Triggers

Triggers determine when your automations execute. Mammoth supports several trigger mechanisms—from time-based schedules to on-demand runs, file uploads, external API calls, and a webhook data ingestion path for pushing data from external systems.

Trigger types overview

Trigger	Description	Applies to
Schedule-based	Time-based recurring execution	Dataset Refresh, File Collection, Messaging
Manual	On-demand via Run now	All automation types
File upload	Runs when files are uploaded to the source folder	Data Consolidation
Webhook (data push)	External systems push data via HTTP	Webhook datasets
API trigger	External systems trigger automations programmatically	Existing automations

Schedule-based triggers

The most common trigger—automations run at a configured time interval. See the Scheduling page for the complete configuration reference.

Common patterns:

Pattern	Configuration
Daily operations	Every 1 Day at 6:00 AM
Weekly reporting	Every 1 Week on Monday at 8:00 AM
Monthly close	Monthly on the 1st at 11:45 PM

Manual triggers

Run any Active automation immediately without waiting for the scheduled time, from the detail panel or the three-dot menu. See Run now for the steps. Run now is only available while the automation is Active; a suspended automation must be resumed first.

When to use manual triggers:

• Testing a new automation before enabling its schedule
• Re-running after resolving a failure
• Ad-hoc reporting when stakeholders need data immediately
• Verifying a configuration change worked correctly

A Dataset Refresh set to Manual only has no automatic runs at all; it runs only when you trigger it manually or through the API.

File upload triggers

Data Consolidation automations execute automatically when new files are uploaded to their configured source folder. No manual trigger or schedule needed—the upload event itself kicks off the consolidation.

See Data Consolidation for setup details.

Webhook data ingestion

Webhooks let external systems push data directly into a Mammoth dataset over HTTP. Instead of uploading files manually, your application sends a payload to a unique URL and Mammoth ingests it automatically.

Creating a webhook dataset

1. In the Data Library, click + New Dataset
2. In the modal, select Webhooks from the left sidebar
3. Configure the two fields:

Field	Description
New webhook name	Name for the dataset receiving incoming data
Dataset mode	How incoming payloads are applied to the dataset

Dataset mode options:

Mode	Use when
Replace the older data	External system sends full snapshots each time (e.g., complete CRM export)
Combine with older data	External system sends incremental records (e.g., new transactions since last send)

4. Click Create new dataset

Mammoth generates a unique webhook URL for this dataset. By default, any request to that URL is accepted—no secret required.

To require authentication, enable the Secure header toggle in the dataset's Settings panel. Mammoth generates a secret and every request must then include it as an X-SECRET header:

X-SECRET: <your-secret-value>

Requests missing the header, or sending the wrong value, are rejected with an "Invalid webhook secret" error, and their data is not ingested.

Keep your webhook secret secure. Anyone with the URL and secret can push data into this dataset.

Sending data to the webhook

Your external system sends an HTTP POST to the webhook URL with the data payload (JSON or form data), and the X-SECRET header if the secure header is enabled.

Mammoth validates the request, stages the incoming data, and then adds it to the dataset. Incoming data is not available instantly.

API triggers

External systems can trigger Mammoth automations programmatically via the Mammoth API. This enables event-driven architectures where upstream processes notify Mammoth to run after completing their own work.

Authentication: API credentials are required. See the API reference for authentication details.

Common integration patterns:

Pattern	Example
Upstream completion	ERP finishes nightly batch → API call → Mammoth refreshes dashboards
Event-driven	Payment system processes transactions → webhook → dataset updated with the new records
External workflow tool	An Apache Airflow DAG triggers a Mammoth automation as one step

The API applies per-minute rate limits. Retry rate-limited calls after a short delay instead of sending them repeatedly.

Choosing the right trigger

Use this trigger	When
Schedule-based	Predictable timing, independent of other systems
Manual	Testing, handling failures, ad-hoc reporting
File upload	Data arrives as files from multiple sources
Webhook	External systems push data; you don't control when it arrives
API	Upstream processes complete at variable times; you need to be notified

Troubleshooting

Automation doesn't run at the scheduled time

See Scheduling troubleshooting.

Run now is grayed out

Cause: The automation is Suspended.

Fix: Toggle it back to Active in the detail panel, then use Run now.

Webhook data doesn't appear in the dataset

Cause: The webhook URL or secret is wrong, or the data has not been added yet. Incoming webhook data is not added instantly.

Fix:

• Confirm the webhook URL is correct and the secret is sent in the X-SECRET header
• Wait a few minutes and refresh the dataset

API trigger returns 401 Unauthorized

Cause: The API credentials are missing, expired, or lack permission for the target automation.

Fix:

• Verify the API key is valid and not expired
• Check that you send the key the way the API reference describes
• Confirm the API key has permissions for the target automation