Trigger types reference

Every automation has exactly one trigger. The trigger sets the type of context the rest of the rule works with — a conversation event gives you the conversation, contact, channel, and message; a case event gives you the case; a schedule event gives you a snapshot of everything matching the criteria.

This reference lists every trigger Atender supports, grouped by event type.

Conversation events

• Conversation created — A new conversation is opened on any channel
• Message received — A new inbound message arrives on an existing conversation
• Status changed — Conversation moves between statuses — active, snoozed, done, archived
• Agent assigned — An agent is set or reassigned on a conversation
• Team assigned — A customer service team is set or reassigned
• Channel updated — Conversation moves to a different channel (e.g. chat → email handoff)
• Customer level changed — Contact’s customer tier changes (e.g. promoted to VIP)

Tag events

• Tag added — Any tag — or a specific tag if you filter in conditions — is applied to a conversation
• Tag removed — A tag is removed

Case events

• Case created — A new case is opened
• Case stage changed — Case moves between workflow stages
• Case closed — Case is marked closed
• Case reopened — A previously closed case is reopened
• Case priority changed — Priority is set or changed

SLA events

• SLA at risk — A target is approaching its deadline (configurable lead time)
• SLA breached — A target’s deadline has passed without being met
• SLA resolved — A target is met before breach

Schedule events

Cron-style time-based triggers. Useful for nightly cleanup, weekly digests, recurring outbound batches.

• Schedule — “Every weekday at 09:00”, “Every day at 02:00”, “First of the month at 06:00”

A schedule trigger evaluates against historical data at run time — it gives the rule a snapshot of every conversation/case currently matching its conditions, then runs the action sequence against each one.

Business hours events

• Business hours opened — The transition from outside-hours to inside-hours, per the opening hours for the workspace
• Business hours closed — The transition from inside-hours to outside-hours

Picking the right trigger

The most common mistake is picking Conversation created when you actually want Message received. The first only fires once per conversation; the second fires on every inbound message. If your automation needs to react to ongoing back-and-forth (auto-tag based on content, escalate on a keyword, etc.), use Message received.

For after-hours auto-replies, prefer using Message received with a schedule restriction set to “outside business hours” rather than the Business hours closed trigger — the latter only fires on the transition itself, not on each message that arrives while closed.

See also

• Conditions and operators reference — narrow the trigger
• Actions reference — what the rule can do once it fires
• Branches and decision trees — handle multiple cases in one rule