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Triggering scripts

Scripts can be triggered in the following ways.

On-demand triggers:

Triggers from external events:

Scripts in Windmill

Scripts are sequences of instructions that automates tasks or performs specific operations. In Windmill, they are hosted on workspaces.

On-demand triggers​

Auto-generated UIs​

Windmill automatically generates user interfaces (UIs) for scripts and flows based on their parameters.

By analyzing the main function parameters, it creates an input specification in the JSON Schema format, which is then used to render the UI. Users do not need to interact with the JSON Schema directly, as Windmill simplifies the process and allows for optional UI customization.


This feature is also usable directly in the script editor to test a script in the making:


Auto-generated UIs
Windmill creates auto-generated user interfaces for scripts and flows based on their parameters.

Customized UIs with the App editor​

Windmill provides a WYSIWYG app editor. It allows you to build your own UI with drag-and-drop components and to connect your data to scripts and flows in minutes.


App editor
Detailed section on Windmill's App editor.

You can also automatically generate a dedicated app to execute your script.

Trigger scripts from Flows​

Flows are basically sequences of scripts that execute one after another or in parallel.


Flow editor
Detailed section on Windmill's Flow editor.

Workflows as code​

Flows are not the only way to write distributed programs that execute distinct jobs. Another approach is to write a program that defines the jobs and their dependencies, and then execute that program within a Python or TypeScript script. This is known as workflows as code.

Flow as code

Workflows as code
Automate tasks and their flow with only code.

Schedule​

Windmill allows you to schedule scripts using a user-friendly interface and control panel, similar to cron but with more features.

You can create schedules by specifying a script or flow, its arguments, and a CRON expression to control the execution frequency, ensuring that your tasks run automatically at the desired intervals.


Schedules
Scheduling allows you to define schedules for Scripts and Flows, automatically running them at set frequencies.

CLI (Command-line interface)​

The wmill CLI allows you to interact with Windmill instances right from your terminal.


Command-line interface
Interact with Windmill instances right from your terminal.

Triggers from external events​

Trigger from API​

Windmill provides a RESTful API that allows you to interact with your Windmill instance programmatically.

In particular, the operation run script by path is designed to trigger a script by its path, passing the required arguments.

It's an efficient way to run a script from another script.

OpenAPI
Interact with Windmill.

Webhooks​

In Windmill, webhooks are autogenerated for each Script and Flow, providing either asynchronous or synchronous execution modes.

These webhooks accept incoming HTTP requests, allowing users to easily trigger their Windmill scripts and flows from external services by simply sending a POST request to the appropriate authentified webhook URL (requires passing a token as Bearer or query arg). Their purpose is to have the script run when it receives an input from its associated webhook.

Using webhooks, you could also trigger a script from other scripts.

Webhooks
Trigger scripts and flows from webhooks.

Webhooks: trigger scripts from Slack​

One use case of webhooks is building a Slackbot with Windmill.


Windmill uses Slack to trigger scripts and flows by establishing Slackbots and creating specific commands. By connecting Slack with Windmill, parsing incoming Slack commands, and leveraging Windmill workflows, operational teams can trigger complex automations directly from Slack.

Slack Integration
Learn how to integrate Slack with Windmill.

Emails​

Scripts and flows can be triggered by email messages sent to a specific email address, leveraging SMTP.

Email triggers
Scripts and flows can be triggered by email messages sent to a specific email address.

Custom HTTP routes​

Windmill allows you to define custom HTTP routes for your scripts and flows.

Custom HTTP routes
Custom HTTP routes for your scripts and flows.

Websocket triggers​

Windmill can connect to websocket servers and trigger runnables (scripts, flows) when a message is received.

Websocket triggers
Trigger scripts and flows from websocket servers.

Scheduled polls (Scheduling + Trigger scripts)​

A particular use case for schedules are Trigger scripts.

Trigger scripts are used in Flows and are designed to pull data from an external source and return all of the new items since the last run, without resorting to external webhooks. A trigger script is intended to be used as scheduled poll with schedules and states (rich objects in JSON, persistent from one run to another) in order to compare the execution to the previous one and process each new item in a for loop. If there are no new items, the flow will be skipped.

You could set your script in a flow after a Trigger script to have it run only when new data is available.

Trigger scripts
Trigger scripts are designed to pull data from an external source and return all of the new items since the last run, without resorting to external webhooks.