Rules and triggers

Rules answer when something should run. Triggers are the signals—product events, webhooks, or schedules—that start evaluation. Filters and guardrails keep runs safe when traffic spikes or data is messy.

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Events

Pick source events such as item created, status changed, or webhook received. Prefer the narrowest event that still captures your intent so you do not wake automation on unrelated edits.

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Ordering

If multiple rules subscribe to the same event, understand whether execution is parallel or ordered. Side-effect-heavy rules may need explicit sequencing or a queue.

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Payload shape

Automation often receives a structured payload with IDs and timestamps. Log sample payloads in a sandbox when writing conditions so you do not guess field names.

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Filters

Narrow by project, label, or field values to avoid noisy runs. Combine predicates carefully: over-filtering misses legitimate cases; under-filtering spams logs and external systems.

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Testing filters

Use historical replay or dry-run tools when available. “It worked once” is not the same as “it works for every region code.”

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Guardrails

Set concurrency caps and failure alerts before automation touches production data. Caps protect downstream APIs; alerts help humans notice misconfigured filters before customers do.

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Kill switches

Document how to disable a rule quickly—feature flag, toggle, or removal—during incidents. Practice the rollback path once per quarter.