Triggers let you subscribe to events from a user's connected app, such as a new Gmail message, a GitHub commit, or a Slack message, and receive the event data as a structured payload at your webhook endpoint.

There are two layers to understand:

- A **trigger type** is a template that defines what event to listen for and what configuration it needs. For example, `GITHUB_COMMIT_EVENT` requires an `owner` and a `repo`. Each toolkit exposes its own trigger types.
- A **trigger instance** is a trigger type scoped to a specific user and connected account. Creating one produces an instance with its own `ti_*` ID that you can enable, disable, or delete independently.

Reach for these endpoints when you want to:

- Discover the trigger types a toolkit offers, or fetch one type by `slug` to inspect its config and payload schema.
- Create or update a trigger instance for a connected account with the upsert endpoint.
- List active trigger instances, or enable, disable, and delete an instance by `triggerId`.

These endpoints authenticate with your project API key in the `x-api-key` header.

<Callout type="info">
Creating a trigger instance only registers it. To actually receive events, set a webhook URL for your project once, then route incoming events on `metadata.trigger_slug`. See [Subscribing to events](/docs/setting-up-triggers/subscribing-to-events).
</Callout>

For the full concept overview, see [Triggers](/docs/triggers).
