In Chain Autopilot, a trigger is what kicks off a rule. It's the moment your rule wakes up and asks: Should I do something right now?
Triggers allow you to fully customize when your rules run down to the hour, event, or real-time status. Whether you’re sending check-call reminders at 2 PM or asking for PODs 4 hours after delivery, triggers define when the system should evaluate a rule, not what it should do or whether it actually fires (that’s what conditions and actions are for).
This guide walks you through:
What a trigger is and why it matters
The different types of triggers
Practical examples for when to use each
If you're building your own rules, or editing templates, you’ll set a trigger first before layering on conditions and actions.
What is a trigger?
A trigger defines when a rule should evaluate itself and decide whether to take action.
Think of it like a timer or checkpoint. It doesn’t mean something will happen, it just tells the system:
"At this moment, go check if the conditions are met. If yes, then perform the action."
For example:
“Two hours before Origin Departure” → Evaluate the rule two hours before the scheduled pickup time.
“At 6:00 AM CST” → Evaluate the rule every day at 6:00 AM Central.
“At the time of Delivery Appointment” → Evaluate the rule right when the delivery appointment starts.
The trigger alone does not send a message. It just defines when to check if a message should be sent (based on your conditions).
Types of Triggers
When you click + When…, you’ll see five types of triggers. Here’s what they mean and when to use them:
1. When all conditions match
This evaluates the rule as soon as all specified conditions are met.
Best for: Real-time logic like “as soon as tracking is off and ETA is missing” or “as soon as driver location is X.”
Tip: This is event-driven, not time-driven. Use this when you don’t care when something happens, just that it has happened.
Example: "When the load stops tracking" → check in with the driver.
2. At a specific time…
This lets you run the rule at a fixed clock time, daily.
Example: "Send a check-call reminder at 2:00 PM CST every day."
Tip: Choose your time zone (CT, ET, MT, PT) to match your ops hours.
3. A number of days before/after…
This allows you to evaluate the rule a certain number of days before or after a key shipment milestone.
Event options include:
Origin Earliest / Latest
Destination Arrival / Departure
ETA Shipper / Receiver
And more. Think certain milestones on a load, that are date/time based.
Example: “Trigger this 1 day before Destination Arrival at 12 PM ET.” → request tracking.
4. At the time of…
This evaluates the rule exactly at the moment of a shipment milestone.
Example:
“At the time of Origin Departure” → confirm the driver checked in
“At the time of Destination Latest” → request POD
Useful when you want to act the second a key timestamp is reached.
5. A number of hours before/after…
This is the most common and flexible trigger type. Set a rule to evaluate X hours before or after a shipment milestone.
Use it for:
“2 hours before pickup” → check in with dispatcher.
“4 hours after delivery” → request POD
“5 hours before appointment time” → confirm ETA
Pro Tip: This is the trigger used in most of the default templates.
Example Use Cases
Here are a few practical examples of how you might use triggers:
Goal | Trigger |
Remind driver to enable tracking the morning of pickup |
|
Send a check-call request at 2 PM for all in-transit loads |
|
Alert if no ETA was added 1 day before arrival |
|
Kick off a tracking workflow as soon as tracking is off |
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What happens next?
Once the trigger fires, Autopilot checks all your rule’s conditions. If they pass, it performs your selected action (like sending a message or logging a status check).
Next, in our Using Conditions article, we’ll walk through how conditions work, and how to make sure your rule fires only when it makes sense.