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My Workflow Is Not Triggering

Work down the list in order.

Check in this order 1 Is the workflow enabled, and is the bot published? A saved workflow that was never enabled is invisible to the assistant. still not firing 2 Does the description say when to use it? The assistant reads the description and nothing else. No description, no selection. still not firing 3 Does the workflow have a Start node? A workflow with no Start node has nowhere to begin, so nothing runs. still not firing 4 Would your description cover what the visitor typed? Read the real message against the USE WHEN line, not against what you meant. still not firing 5 Did it fire and stop? Check the execution log. A silent stop is an unconnected port, not a selection failure. still not firing Ask support with the conversation id.
The order to check things in, by how often each turns out to be the cause. The first two account for most reports.

1. Check the Workflow Is Active and the Bot Is Allowed to Start It#

Two separate switches, and it is easy to have one without the other.

  • Active. A disabled workflow is never offered to the assistant.
  • Let the bot start this. With that switch off, the assistant is never offered the workflow, and trigger keywords and bound conversation starters do not reach it either.

2. Check the Bot Is in AI Mode#

In keyword mode the assistant chooses nothing, and a workflow starts only on the phrases listed for it, matched as whole words. The setting is Mode, on the bot's Conversation tab. See why descriptions beat keywords.

3. Read the Description as a Stranger#

The assistant has the description and nothing else. It cannot see the workflow, the node names, or the intent behind them.

Ask three questions:

  • Does it name the thing? "If the user asks about it" says nothing.
  • Does it say when not to fire? Without a boundary it fires on loosely related questions, and it can also leave the assistant unsure enough to fire nothing.
  • Would a real visitor's phrasing match? A description demanding an exact phrase is out of reach of most messages.

Writing a workflow description has the full five rules. Chatleadr reviews the description against those rules after a save and names the ones it did not meet.

4. Count Your Workflows#

Selection gets harder as the list grows. If two of five workflows are described similarly they compete, and the winner may not be the one you expected.

Read them side by side. If two descriptions could plausibly match the same message, tighten the boundaries on both.

5. Check the Execution Log#

If the workflow is triggering and then failing silently, the log shows it. The log lists each run, which node it reached, and where it stopped. From the visitor's side, a workflow that starts and stops at an API node looks the same as one that never triggered.

6. Try the Phrasing Directly#

Send the bot the exact message you expect to trigger it, in the preview. If it works in preview and not on the live site, the problem is which bot is on the page. Check the bot key in the install snippet.

What to Send Support#

Email support@chatleadr.com with three things:

  1. The exact message you sent.
  2. The workflow's description, copied verbatim.
  3. What the bot said instead.

A bot answering from the knowledge base instead of triggering is a description problem. A bot saying it cannot help points at the workflow rather than the description: check the execution log for a run that started and stopped.

Common Questions#

The Workflow Fires on the Wrong Messages. Is That the Same Problem?#

Yes, and the same fix. A description with no DO NOT USE line fires on nearby questions. In testing, naming the subject and stating a boundary cut false triggers from about 7% to about 1%.

It Worked Yesterday and Stopped Today. What Changed?#

Check whether another workflow was added or edited. Selection compares all descriptions together, so a new workflow with an overlapping description can take messages that used to reach this one.

Does Editing a Description Take Effect Immediately?#

Yes, on the next message. There is no training or rebuild step. The description is read at the moment of selection.

Why Does It Trigger in the Preview but Not on My Site?#

The preview always runs the bot you have open. A live page runs whichever bot key is in its snippet, so this usually means the page has a different bot's key, or an older cached copy of the page.