Manual, Sub-Automation & Failure Triggers

Three triggers that no external event and no schedule starts: an operator deciding, another automation delegating, and a run failing.

Manual Trigger

Admin-initiated execution, via a button in the admin interface or POST /api/automations/{name}/trigger.

trigger:
  type: manual
  label: Sync inventory
  requiredRole: admin
  inputSchema: { warehouse: { type: string } }

Property	Description
label	Button label in the admin interface (e.g. Export Report).
inputSchema	JSON Schema describing the input fields supplied at trigger time.
requiredRole	Auth role required to trigger. Defaults to admin.

Every property is optional. Input supplied at trigger time is read at {{trigger.input.*}} — not {{trigger.inputData}}, which does not resolve.

Automation-Call Trigger

Marks an automation as callable by another, via the automation/call action — the basis of sub-workflow composition.

trigger:
  type: automation-call
  inputSchema: { customerId: { type: string } }

Property	Description
inputSchema	Expected input contract (JSON Schema-like). Omitted, any inputData from the caller is accepted.

This is the trigger's only property. The callee reads what it was given at {{trigger.input.*}}, and can also see {{trigger.caller}} (the calling automation) and {{trigger.depth}} (how deep the chain currently is).

Depth matters: automation/call carries a maxDepth guard defaulting to 10, so a chain that accidentally calls itself is stopped rather than recursing until the process dies. Return values flow back through the automation/return action — see Sub-Workflows.

Automation-Failure Trigger

Fires when a watched automation fails — composable failure handling, without per-automation notification config.

trigger:
  type: automation-failure
  automations: [nightly-sync, billing-run]

Property	Description
automations	Automation names (kebab-case) to watch, at least one. Omit the key entirely to fire on any failure.

Omitting automations and supplying an empty array are not the same thing: the empty array is rejected at config decode, while omission is the documented way to watch everything.

One automation with this trigger replaces a notification action duplicated across every workflow. Point it at the jobs whose silent failure would actually hurt — a nightly sync, a billing run — and have it post to the channel your team reads.

Related Pages

• Triggers Overview — the nine trigger types at a glance.
• Sub-Workflows — the automation/call and automation/return actions.
• Retry & Failure — per-action retry before a run is declared failed.
• Automation Runs — inspecting, replaying and cancelling runs.
• MCP Integration — how aiAccess exposes a manual automation to an agent.