Event Triggers

Event triggers let your agent respond to real-time events in your connected services—new emails, calendar updates, GitHub activity, and more.

How Event Triggers Work

Unlike schedule triggers (which run at specific times), event triggers run immediately when something happens:

Event occurs in a connected service (new email arrives)
Billix detects the event via our integration
Agent runs immediately with event details
You're notified based on your settings

Available Events

Events depend on which integrations you have connected:

Gmail Events

Event	Triggers When
New email received	Any new email arrives
Email from contact	Email from specific sender
Email with label	Email receives specific label

Google Calendar Events

Event	Triggers When
Event created	New calendar event added
Event starting soon	Event starts in X minutes
Event updated	Calendar event modified

Slack Events

Event	Triggers When
Message in channel	New message posted
Direct message	DM received
Mention	You're @mentioned

GitHub Events

Event	Triggers When
Push	Code pushed to repository
Pull request	PR opened, closed, or updated
Issue	Issue created or updated
Comment	New comment on PR or issue

Notion Events

Event	Triggers When
Page created	New page added
Page updated	Existing page modified
Database entry	New item in database

Setting Up Event Triggers

Connect the Integration

First, ensure the relevant service is connected in Settings → Integrations.

Open Agent Settings

Go to your agent and click "Edit" or create a new agent.

Select Event Trigger

Choose "Event" as the trigger type.

Choose Service and Event

Select the connected service and specific event:

Service: Gmail
Event: New email received

Add Filters (Optional)

Narrow down when the agent runs:

Only from specific senders
Only with certain subjects
Only in specific channels

Save and Activate

The agent will now run whenever that event occurs.

Event Filters

Use filters to run your agent only for specific events:

Email Filters

Service: Gmail
Event: New email
Filters:
  - From contains: @important-client.com
  - Subject contains: URGENT

GitHub Filters

Service: GitHub
Event: Pull request
Filters:
  - Repository: my-org/main-repo
  - Action: opened
  - Base branch: main

Slack Filters

Service: Slack
Event: Message
Filters:
  - Channel: #support
  - Contains: help OR question

Accessing Event Data

Event details are available in your agent's instructions:

Email Event Data

{{event.from}}       - Sender email
{{event.subject}}    - Email subject
{{event.body}}       - Email content
{{event.date}}       - When received

GitHub Event Data

{{event.action}}     - What happened (opened, closed)
{{event.title}}      - PR/Issue title
{{event.body}}       - Description
{{event.author}}     - Who created it
{{event.url}}        - Link to PR/Issue

Slack Event Data

{{event.user}}       - Who sent the message
{{event.channel}}    - Channel name
{{event.text}}       - Message content
{{event.timestamp}}  - When sent

Example Event-Driven Agents

Email Auto-Responder

Trigger: Gmail - New email received
Filter: From VIP clients list

Instructions:
1. Read the incoming email from {{event.from}}
2. Analyze the content: {{event.body}}
3. If it's a simple question, draft a response
4. Save draft for my review
5. Notify me on Slack that a VIP email needs attention

GitHub PR Reviewer

Trigger: GitHub - Pull request opened
Filter: Repository: company/main-app

Instructions:
1. Read the PR: {{event.title}}
2. Analyze the changes described in {{event.body}}
3. Check if it follows our PR template
4. Post a comment with initial review notes
5. If it's a large PR (>500 lines), tag lead engineer

Meeting Prep Assistant

Trigger: Google Calendar - Event starting in 30 minutes
Filter: Events with "Client" in title

Instructions:
1. Get meeting details: {{event.title}} with {{event.attendees}}
2. Search Gmail for recent emails with attendees
3. Check Notion for client notes
4. Compile a brief for me
5. Send to my email 20 minutes before the meeting

Support Ticket Responder

Trigger: Slack - Message in #support channel
Filter: Contains "help" or "issue"

Instructions:
1. Read the support request: {{event.text}}
2. Search our knowledge base for relevant solutions
3. Post a helpful response in the thread
4. If unresolved, create a ticket in Linear

Event Processing

Deduplication

Billix prevents duplicate processing:

Same event won't trigger multiple times
Events are tracked by unique ID
Retry logic handles temporary failures

Rate Limiting

For high-volume events:

Events queue if they arrive faster than processing
Maximum queue depth varies by plan
Oldest events processed first

Latency

Event processing times vary:

Gmail events: 30 seconds - 2 minutes
Slack events: Near real-time
GitHub webhooks: Near real-time
Calendar events: 1-5 minutes

Combining with Other Triggers

An agent can have both event and schedule triggers:

Agent: Important Email Handler

Trigger 1: Event - Gmail new email (real-time processing)
Trigger 2: Schedule - Daily at 6 PM (end-of-day summary)

Instructions handle both scenarios based on trigger type.

Monitoring Event Triggers

View event activity:

Go to agent detail page
Click "History" tab
See all runs with trigger source
Filter by "Event triggers"

Each run shows:

Which event triggered it
Event payload/details
Processing time
Result/output