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Polling trigger

The Polling type periodically queries an external API and starts the workflow with the response — or only the new items, depending on the chosen mode.

This type is suitable when the target system does not send webhooks: synchronization, monitoring, integration with "pull only" APIs.

Before you begin​

  • Know the URL of the API to poll and its authentication method.
  • Evaluate the acceptable interval: polling calls the API on each cycle, it must respect the load supported by the remote system.

Parameters​

ParameterTypeRequiredDefaultDescription
NameString✅—Trigger label in the lists.
SourceAPI_POLLING✅—Polling source type.
URLString✅—Access point to poll. Can include dictionary variables, e.g. https://{{dictionaries.partenaires.apiBaseUrl}}/orders.
Interval (seconds)Number✅—pollingIntervalInSeconds value between two API calls.
HTTP methodGET / POST / PUT / DELETE / PATCH✅GETMethod used for the API call.
ModeNEW / ALL✅—NEW: only process the new items detected; ALL: process the complete response on each cycle.
Extraction pathString✅$extractionPath to target the useful data of the response.

Advanced options​

ParameterTypeRequiredDefaultDescription
HeadersKey-value pairs❌—HTTP headers sent to the remote API.

Input​

The trigger calls the configured URL on each cycle and receives the API response.

{
  "items": [
    { "orderId": "CMD-4821", "status": "new" },
    { "orderId": "CMD-4822", "status": "new" }
  ]
}

Output​

The workflow receives the API response in data. With NEW mode, only the items detected as new compared to the previous execution trigger the workflow:

PropertyDescription
dataComplete API response (ALL) or new items only (NEW).

The extraction path (extractionPath, default $) targets the portion of this response to pass to the workflow.

Errors​

  • Interval too short — a too frequent polling overloads the remote API and consumes the source; adapt the interval to the load supported by the target system.
  • Repeated failures — if the remote API is unavailable, the executions fail; connect an On Error node to manage retries.

Limits​

  • API load: polling calls the API on each cycle; the interval must respect the capacity of the remote system.
  • Pagination: if the API is paginated, chain the pages in the workflow or adapt the URL between two cycles.
  • Volume: for large volumes, restrict by date range or by "since last execution" identifier.

Example​

Order synchronization: create a Polling trigger on the API URL (method GET, adapted interval, NEW mode), associate a workflow that processes the returned orders, then deploy. Polling starts according to the environment and the traces show the processed items.

See also​