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Overview

Triggers in Rowboat are automated mechanisms that activate your agents when specific events occur or conditions are met. They form the foundation of your automated workflow system, enabling your agents to respond to external events, scheduled times, and system conditions without manual intervention.

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Trigger Types

Rowboat supports three main categories of triggers, each designed for different automation scenarios:
Trigger TypePurposeExecutionUse Cases
External TriggersConnect to external services and eventsReal-time via webhooksSlack messages, GitHub events, email processing
One-Time TriggersExecute at specific predetermined timesSingle execution at set timeDelayed responses, time-sensitive actions
Recurring TriggersExecute on repeating schedulesContinuous via cron expressionsDaily reports, periodic maintenance, regular syncs

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External Triggers (Composio Integration)

External triggers are powered by Composio and allow users to use triggers from across 30+ services including Slack, GitHub, Gmail, Notion, Google Calendar, and more.
External Triggers UI showing available toolkits and services

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Creating External Triggers

  1. Click New External Trigger: Start the trigger creation process
  2. Select a Toolkit: Browse available toolkits or search for specific services
  3. Choose Trigger Type: Select the specific trigger from available options, click configure
  4. Authenticate: Complete OAuth2 flow or enter API keys for the selected service (your preferred method)
  5. Configure: Set up event filters and data mapping if required
  6. Deploy: Activate the trigger to start listening for events

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Local Setup

If you’re running the open source version of Rowboat, you’ll need to set up external triggers manually. In the managed version, this is all handled automatically for you.
1

Create a Composio project

Sign into Composio and create a new project for your Rowboat instance.
2

Get your Composio API key

Go to your project settings and copy the project API key. Export it in your Rowboat environment:
export COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-composio-api-key
3

Expose your Rowboat port

Use ngrok to expose your local Rowboat instance:
ngrok http 3000
Copy the generated ngrok URL (e.g., https://a5fe8c0d45b8.ngrok-free.app).
4

Configure webhook URL

In Composio, go to Events & Triggers section and set the Trigger Webhook URL to:
{ngrok_url}/api/composio/webhook
Example: https://a5fe8c0d45b8.ngrok-free.app/api/composio/webhook
5

Set webhook secret

Copy the Webhook Secret from Composio and export it in Rowboat:
export COMPOSIO_TRIGGERS_WEBHOOK_SECRET=your-webhook-secret
6

Restart Rowboat

Restart your Rowboat instance to load the new environment variables. You’re now ready to use external triggers!
Make sure your Rowboat assistant is deployed before receiving trigger calls

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One-Time Triggers (Scheduled Jobs)

One-time triggers execute your agents at a specific, predetermined time. They’re useful for delayed responses, batch processing, time-sensitive actions, or coordinating with external schedules.
One-Time Triggers UI showing scheduled job configuration

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Creating One-Time Triggers

  1. Set the exact execution time (date and time)
  2. Configure the input messages for your agents
  3. Deploy to schedule the execution

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Recurring Triggers (Cron-based Jobs)

Recurring triggers execute your agents on a repeating schedule using cron expressions. They’re ideal for daily reports, periodic maintenance, regular data syncs, and continuous monitoring tasks.
Recurring Triggers UI showing cron-based job configuration

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Creating Recurring Triggers

  1. Define the cron expression (e.g., 0 9 * * * for daily at 9 AM)
  2. Configure the recurring message structure
  3. Enable the trigger to start the recurring schedule

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Common Cron Patterns

0 9 * * *     # Daily at 9:00 AM
0 8 * * 1     # Every Monday at 8:00 AM
*/15 * * * *  # Every 15 minutes
0 0 1 * *     # First day of month at midnight
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