Every n8n workflow must be activate for it to run in production. Depending on the apps you are using or the techniques, this can vary the triggers in n8n
Trigger nodes in n8n are the first point of contact, for any event or data transformation that happens within your n8n instance.
Test workflows can be easily triggered manually unlike the production ready workflows that need to keep checking or receiving new data from the other end
How do we trigger a workflow in n8n?
As stated above, we can trigger workflows either manually or automatically ie in production.
The manual trigger
This is the trigger to use when running manual tasks that do not need to wait for you to send data to it to start. It is more common in scenarios where we want to get data from the second step, and transform it.. Once you are doe developing, you can shift this to the production triggers
Production Triggers
Production Triggers are the triggers to use when running any active workflow in production. The choice can be affected and effected based on the the app we are triggering the event from, the method and flexibility of these methods
Most applications do offer their own in build triggering mechanisms that can run either on a schedule, on new event, or on a webhook call
1. App event Triggers
On App event triggers work when an action happens within an app or application,. this is then sent to n8n via the native app events
An example is
- On a new record added to airtable, sync that to a different table
- When new lead added to CRM, send an email invite
- When an email is received, call an email management Agent
2. Scheduled trigger or cron actions
This allows you to run specific workflows at specific times. You can customize this node to run on defines schedules eg every hour, day, week, month, year, quarter, etc
Example usage is
- Generating daily, weekly reports
- Database clean up and sync
- Ecommerce management and product management
3. Webhook trigger
My favorite trigger node. I call this the Godfather trigger..
You can use the webhook to trigger any kind of event both within external applications and n8n. It offers different methods to start your n8n workflows by receiving in a manner similar to the HTTP calls
This way, a simple workflow can be converted into powerful APIs that can support almost all HTTP protocols from Get to Post etc
Webhooks can be confusing when starting and get easier with time
Example
- Used on apps with no native integrations to n8n
- On a new lead added to a CRM, call your webhook
- Create internal APIs to trigger custom events that do not rely on in app triggers and require immediate action
4. On Form Submission
N8n forms provide an out of the box solution to build your own forms with their internal logics and all.
While this may not replace all form apps, it can provide a powerful method to build your own internal forms.
Examples
- Lead gen forms
- Project updates
5. Subworkflow triggers
When your workflow gets too large to manage within one canvas, we can use this kind of trigger to start these sub workflows.
They also come in handy when creating custom AI agents with tool calling functions as they are easy to get started with
Example usage in n8n
- Breaking down a large workflow into more manageable chunks
- As the main triggers for agentic Tools/workflows
6. File triggers
When you add a new item to your local folder, you can have n8n listen for these events and check which files and perform an action
Example use case
- Organizing local files
- Backup new files as they are added
Final thoughts
In app triggers provide the best and easiest triggering method.
The webhook node is the most versatile triggers of them all
The schedule trigger should only be used to run workflows on specific times only. If you need instance responses, use a different kind of node
Manual triggers can only be used in development
The ultimate choice will be on your own usercase