Trigger Node: Start a Flow in the Flow Builder

Every flow has to start somewhere, and that’s what a Trigger is. It’s the event that wakes your automation up and gets it moving.

No trigger, no flow. It’s step one, always.

Setting one up

1. Click + New Trigger in the Begin when… block
2. Pick the event that should kick things off
3. Set any conditions the trigger needs
4. Connect it to your first step

+ New Trigger opens the Begin when… panel and its five events

Available triggers

Trigger	Fires when…
User comments on your Post or Reel	Someone comments on a post or reel
User replies to your Story	Someone replies to your story
User sends a message	Someone DMs you
User mentions you in a Story	You get story-mentioned
User shares a post or reel	Someone shares your content via DM

Narrowing a trigger

A trigger doesn’t have to fire on everything. Once you’ve picked the event, set the condition that goes with it — a User sends a message trigger can listen for any message, or only ones containing a keyword like hello, exactly like the keyword triggers in a basic automation.

The node shows what it settled on: the event on top, the condition underneath.

Pro Tip

Start with the event you can test yourself. Comment on your own post from a second account, or DM yourself the keyword, and watch the flow run before you point it at anything that matters.

Where to go next

With the trigger in place, drag its Then handle to the first real step — usually a Send message node.