# Start events (triggers)

> The trigger decides when the automation starts: something that happens in SupportFast, such as an agent reply, a new contact or a call that ended, or a request sent by another piece of software.

Page: https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/automations/triggers/ · Section: Automations · Updated on 30 October 2026

## Where to set it

You choose the trigger in the second step of creation. Later, you change it in the automation's Playground: press the card at the top of the flow and the Initial trigger panel opens.

In the Playground, the choices in the panel don't save themselves: they go into the draft and take effect with Save changes.

> **Warning**
>
> **Changing the event pauses the automation.** If the automation is active and you change the source, event, agent, list, tool or operator, it goes to Paused when you save and you have to publish it again. The panel reminds you before you save.

## The starting source

- **Internal Event (Default)**: Something that happens in SupportFast, in three categories: conversations, contacts, telephony. There are 12 events in all, described below.

- **Webhook (API) (Plan feature)**: A request sent by another piece of software to a unique address of the automation. It requires the “API and webhooks” feature: if your plan doesn't include it, the card shows a padlock and clicking it opens the plans window.

## The internal event fields

Choose Event category and Specific event to listen to, then the fields the event asks for: they are in the “What it asks for” column of the tables below. Two fields deserve a note.

- **Agent listening to the event (Menu · required for Conversations and Telephony)**: The automation starts only for this agent's events. With Conversations the list shows chat agents, with Telephony voice agents.

- **Operator (Menu · only with Call transferred and Transfer failed)**: Limits the event to one of the voice agent's transfer destinations, shown by name or by number.

  (Default: All operators)

**In automations, “operator” has three meanings.** In the trigger's Operator field it's a transfer destination of the voice agent: a teammate or a number. In the Live Chat request event it's a person on your team who replies in the live chat (the Operator Chat tab). In the [Condition](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/automations/logic-nodes.md#condition), the Operator field is the type of comparison, such as “Equals” or “Exists”.

![Initial trigger panel: Internal Event, Telephony category, Call transferred event, the Reception voice agent and the operator set to All operators.](https://supportfast.ai/_astro/05-trigger-iniziale.JJJRlGBb.webp)

_With Call transferred you can limit the event to a single operator._

## The events one by one

### Conversations

They apply to the conversations of the chosen chat agent. They carry the contact data and the conversation, so also the message history in `{{history}}`.

| Event | When it starts | What it asks for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| On every message | When the agent replies in a conversation: see [below](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/automations/triggers.md#on-every-message-starts-from-the-agents-replies). | Agent |
| Live Chat request | When an operator is requested in the conversation, that is a person on your team in the live chat (the Operator Chat tab). | Agent |
| Contact form submitted | When the filled-in contact form arrives in the conversation. | Agent |
| Tool used | When the agent uses the chosen tool. A [tool](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/help/glossary.md#tool) is a node you create in the chat agent Playground: it tells the agent when to do something and which data to collect from the conversation. The collected data arrives in the “Tool variables”. | Agent and tool |

### Contacts

They apply to all contacts in the workspace: you don't need to choose an agent. They carry the contact data in `{{user.*}}`.

| Event | When it starts | What it asks for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| New Contact | When a contact is created in the workspace. | — |
| Contact Updated | When a contact's data changes. | — |
| Contact in List | When a contact is added to the chosen list, for example with an import into that list or with the Contact Management node of another automation. It doesn't fire for a new contact that the AI creates directly in the list, with the “Automatic list assignment” of [Automatic Profiling](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/contacts/variables-profiling.md#automatic-profiling): for that contact only the New Contact automations start. | List |
| Contact Deleted | When a contact is deleted. The contact no longer exists: a Contact Management node can't act on it, and the console flags this on the node. | — |

### Telephony

They apply to the calls of the chosen voice agent. They carry the call data in `{{call.*}}`, the call's conversation, so also `{{history}}`, and the contact data, when the call has a contact. Each call is a conversation of its own and starts its own run: if the same customer calls back, the run of the first call carries on separately.

| Event | When it starts | What it asks for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Call started | When one of the agent's calls begins. For outbound calls it starts when the recipient answers: a call that is never answered doesn't start it. | Agent |
| Call ended | At the end of the call, after the analysis: outcome and summary are already ready. It starts for every call that ends, even the ones never answered; `{{call.reached}}` tells you whether the call got through. It doesn't start for transferred calls: for those, create a second automation on Call transferred. | Agent |
| Call transferred | When the transfer to a teammate succeeds. | Agent; operator optional |
| Transfer failed | When the transfer doesn't succeed. | Agent; operator optional |

The full list of variables for each event is in [Variables](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/automations/variables.md).

## Behaviors to know

### On every message starts from the agent's replies

The event fires when the agent replies, not when the customer or an operator writes. The run starts 10 minutes after the reply, so the conversation has time to move on.

- If the agent replies again before the run has finished, the run starts over and the 10 minutes count from the latest reply. There is still only one run, which uses nothing more.
- If the customer starts writing again after the run has closed, the next reply creates a new one, which uses another run.

In a long conversation, or one picked up again after a break, the automation can therefore start several times and repeat its actions, for example send the same email again. It's the right event for working on the conversation as a whole: summarizing it, labeling it, moving it to a folder. Check usage in the [Dashboard](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/automations/executions.md); how to avoid duplicate alerts is explained in example [D. Chats classified by AI](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/automations/examples.md#d-chats-classified-by-ai).

### One automation can start another

When a Contact Management node creates, updates, adds to a list or deletes a contact, the contact events of the other automations in the workspace start. The automation that made the change never restarts by itself.

### One event and one agent per automation

Each automation listens to a single event and, for conversations and telephony, a single agent. To cover two events or two agents, create two automations: with Duplicate you copy the flow and change only the trigger.

## The Webhook trigger in brief

With the Webhook (API) source, the automation starts when another piece of software sends a request to its address: Zapier, Make, your management software, a form on your website.

Press Generate address, run the test with Start listening and publish: until the test request arrives, the automation can't be published. With the webhook you can use the Webhook Response node. Steps, data format, responses and examples are in [Starting an automation via webhook](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/developers/incoming-webhook.md).

## Errors on the trigger

If something is missing in the trigger, the “Flow Error Management” panel flags it under “Initial trigger”. Publishing stays blocked: see [Saving, publishing, fixing](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/automations/publish.md#fixing-the-flow-error-management-panel). Open the trigger and fill in the missing fields. An agent, list, tool or operator that no longer exists, for example an agent moved to another workspace, must be replaced with one from this workspace; then save and publish again.

## Frequently asked questions

**Can I start an automation on a date, for example the day before an appointment?**

There is no event tied to a date. You start from an event that carries the date, such as Call ended with an appointment booked, and add a Wait node with “Date from variable”. The full example is in [Ready-made examples](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/automations/examples.md).

## See also

- [Variables](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/automations/variables.md): The data each event carries with it.

- [Post-call: data, email, webhook](https://supportfast.ai/en/guide/voice-agent/post-call.md): The analysis that fills in the call's outcome and summary.