflow.

The trigger configuration is tied to the trigger node — if you remove the node from the workflow, the trigger configuration is automatically deleted.

Step-by-Step: Create an Entity Trigger

This example creates a trigger that runs a workflow whenever an Article is created.

Step 1: Create a Workflow

  1. Navigate to Administration > FlowDrop > Workflows (/admin/flowdrop/workflows).
  2. Click + Add Workflow.
  3. Enter a label (e.g., "New Article Handler") and click Save.
  4. Open the workflow in the visual editor.

Step 2: Add a Trigger Node

  1. Click the + button in the editor to open the node palette.
  2. Search for "Trigger" or browse the node categories.
  3. Add the Trigger node to the canvas.

The trigger node appears on the canvas. Unlike regular nodes, it has no input ports — it is the starting point of a triggered workflow. FlowDrop automatically creates a trigger configuration entity linked to this node.

Step 3: Configure the Trigger

Click on the trigger node to open its configuration panel, then configure:

  1. Set the Event Type to entity.insert (fires when an entity is created).
  2. Set the Entity Type to node (for content entities).
  3. Set the Bundle to article.
  4. Review the Orchestrator setting — triggers default to Asynchronous for most event types, which is recommended.

Step 4: Add Processing Nodes

Now add the nodes that should process the event:

  1. Add a Logger node (or any processing node you need).
  2. Connect the trigger node's output port to your processing node's input port.

The trigger node's output contains the event data — for entity events, this includes the serialized entity with all its fields.

Step 5: Save and Enable

  1. Click Save in the editor toolbar.
  2. Ensure the workflow is enabled (status = true). Disabled workflows will not respond to triggers.

Step 6: Test the Trigger

  1. Create a new Article in your Drupal site.
  2. Check execution results at Administration > FlowDrop > Pipelines (/admin/flowdrop/pipelines).
  3. You should see a new pipeline created for your workflow.

Tip

If using the asynchronous orchestrator, make sure queues are being processed. See Execution Modes for queue setup.

Available Event Types

Entity Events

Event Fires When Default Orchestrator
Entity Insert An entity is created Asynchronous
Entity Update An entity is updated Asynchronous
Entity Delete An entity is deleted Asynchronous
Entity Presave Just before an entity is saved Synchronous

Warning

Entity Presave runs synchronously during the entity save operation. Keep presave workflows fast and lightweight to avoid slowing down content editing.

User Events

Event Fires When Default Orchestrator
User Login A user logs in Asynchronous
User Logout A user logs out Asynchronous

Form Events

Event Fires When Default Orchestrator
Form Submit A form is submitted Asynchronous
Form Validate During form validation Synchronous

Cron Events

Event Fires When Default Orchestrator
Cron Run Drupal's cron runs Asynchronous

Cron triggers are useful for scheduled tasks like periodic data synchronization, automated content publishing, or cleanup operations.

Event Data in Workflows

When a trigger fires, it passes contextual data into the workflow. For entity events, the available data includes:

Field Description
entity The full serialized entity (all fields and values)
original_entity The entity before the change (for update and presave events)
entity_type The entity type ID (e.g., node, user)
entity_id The entity ID
bundle The entity bundle (e.g., article, page)
is_new Whether the entity is newly created
timestamp Unix timestamp of the event

You can access these values in your workflow using nodes like DataExtractor to pull out specific fields.

Managing Trigger Configurations

Viewing Triggers

Navigate to Administration > FlowDrop > Triggers (/admin/flowdrop/triggers) to see all active trigger configurations.

Trigger Settings

Configure global trigger settings at Administration > FlowDrop > Configuration > Triggers (/admin/flowdrop/config/triggers):

  • General settings — Default orchestrator and logging options
  • Entity settings — Entity event configuration
  • User settings — User event configuration
  • Cron settings — Cron schedule configuration

Disabling a Trigger

To temporarily disable a trigger without removing it:

  1. Navigate to the trigger configuration list.
  2. Edit the trigger configuration and set it to disabled.

Alternatively, disabling the parent workflow will prevent all its triggers from firing.

Troubleshooting

Trigger not firing?

  1. Check the workflow is enabled — Disabled workflows ignore triggers.
  2. Check conditions match — Entity type and bundle must match the actual entity.
  3. Check queues — Async triggers need queue processing. Run drush queue:run flowdrop_runtime_pipeline_execution.
  4. Check logs — Look for trigger-specific log entries: 
    drush watchdog:show --type=flowdrop_trigger

For more troubleshooting help, see the Troubleshooting guide.

Next Steps