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Triggers define when your agent starts running. Connect your agent to external events or time-based schedules so it responds automatically to messages, emails, or recurring tasks.

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Add a trigger

To add a trigger:
1

Edit your agent

Open your agent in the Agent Builder inbox. Next to the agent name, click the Edit Agent icon.
2

Add the trigger

In the Triggers section, click + Add and select the trigger you want to add.

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Add a Gmail trigger

The Gmail trigger activates your agent when new emails arrive in your inbox. To add a Gmail trigger:
  1. In the Triggers section, click + Add.
  2. Select the Gmail section and click Connect Gmail Account.
  3. Enter the email address you want to monitor.
  4. Click Confirm.
  5. Authenticate with your Google account.
  6. After completing authentication, click I’ve completed authentication.
Your agent will now activate when new emails arrive in your inbox. To let your agent read and respond to emails, add Gmail tools in the Tools section. Available Gmail tools include reading emails, sending replies, creating drafts, managing labels, and marking messages as read. See Tool integrations for the full list.
The Gmail trigger only monitors your primary inbox. The following emails do not activate the trigger:
  • Alias emails: Messages sent to an email alias rather than your primary address.
  • Mailing list emails: Messages received through a mailing list or group.
  • Emails outside the inbox: Messages that skip the inbox due to filters, or that land in spam, trash, or other folders.

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Add a Slack trigger

The Slack trigger activates your agent when messages are posted in a specific Slack channel. For full setup instructions including OAuth authorization, bot invitation, and tool configuration, see Integrate Slack with an agent.

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Add a cron trigger

Cron triggers run your agent on a recurring time-based schedule, such as daily reports or weekly summaries. To add a cron trigger:
  1. In the Triggers section, click + Add.
  2. Select the Schedule section and click + Create new schedule.
  3. Choose when to run your agent.
    Cron schedules are in UTC. Convert your desired execution time to UTC when configuring the schedule.
  4. Click Confirm.

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Pause and resume triggers

You can pause and resume triggers without removing them. To pause all triggers:
  1. In the Agent Builder inbox, open your agent.
  2. Next to the agent name, click the Edit Agent icon.
  3. In the Triggers section, click Pause triggers button to pause all triggers.
To resume all triggers, click Resume triggers button.

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Thread behavior

How threads are marked depends on whether the agent uses triggers:
  • Chat agents (no trigger): Responses mark the thread as unread. Viewing the thread marks it as read.
  • Trigger-based agents: Responses keep the thread as read by default.
You can manually mark any thread as read or unread at any time.
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