Skip to content

Loops guide · 5 of 8

Start Loops automatically

Manual starts, schedules, webhooks, and email triggers — and when to use each.

A trigger starts a Run. Add automatic triggers only after the Loop behaves well when you start it by hand.

Manual start

Trigger section and manual or automatic trigger choices.
  1. Highlight 1: The Triggers tab.
  2. Highlight 2: Start by hand — always available.
  3. Highlight 3: + Schedule, + Webhook and + Email add an automatic trigger.
Pause switch governing automatic starts.
  1. Highlight 1: Automatic triggers only start Runs when the Loop is not Paused.

Starting by hand is always available. Use it to test, and for work that happens only now and then. You give the Run objective each time.

Add an automatic trigger

Keep the Loop Paused while you set up a trigger.

  1. Open the Loop and click the Triggers tab.
  2. Click + Schedule, + Webhook, or + Email. Clicking + Schedule creates a schedule straight away, with default settings, and it starts switched on.
  3. Turn Switched on off while you configure the trigger.
  4. Fill in the settings, then save. For a schedule, click Save schedule.

Automatic triggers use the published Loop, and only when the Loop is switched on (not Paused). See Test, publish, and maintain.

Each trigger has a Switched on setting, so you can pause one trigger without changing the others. A trigger only starts Runs once the Loop is published, not Paused, and the trigger is switched on.

Schedule

A schedule starts a Run at set times — for example, every weekday morning.

Schedule creation, timing and objective controls.
  1. Highlight 1: + Schedule creates the schedule straight away.
  2. Highlight 2: How often and Minutes between Runs.
  3. Highlight 3: Objective for every Run it starts.
Schedule switch and save control.
  1. Highlight 1: Switched on: off while you configure it.
  2. Highlight 2: Click Save schedule.

How often and Minutes between Runs set the timing. Objective for every Run it starts is the text each scheduled Run receives.

Worked example

The examples use fictional data. Follow the same checks with approved, non-sensitive information for your own task.

Keep the Loop Paused and the schedule Off. Set How often to Every so many minutes and Minutes between Runs to at least 5. Start with a short, controlled schedule only when you are ready for automatic work.

Five-minute setup with Loop Paused and schedule Off.
  1. Highlight 1: Paused
  2. Highlight 2: Five-minute interval and Off

Set Most Runs per hour to 1 for this exercise, keep Switched on off, then Save schedule. Reopen Triggers and check the interval, hourly cap and Off state. Recheck the cap after saving other trigger settings: an omitted cap defaults to 60. Review actual Run starts before relying on the hourly limit.

Review Minutes between Runs, Most Runs per hour and Switched on before enabling the schedule.
  1. Highlight 1: Minutes between Runs: 5
  2. Highlight 2: Most Runs per hour: 1
  3. Highlight 3: Switched on: off

Worked example

The examples use fictional data. Follow the same checks with approved, non-sensitive information for your own task.

Automatic schedules can start work once the Loop is Active and the schedule is On. Keep both off while configuring. Use an interval of at least five minutes and check the hourly cap before enabling a schedule; do not copy the older interval visible in this example.

Automatic schedules need both the Loop and schedule switched on.
  1. Highlight 1: Active switch
  2. Highlight 2: Schedule and On status

For a scheduled Run, check Started by, Loop version and Why it stopped, then review its step output. A schedule starts work in the background, not necessarily at the exact second. Confirm the expected result before relying on later Runs.

Check the scheduled Run’s output and the design identified by Loop version.
  1. Highlight 1: Why it stopped
  2. Highlight 2: Step output
  3. Highlight 3: Started by and Loop version

To stop future scheduled starts, switch the schedule Off and the Loop to Paused, then reopen Triggers to check both settings. Check existing Runs separately; changing a schedule is not a way to judge whether earlier work finished.

Keep the Loop Paused and schedule Off while reviewing its timing.
  1. Highlight 1: Paused switch
  2. Highlight 2: Schedule and Off status

Time (UTC). Schedule times are in UTC, not your local time. Work out the conversion before you save.

Example: you want 9:00 in New York.

  1. New York is UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 in summer.
  2. 9:00 in winter is 14:00 UTC. 9:00 in summer is 13:00 UTC.
  3. Pick one. When daylight saving changes, the local start time moves by an hour unless you update the schedule.

Most Runs per hour. A cap on how many Runs this trigger can start in an hour.

When a Run is still in progress. Choose what happens if a start comes while a Run is still going — for example, Refuse new calls. Refusing or skipping is safer for most work than overlapping Runs.

Webhook

A webhook lets another app start your Loop. The other app calls an address, and that call starts a Run.

Address to call. The URL the other app sends a POST request to. Copy it into the other app.

Signing secret. Required by default. The sending app uses the signing secret to sign a request. When configured as documented, raia Command can validate the signature. Keep the secret private. Keep it switched on, and store the secret only in the other app's secure settings.

Timestamp and delivery ID. Optional. If the other app sends the same delivery ID twice, raia Command starts only one Run. If it retries without a delivery ID, a retry can create another Run.

Recent calls. Shows calls that reached the address. If a call was refused, the reason is shown here. Check it first when a webhook does not start a Run.

What a refusal looks like depends on your settings

Which calls are accepted depends on how the trigger is set up. Use Recent calls to see exactly why a specific call was refused.

Email

An email trigger starts a Run when an allowed sender writes to the Loop's address.

Settings:

  1. Knowledge and Folder — where attachments are stored. Both are required.
  2. Sender allowlist — the addresses that may start Runs.

What the Run receives:

  • the subject and body,
  • the text of attachments, converted automatically.

Limits and behavior:

  • Up to 8 attachments, 10 MB each. Files that are skipped are reported.
  • Converting attachments can delay the Run by a few minutes.
  • Very long text may be shortened.
  • Messages are checked for authenticity. Writing from an address that merely claims to be on the allowlist is not enough.

Sent does not mean started

A message leaving your mailbox does not prove a Run started. Check Recent messages on the trigger, then the Runs tab.

Which trigger to use

You want to…Use
Test or run occasionallyManual
Check something every day or weekSchedule
React when something happens in another appWebhook
Handle requests that arrive in an inboxEmail

Checkpoint

Before you switch a trigger on, run the Loop by hand with the kind of input that trigger will send — a real-looking email, or a sample webhook body.