Triggers

Triggers are how workflows get started. Workflowable supports three ways to trigger workflow execution.

Trigger Types

Trigger	Description
Direct Dispatch	Explicit dispatch via the Workflowable facade. Full control over sync/async and return values.
Event-Driven	Laravel events auto-trigger workflows via the TriggersWorkflow interface. Zero configuration.
Scheduled (CRON)	Database-driven schedules that dispatch workflows on a recurring basis.

Choosing a Trigger

Use Case	Recommended Trigger
Explicit API call or controller action	Direct Dispatch
Existing Laravel domain events	Event-Driven
Recurring tasks (reports, cleanups)	Scheduled
Need the instance collection back	Direct Dispatch
Fire-and-forget, zero coupling	Event-Driven
Time-based with duplicate prevention	Scheduled

Workflow Events

All triggers ultimately dispatch a WorkflowEvent DTO. This is the typed data carrier that workflows operate on:

use Workflowable\Workflowable\Abstracts\WorkflowEvent;

class OrderSubmitted extends WorkflowEvent
{
    public function __construct(
        public readonly int $orderId,
        public readonly float $amount,
        public readonly string $customerEmail,
    ) {}

    public static function encrypted(): array
    {
        return ['customerEmail'];
    }
}

Constructor parameters become workflow variables accessible via ExecutionContext::getVariable() in step handlers.