Action Triggers

Overview

Every Action needs a trigger—the event that starts its execution. Choosing the right trigger type determines how your automation responds to real-world conditions.

Think of triggers like different ways to start your car. A time-based trigger is like an auto-start that warms up your car every morning at 7 AM. A topic-based trigger is like pushing the start button when you get in. A callable action is like asking someone else to start it for you.

When to Use Each Type

Trigger Type	Use When	Example
Time-Based (`ON EVERY`)	You need regular intervals regardless of data	Heartbeats, polling, scheduled reports
Topic-Based (`ON TOPIC`)	You need to react when data arrives	Sensor processing, command handling
Callable (no trigger)	You need reusable logic invoked by other actions	Utility functions, shared calculations

In This Page

Time-Based Triggers — Execute on a schedule with ON EVERY
Topic-Based Triggers — React to MQTT messages with ON TOPIC
Callable Actions — Invoke manually or from other actions

Time-Based Triggers

Use ON EVERY to execute actions at regular intervals:

DEFINE ACTION PeriodicHeartbeat
ON EVERY 5 SECONDS DO
    PUBLISH TOPIC "system/heartbeat" WITH "alive"

Supported Time Units

Unit	Singular	Plural	Example
Second	`SECOND`	`SECONDS`	`ON EVERY 30 SECONDS`
Minute	`MINUTE`	`MINUTES`	`ON EVERY 5 MINUTES`
Hour	`HOUR`	`HOURS`	`ON EVERY 1 HOUR`
Day	`DAY`	`DAYS`	`ON EVERY 1 DAY`
Week	`WEEK`	`WEEKS`	`ON EVERY 1 WEEK`

Singular and plural forms are interchangeable: 1 SECOND works the same as 1 SECONDS.

Time-Based Examples

System Heartbeat

Publish a status signal every 5 seconds for monitoring:

DEFINE ACTION SystemHeartbeat
ON EVERY 5 SECONDS DO
    PUBLISH TOPIC "system/status" WITH "online"
    PUBLISH TOPIC "system/timestamp" WITH TIMESTAMP "UTC"

Counter with State

Maintain a counter that persists between executions:

DEFINE ACTION IncrementCounter
ON EVERY 10 SECONDS DO
    IF GET TOPIC "counter/value" == EMPTY THEN
        PUBLISH TOPIC "counter/value" WITH 0
    ELSE
        PUBLISH TOPIC "counter/value" WITH (GET TOPIC "counter/value" + 1)

Topic-Based Triggers

Use ON TOPIC to execute actions when MQTT messages arrive:

DEFINE ACTION ProcessMessage
ON TOPIC "input/data" DO
    PUBLISH TOPIC "output/data" WITH PAYLOAD

Wildcard Patterns

LoT supports MQTT wildcards for flexible topic matching:

Single-Level (+)
Multi-Level (+/+)

The + wildcard matches exactly one topic level:

DEFINE ACTION SensorRouter
ON TOPIC "sensors/+/temperature" DO
    // POSITION 1="sensors", POSITION 2=wildcard (sensor_id), POSITION 3="temperature"
    SET "sensor_id" WITH TOPIC POSITION 2
    PUBLISH TOPIC "processed/" + {sensor_id} + "/temp" WITH PAYLOAD

Matches: sensors/room1/temperature, sensors/room2/temperature

Does NOT match: sensors/building1/floor2/temperature (too many levels)

Use multiple single-level wildcards for deeper hierarchies:

DEFINE ACTION FactoryMonitor
ON TOPIC "factory/+/+/status" DO
    // POSITION 1="factory", POSITION 2=line_id, POSITION 3=machine_id, POSITION 4="status"
    SET "line_id" WITH TOPIC POSITION 2
    SET "machine_id" WITH TOPIC POSITION 3
    
    PUBLISH TOPIC "monitoring/" + {line_id} + "/" + {machine_id} WITH PAYLOAD

Matches: factory/line1/machine1/status, factory/line2/press3/status

Does NOT match: factory/line1/status (missing one level), factory/status (missing two levels)

Callable Actions

Actions without an event trigger are callable—they execute only when explicitly invoked by other actions or via system commands.

Basic Callable Action

DEFINE ACTION CacheUpdater
DO
    KEEP TOPIC "cache/latest" WITH (GET TOPIC "data/current")
    PUBLISH TOPIC "cache/updated" WITH TIMESTAMP "UTC"

Callable Action with Parameters

Callable actions can accept input parameters and return values:

DEFINE ACTION CalculateAverage
INPUT value1 AS DOUBLE
INPUT value2 AS DOUBLE
DO
    SET "sum" WITH ({value1} + {value2})
    SET "avg" WITH ({sum} / 2)
RETURN
    OUTPUT avg

Invoking Callable Actions

From Another Action
Via Command Topic

Use CALL ACTION to invoke from within another action. This is the primary way to reuse logic across your automation:

DEFINE ACTION ProcessSensorPair
ON TOPIC "sensors/pair/data" DO
    SET "temp1" WITH (GET JSON "sensor1" IN PAYLOAD AS DOUBLE)
    SET "temp2" WITH (GET JSON "sensor2" IN PAYLOAD AS DOUBLE)
    
    CALL ACTION CalculateAverage
        WITH value1 = {temp1}, value2 = {temp2}
        RETURN result
    
    PUBLISH TOPIC "sensors/average" WITH {result}

Publish a message to the system command topic to invoke an action externally:Topic: $SYS/Coreflux/CommandPayload: -runAction CacheUpdaterUse any MQTT client to publish this message. The action executes immediately upon receiving the command.

Comparing Trigger Types

Aspect	Time-Based	Topic-Based	Callable
Trigger	Clock interval	MQTT message	Manual command
Frequency	Predictable	Event-driven	On-demand
Payload Access	No	Yes (`PAYLOAD`)	Via parameters
Best For	Monitoring, reporting	Data processing	Reusable utilities

Quick Start

MQTT Broker

LoT Language

LoT Notebooks

Actions

Routes

Models

Rules

Overview

When to Use Each Type

In This Page

Time-Based Triggers

Supported Time Units

Time-Based Examples

Topic-Based Triggers

Wildcard Patterns

Callable Actions

Basic Callable Action

Callable Action with Parameters

Invoking Callable Actions

Comparing Trigger Types

Next Steps

Operations

Python Integration

Quick Start

MQTT Broker

LoT Language

LoT Notebooks

Actions

Routes

Models

Rules

​Overview

​When to Use Each Type

​In This Page

​Time-Based Triggers

​Supported Time Units

​Time-Based Examples

​Topic-Based Triggers

​Wildcard Patterns

​Callable Actions

​Basic Callable Action

​Callable Action with Parameters

​Invoking Callable Actions

​Comparing Trigger Types

​Next Steps

Operations

Python Integration

Overview

When to Use Each Type

In This Page

Time-Based Triggers

Supported Time Units

Time-Based Examples

Topic-Based Triggers

Wildcard Patterns

Callable Actions

Basic Callable Action

Callable Action with Parameters

Invoking Callable Actions

Comparing Trigger Types

Next Steps