What are action listeners and how do they work?
Action listeners are lightweight, real-time triggers that fire immediately when specific fields change.
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Understanding action listeners
Action listeners are lightweight, real-time triggers that fire immediately when specific fields change. They are ideal for instant updates, recalculations, simple routing, or pushing data to related fields.
This article explains what they are, how they differ from automations, and when to use each.
1. What are action listeners?
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An action listener reacts instantly when a specific field or select value is updated.
For example:
When a customer chooses “Commercial”, assign a specific team
When a checkbox is toggled, update another field
When a price is entered, calculate tax in another field
When an address changes, update a hidden location field
Listeners run immediately and do not wait for periodic automation cycles.
2. Field-based triggers
Action listeners only react to field updates.
Supported trigger types include:
When a text field changes
When a number field changes
When a select field changes
When a checkbox is toggled
When a data field (JSON) is updated
You can add conditional logic inside the listener to control when it should act.
3. Limitations of action listeners
While powerful, action listeners are intentionally simple.
❗ They cannot:
Send emails
Send SMS
Run on schedules
Trigger based on status changes
Add delays
Create bookings or related leads
Execute advanced workflow chains
Listeners are meant for instant, direct reactions, not multi-step processes.
❗ They execute on every matching field update
Meaning:
If a field changes frequently, the listener fires each time.
4. When to use automation vs. action listeners
Use action listeners when:
You need instant updates
Updating another field immediately makes sense
You compute a derived value
You want conditional logic inside a form or internal workflow
You want to maintain data consistency between fields
Use automations when:
You need delays (e.g., “send email after 1 hour”)
You need messaging (email/SMS)
You need status-based flows
You need multi-step workflows
You need conditional sequences (IF → delay → update → send email)
You need scheduled tasks (“every night at 03:00…”)
They complement each other:
Action listeners = real-time field reactions.
Automations = scheduled or event-driven workflows.
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