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A trigger is the entry point of your workflow. Each workflow has at least one — the built-in Manual trigger — and you can add more to make the workflow react to events: an HTTP request, a cron schedule, an inbound email, or an event in a connected app like Slack or Gmail.

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Trigger types

Manual Trigger by Builder

Run manually from the builder.

API Trigger

Start via an HTTP endpoint.

Schedule Trigger

Run on a schedule.

Email Trigger

Start when an email is received.

Integration App Trigger

Start from an external app event (Slack, Gmail, GitHub, etc.).

Interface

Start from a user-facing form. See Interface.

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Manual Trigger

The simplest trigger — always present on every workflow and cannot be deleted. Fires when you click Run Workflow in the editor header or when you call the workflow programmatically without a specific trigger. Useful for authoring and testing.

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API Trigger

Exposes the workflow as an HTTP endpoint. Each API trigger has two URLs:
  • Draft URL — hits the current draft of the workflow. Useful while iterating.
  • Live URL — hits the most recent release of the workflow.
Settings include:
  • Authentication — an auth header Pinkfish auto-provisions for the trigger.
  • Input schema — declare the expected request body shape so the coding agent (and downstream nodes) know what fields to expect.
Pinkfish provides a helper to test an API trigger without leaving the editor — click Call API trigger in the run area to open a modal that generates a sample curl command with your auth token and a pretty-printed JSON body editor. For programmatic invocation details, see Triggers API.

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Schedule Trigger

Runs the workflow on a cron schedule. Configure with:
  • Cron expression — standard 5-field cron (* * * * *).
  • Timezone — the timezone the cron runs in.
  • A next-run preview that shows when the trigger will fire next, in a human-readable form (“Tomorrow at 08:00 UTC”).
Schedule Trigger settings panel with Timezone, Run every, and time-of-day fields filled in, plus an Input Payload editor.

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Email Trigger

Gives the workflow an inbound email address — trigger-<id>@pinkfish.email — and fires whenever a message arrives at that address. The email body, subject, sender, and attachments are exposed as inputs to downstream nodes.

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Integration App Trigger

Start the workflow from an event inside a connected app. Pick the app (Slack, Gmail, GitHub, HubSpot, Linear, Notion, and many more), then pick the event (New Email, New Slack Message, Issue Created, etc.). Pinkfish subscribes to the app’s webhook or polls its API and fires your workflow when the event occurs. Authentication flows through your existing connections. If the app isn’t connected yet, the trigger editor walks you through adding the connection inline.

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Event Trigger

For internal Pinkfish events — another workflow completing, a data collection updating, a specific agent finishing a run. See Event triggers for the full reference.

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Trigger input schema

Every trigger can declare an input schema — a JSON-schema-like definition of the data shape the workflow expects to receive. Inputs appear as named fields the coding agent and downstream nodes can reference ({{trigger.customerName}}), and they’re validated before the workflow runs. Click Edit input schema on any trigger settings panel to open the schema editor. Fields support types: string, number, boolean, object, array, file, enum, date, and more.
Declaring an input schema makes your workflow much easier for others to call correctly — both via API and via the in-editor Run button.

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Draft vs live triggers

Agentic workflows maintain separate draft and live versions of each trigger. Iterating on the draft doesn’t affect production callers; when you release the workflow, the live trigger URL starts pointing at the new version. You’ll see a small Draft or Live badge in the trigger settings panel indicating which version’s configuration you’re editing.

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Testing a trigger

  • Manual — click Run Workflow in the header.
  • API — open Call API trigger and send the generated curl.
  • Schedule — click Run now (fires as if the scheduled time had arrived).
  • Email — send a real email to the trigger’s address.
  • App trigger — perform the event in the source app (post a message, open an issue).
See Running a Workflow for the full run flow.

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Adding a trigger

Open the Add Node panel, switch to the Triggers tab, and pick a trigger type. The trigger node appears on the canvas at the left edge and its settings panel opens automatically so you can configure it immediately.
App triggers require a live connection to the source app. If the connection expires or is revoked, the trigger shows an Inactive connection badge in the editor and pauses firing. Re-authenticate from Connections.

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What’s next

Running a workflow

Test your trigger with real or simulated invocations.

Interface

Configure the user-facing form that the Interface trigger serves.

Event triggers

Pinkfish’s internal event system.

API reference

Program against trigger endpoints from outside Pinkfish.