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:
Interval — a number and a unit (hours, days, or weeks).
Send on — which weekdays to run (weekly cadence only).
Start date — when the schedule begins.
End date — optional; when it stops.
Time zone — the reference for all times, so a 9:00 run stays at 9:00 across daylight saving.
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 Run 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, an External trigger section appears with:
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 rotate or revoke it anytime.
Example request — a ready-to-copy curl command.
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, number, or yes/no), 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 the Run dialog.
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 greys out the ones that don't fit.