Metafield and metaobject triggers
Custom data is often where a store's real logic lives: a loyalty tier on the customer, a supplier code on the product, a size chart as a metaobject. These triggers start a workflow when that data changes, with the value before and after.
Metafield triggers
One trigger per resource. You choose the metafield in the trigger panel.
| Trigger | How the change is found |
|---|---|
| Product metafield changed | With the product's update event, within seconds |
| Collection metafield changed | With the collection's update event |
| Order metafield changed | With the order's update event |
| Customer metafield changed | With the customer's update event |
| Company metafield changed, Company location metafield changed | With the update event |
| Product variant metafield changed | Shopify sends no event for variant metafields. The whole catalogue is exported and compared every 5 minutes, so it can arrive several minutes after the change, longer on a large catalogue |
| Blog metafield changed, Blog post metafield changed, Page metafield changed | Shopify sends no event. The store is checked every 5 minutes |
Set it up
- Choose the trigger, for example Product metafield changed.
- In the trigger panel, open Metafield and pick one of your store's metafield definitions. For a metafield without a definition, type its namespace and key.
- Save and turn the workflow on.
A workflow with an empty metafield cannot be turned on. Each store can watch up to 25 metafields per trigger.
What the event carries
event.payload.metafieldwithvalue,previous_value,typed_value,previous_typed_value,typeandchange(whether it was created, changed or removed).event.changes.itemswith one entry: fieldmetafield_value,oldValueandnewValue.
Use the field metafield_value in a before-and-after rule. Values are compared as Shopify's text, so increased and decreased work on number metafields.
Example: tag a customer when the metafield loyalty.tier changes to gold. Trigger Customer metafield changed, filter rule: field metafield_value, changed to, value gold. The template Tag customers by a loyalty metafield does this.
Metaobject triggers
| Trigger | Starts when |
|---|---|
| Metaobject entry created | An entry of the metaobject you choose is created |
| Metaobject entry updated | An entry changes. The event lists every field that changed, with the value before and after |
| Metaobject field changed | ONE field of an entry changes, with the value before and after |
| Metaobject entry deleted | An entry is deleted |
Set it up
- Choose the trigger.
- In the trigger panel, pick the Metaobject. The list shows your store's metaobject definitions; it needs the permission to read metaobject definitions.
- For Metaobject field changed, also pick the Field.
In a before-and-after rule, Metaobject entry updated uses the field's key, and Metaobject field changed uses field_value.
Good to know
- A metafield written by your own workflow comes back as an event. Loop protection recognises that echo. See Loop protection.
- The variant metafield trigger uses one of your store's bulk operation slots for a short time in each cycle. If the slot is busy, the check waits for the next cycle.
- Order, customer and company triggers need Shopify's approval for protected customer data. See Permissions and store data access.
- To write a metafield from a workflow, use the ready-made actions Set product metafield, Set order metafield and Set customer metafield. See Ready-made Shopify actions.