> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.qawolf.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Triggers

> Run a chosen set of flows whenever your application deploys or on a schedule, configured once for the whole workspace.

A trigger says: when this happens, run these flows. The "this" is an occasion — a deployment your pipeline reports, or a point in time. The "these flows" is an action — the flows QA Wolf runs when the occasion arrives.

Triggers belong to the workspace, not to one environment. A single deployment trigger can cover staging, production and every preview environment at once, and the same workspace can hold as many triggers as it needs.

## The two halves of a trigger

* **The occasion** — what has to happen. A deployment trigger fires on a reported deployment that matches its conditions. A schedule trigger fires on a cadence.
* **The action** — what runs. Flows named directly, flows carrying a tag, or a set QA Wolf selects itself.

Every trigger also carries a name and a paused state. A paused trigger never fires, on any path.

## Trigger kinds

* **Deployment** — fires when your pipeline reports a successful deployment that matches the trigger's conditions. The flows run against the deployment that changed the application.
* **Schedule** — fires hourly or daily in one environment. The only kind that needs nothing from your pipeline.

A deployment's first success report is what evaluates triggers, and it is the only report that does. A trigger added or resumed later does not make an already-reported deployment evaluate again.

<Note>
  A schedule trigger runs in exactly one environment, named on the trigger. A deployment trigger has no environment of its own — the deployment says where the flows run.
</Note>

## Choosing the flows

The action carries two fields that select flows, and they combine:

* **`flowIds`** — flows named one by one. The set stays fixed until you change the trigger.
* **`tagNames`** — every flow carrying one of these tags. A flow tagged later joins the trigger's set automatically, which is why a tag is usually the better choice for a long-lived trigger.

At least one flow or tag is required. See [Tags](/tags) for how to group flows.

### Generative flow selection

A deployment trigger can hand the selection to QA Wolf instead. With the action kind set to `generativeSuite`, QA Wolf chooses the flows from the pull request the deployment belongs to, and an optional `instructions` field guides that choice.

Generative selection carries three constraints:

* It needs the deployment to resolve to a pull request. A preview deploy of a pull request's head commit does; a push to a static branch does not, and the trigger skips it.
* It names no flows or tags. Supplying `flowIds` or `tagNames` alongside it is refused.
* A schedule trigger cannot use it, because a schedule has no changes to select from.

<Warning>
  A generative action on a trigger that also matches static deploys skips every one of them. Give preview deployments their own trigger rather than widening an existing one.
</Warning>

## Investigating failures

The action's `investigateFailures` field decides whether QA Wolf investigates failures in the runs the trigger creates. It defaults to true.

## Pausing a trigger

Pausing stops a trigger firing without deleting it, and resuming brings it back. Pausing is reversible and idempotent, which makes it the safe way to turn automation off while you change something.

## Triggers and legacy triggers

Legacy triggers attach to a single environment and come in three kinds: deployment triggers, scheduled triggers, and the pull-request testing button. A workspace can still be running them. [Legacy triggers](/legacy-triggers/overview) describes that model on its own terms.

## Next

* [Set up a trigger](/triggers/set-up-a-trigger) — choose a kind, decide what runs, and create it.
* [Report deployments to QA Wolf](/triggers/report-deployments) — what your pipeline has to emit for a deployment trigger to fire.
* [Diagnose a trigger](/triggers/diagnose-a-trigger) — why a trigger did not fire, or selected the wrong flows.