A Webhook trigger starts a run when an external system sends JSON to the Automation's webhook URL. It is the trigger for workflows that begin outside Files.com. An ERP posts a batch of orders, a CRM reports that an export finished, or a monitoring system reports an event, and the Automation processes the data or the files in its folder path.

Files.com generates the webhook URL when you save the Automation and shows it with the Automation. The URL is all a caller needs to start a run, so treat it as a credential and share it only with the systems that call it.

What the Run Starts With

The request body becomes the run's data. A JSON object becomes one data item, and a JSON array of objects becomes one data item per element, so a body of 200 order objects is a run whose nodes process 200 items. A body that is not valid JSON, is a single value rather than an object, or is an array containing anything other than objects is rejected and no run starts, because every data item in an Automation is a JSON object.

Each data item's contents are available to later nodes as payload, so an If node can route on payload.region and a Transform node can reshape the object, using the inputs listed in TransformScript in Automations.

Webhook Trigger vs. Webhooks

A Webhook sends a request from Files.com to a system you name when activity happens on your site. A Webhook trigger receives a request that a system outside Files.com sends in. Use a Webhook to tell another system that something happened on your site, and a Webhook trigger to let another system start an Automation.