A trigger is the event that starts a workflow. Every workflow has one, set on the Start card. Click Start to open the trigger panel and choose a trigger.
There are two kinds:
Schedule — runs on a set date or a repeating schedule.
Trigger event — runs when a webhook fires, someone runs it manually, or something happens to a company or person.
Schedule
Choose Schedule to run the workflow on a repeating cadence. Set:
Repeat — Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
Days — which weekdays to run (Weekly only).
Dates — which day or days of the month to run, plus a Last day option (Monthly only). A month without a date you picked — like the 31st in April — runs on its last day instead.
Time — the time of day it fires.
Time zone — the reference for all times, so a 9:00 run stays at 9:00 across daylight saving.
End date — optional; when it stops. Off by default — add it if you want the schedule to stop on its own.
The panel shows a Next 5 runs preview so you can confirm the cadence before publishing.
Trigger event
Choose Trigger event to start the workflow when something happens. The events are grouped by what they involve — Custom, Companies, and People.
Custom
Manual — runs only when someone clicks Trigger workflow on this workflow. Good for a workflow you kick off by hand rather than on a schedule or event.
Webhook — runs when an external system calls the workflow's endpoint. Useful for Zapier, a cron job, or your own app.
When you add a Webhook trigger, the trigger panel shows:
Endpoint URL — the address to call.
Trigger token — a secret to authenticate the call. Generate it, copy it once (it isn't shown again), and regenerate it (Regenerate token) or revoke it (Revoke) anytime. Click Generate token to create the first one.
Example request — a ready-to-copy curl command. Click Show example request to see it.
Note
Copy the trigger token when you generate it — it won't be shown again. If you lose it, regenerate a new one.
Companies
Each of these hands the matching company straight into the workflow — no sourcing step needed — and its details (domain, name, size, industry, technologies, and more) are available as @-mentions in later steps. The first step after the trigger must accept companies.
CRM: Deal closed — runs the moment a deal is marked closed in your CRM. Choose which outcomes to trigger on: Won, Lost, or both (defaults to Won only).
CRM: Deal created — runs the moment a new deal arrives in your CRM. Resolves to the deal's account, so you get a company record.
CRM: Company created — runs the moment a new account arrives in your CRM.
Leads: Company added — runs the moment a company is added to your Ocean Leads.
Ocean: Companies sent — runs on companies you select in Ocean and send to this workflow. Nothing fires it on its own; you choose the records and push them in.
People
These hand the matching person straight into the workflow — no sourcing step needed — with their details and their company's details available as @-mentions. The first step after the trigger must accept people.
CRM: Person created — runs the moment a new contact arrives in your CRM.
Leads: Person added — runs the moment a contact is added to your Ocean Leads.
Ocean: People sent — runs on people you select in Ocean and send to this workflow.
Trigger parameters
For Webhook and Manual triggers, you can define parameters — named inputs whoever starts the run has to supply. A parameter has a name, a type (Text, Domain, Number, or True/false), an optional description, and can be marked required.
Once defined, a parameter is available as an @-mention in later steps, so you can build a workflow that acts on whatever the caller passed in — a domain to research, a note to attach, a threshold to compare against.
For a Webhook trigger, the caller sends parameters in the request body.
For a Manual trigger, Ocean asks you for them in a dialog when you click Trigger workflow or Test workflow.
Give parameters simple names. A name with spaces or punctuation still works — Ocean converts it to a usable reference behind the scenes ("seed domain" becomes seed_domain) — but a plain one-word name is easier to recognise in the @-mention list. Every parameter needs a name, and names must be unique, or the workflow won't publish.
Running a workflow on demand
Whatever trigger you set, an on-demand run is always available. What the top-bar button says depends on the state:
Test workflow — runs your current draft, so you can check it before publishing. Shown while you have unpublished changes, or on a published workflow whose trigger runs on its own (a schedule, webhook, or CRM/Leads event — those fire from their real source, so a one-off click tests the draft instead).
Trigger workflow — fires a published, Manual-triggered workflow for real. Shown once such a workflow is published with no pending edits.
If you want a workflow you start by hand, give it the Manual trigger.
Combining triggers
You can add more than one event trigger with Add event, and they combine as "or" — any matching event starts a run. Triggers must all belong to the same group, though: once you pick a Companies event you can add other Companies events, but not a People event, a Webhook, or a schedule. The picker only lists the ones that fit.