Running flows automatically
Your flow isn't truly automated if you have to click Run. Learn three ways to kick off flows hands-free—Triggers, Interfaces, and Schedules—so your automations fire when something happens, when someone submits a form, or on a schedule. No more manual runs (unless you want to).
An automation is something that runs automatically. And that's not quite where we are yet.
Yes, our flow executes the steps automatically—but we still have to press Run.
Doesn't sound super automated to me. Let's fix that by exploring three ways you can start a flow in Gumloop without lifting a finger.
1. Triggers: When Something Happens
Triggers let you run an automation whenever something happens in one of your connected tools.
For example:
- When a Slack message is sent
- When a new row is added to Google Sheets
- When a Google Form is submitted
- When a new lead hits your CRM
The flow sits in the background, waiting. As soon as the trigger event happens, boom—your automation kicks off.
Setting up a trigger
All trigger-capable nodes live in the Triggers section of the node library.
Let's say you want to run a flow every time someone submits a Google Form. Here's how:
- Drag the Google Forms node onto your canvas
- Toggle "Use as trigger" to activate it
- Save your flow
That's it. Now whenever a form is submitted, your flow automatically runs.
You can connect this trigger to any downstream steps—send a Slack notification, add the response to a database, kick off an onboarding sequence, whatever you need.
2. Interfaces: Let Others Run Your Flows
Sometimes you don't want a flow to run when something happens—you want someone on your team to be able to run it on demand, but without them having to build or understand the flow themselves.
That's what Interfaces are for.
An interface is a custom form you create that sits in front of your automation. Anyone with the link can fill out the form, and when they click Run, the flow executes with their inputs.
Building an interface
Here's an example: let's say you want to automate a customer usage report that your team can generate before meetings.
- Drag an Interface node onto your canvas
- Click Edit to configure the form fields you need:
- Customer email (required)
- Recipient email (required)
- Any other relevant inputs
- Customize the look and feel if you want
- Connect the interface outputs to the rest of your flow
Now you have a shareable link. Anyone on your team can:
- Open the link
- Fill in the customer email and their own email
- Click Run
The flow executes in the background, and the report lands in their inbox. They never see the nodes, the connections, or any of the complexity—they just get the result.
This is perfect for:
- Empowering non-technical team members to run automations
- Creating self-service tools for your team
- Building internal apps without writing code
3. Schedules: Run on a Timer
Sometimes you want a flow to run at regular intervals—every hour, every day at 8 AM, every Monday morning, whatever makes sense for your workflow.
That's where Schedules come in.
Setting up a schedule
Instead of connecting a specific trigger node, you use Gumloop's built-in Timer feature.
- Click on the Timer icon in your flow
- Describe when you want it to run (natural language works—"every day at 9 AM" or "every 4 hours")
- Save your flow
Now your flow runs automatically in the background on that schedule. No manual intervention needed.
This is perfect for:
- Daily reports that compile overnight
- Hourly checks for new data
- Weekly summaries sent every Friday
- Any recurring task that needs to happen consistently
Putting It All Together
Here's how to think about which method to use:
Use Triggers when: Something happens in an external tool and you want to react immediately (new form submission, new Slack message, new row in a spreadsheet).
Use Interfaces when: You want team members to run the automation on demand with custom inputs, without them needing to understand how it works.
Use Schedules when: You want the flow to run at regular intervals, regardless of external events (daily reports, hourly data syncs, weekly summaries).
You can even combine these approaches. For example:
- A scheduled flow that runs every morning to check for new leads
- If leads are found, it triggers another flow for each one
- Team members can also run a custom interface to manually process urgent leads
Manual runs still have their place
Even with triggers, interfaces, and schedules set up, you can always click Run manually to test your flow or handle one-off situations. Automation doesn't mean you lose control—it just means you don't have to do repetitive work anymore.
Now your flows can run exactly when and how you need them—no more clicking Run unless that's what you want to do.
Next up: we'll explore the difference between the pre-built nodes you've been using and AI-generated nodes that let you create custom functionality on the fly. Let's dive in. 🚀
