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Automation triggers

Every automation has exactly one trigger. This page covers all 8, in the order they appear in the builder's trigger picker.

The trigger type dropdown open, listing all 8 trigger typesThe trigger type dropdown open, listing all 8 trigger types
Every automation's trigger type is chosen here, from the expanded trigger card.

New Message Received

Fires on any incoming message, with no filtering. This is the broadest trigger — pair it with a Condition step if you need to narrow it down (see Conditions and waits).

First Message from Contact

Fires the first time a given contact ever messages you. This also covers contacts who were manually added or imported and are messaging for the first time — not just brand-new auto-created contacts — which makes it the right choice for a welcome automation.

Keyword Match

Fires when the incoming message contains (or exactly equals) one of a list of keywords you configure.

  • Match type: Contains — the keyword can appear anywhere in the message.
  • Match type: Exact — the whole message must equal the keyword exactly.
  • Matching is case-insensitive: Pricing matches pricing.
  • Leaving Match type unset behaves the same as Contains.

Button / List Reply

Fires when the customer taps a reply button or a list row whose id is in this trigger's configured list of reply ids. This is how you chain automations across a menu: one automation sends buttons, a second automation triggers on the id the customer tapped and sends the next step. The match is exact — the tapped id must be in the list, not merely similar to it.

New Contact Created

Fires when an incoming message auto-creates a new contact — a phone number Relay has never seen before. It's a narrower cousin of First Message from Contact: that one also fires for existing contacts (manually added or imported) messaging for the first time, while this one only fires on the auto-create itself.

Conversation Assigned Coming soon

Intended to fire when a conversation is assigned to an agent. Not dispatched anywhere yet.

Tag Added Coming soon

Intended to fire when a tag is added to a contact. Not dispatched anywhere yet.

Time-Based Coming soon

Intended to fire on a recurring schedule. Not dispatched anywhere yet — there is no scheduler wired up to this trigger type.