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Automate trigger conditions

Relevant to:

The Trigger node ensures that your flows apply only to specific customers or orders, enabling you to provide a personalized experience.

This guide explains how to leverage conditions in the Trigger node for Automate flows, along with use cases and considerations.

Platform:

  • Shopify Checkout Integration
  • Migrated Shopify Checkout Integration

Before you start

  • This article only applies to Automate flows. The Trigger node for other flows offers a different set of conditions. See Understanding the Trigger node when building flows for more information.
  • Trigger conditions control which orders can enter an Automate flow. To avoid unintentionally running a flow on every processed order, decide what you want to target before building your flow.  As you plan your conditions, consider:
    • Which product(s) the customer must purchase (for example, a starter kit SKU).
    • When the flow should apply (for example, only on a customer’s first recurring order).
    • Who should qualify (for example, customers with specific tags or in a specific segment).
Tip: If your flow is intended to run for a broad audience, use caution. Overly broad trigger conditions can cause your flow to apply to more orders than expected.

How it works

Trigger conditions are entry rules for Automate flows. They determine which orders are allowed to enter a flow and begin running through the canvas.

Trigger conditions help you:

  • Run Automate only on specific orders instead of every processed order.
  • Reduce complex branching used only for filtering.
  • Build smaller, more intentional automations with clearer targeting.

Trigger conditions also help you avoid:

  • Overly complex flows
  • Excessive branching
  • Workarounds that are hard to debug and maintain
Note: Existing flows are not affected. Trigger conditions do not change how currently active flows execute unless you edit and save updated conditions.

Configure trigger conditions

You can view and edit trigger conditions:

  • When creating a new Automate flow
  • On existing Automate flows (including flows created before trigger conditions were visible)

Use trigger conditions to define which orders should enter your flow.

  1. In your Recharge merchant portal, click Products and select Automate.
  2. Create a new flow from a template, or open an existing flow.
  3. Click the Trigger node.
  4. Click Add to add trigger conditions.
  5. Save your changes.

Use AND/OR logic to fine-tune targeting

Trigger conditions support AND and OR logic, so you can create precise rules:

  • Use AND when all conditions must be met.
  • Use OR when any of the condition groups can be met.

Example:

  • (Line item contains Starter Kit) AND (Order number equals 3)
  • OR (Customer tag equals VIP)

Available trigger conditions

Trigger conditions include options for targeting customers, subscriptions, processed charges, and shipping details.

For a complete list of all available trigger conditions, see Available trigger conditions for Automate flows.

Common condition types include:

  • Customer conditions: Target customers based on attributes such as tags, segments, or subscription activity
  • Processed charge conditions: Target order-level details like charge date, total price, or discount code
  • Processed charge line item conditions: Target specific products or variants within a processed charge
  • Shipping address conditions: Target orders based on the delivery location
  • Subscription conditions: Target specific subscription details such as product, interval, or order milestones
  • Shipping address conditions: Target orders based on the delivery location

Use cases

The examples below reflect common Automate actions available in the canvas.

Use case

Trigger conditions and canvas actions
Update subscription frequency after a milestone: After three successful orders, move customers from monthly to bi-monthly.

Trigger conditions:

  • Customer condition: Number of subscription orders processed (target the milestone you need)

Canvas action:

  • Use a Subscription update node to modify frequency.
Swap a starter kit to refills on Order 3: Customers buy a starter kit initially, then automatically switch to refills.

Trigger conditions:

  • Line item condition: Processed charge line item (target the kit product)
  • Customer condition: Streak count for subscription orders (target the order milestone)

Canvas action:

  • Use a Subscription node with the Swap action.
Add a delay before taking action: Wait 14 days after a qualifying order before modifying a subscription for a specific product.

Trigger conditions:

  • Line item condition: Processed charge line item (target the qualifying product)

Canvas actions:

  • Add a Delay node.
  • Follow with a Subscription update node to update the subscription.

Considerations

 

Consideration

Details
Existing flows aren’t impacted automatically
  • There are no changes to how currently active flows execute.
  • Trigger conditions can now be viewed and edited on existing flows.
Warning modal for overly broad conditions
  • If your trigger conditions appear overly broad or permissive, Recharge displays a warning modal when you save.
  • The warning does not block activation. It’s designed to make sure you understand the potential impact before saving.
Tip: Broad conditions can be useful in rare cases, but they also increase the risk of applying changes to more orders than intended.
Automate flows run after every processed order
  • Automate evaluates the trigger conditions after every processed checkout and recurring order. You can't configure a flow to run only for checkouts or only for recurring orders. Instead, use trigger conditions to target the customers, subscriptions, or processed charges you want the flow to act on.
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