---
title: "Metafield and metaobject triggers"
description: "Start a workflow when a metafield you choose is set, changed or removed, or when a metaobject entry is created, updated or deleted."
canonical: "https://docs.workflow-suite.app/metafield-and-metaobject-triggers"
---

# 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

1. Choose the trigger, for example **Product metafield changed**.
2. 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.
3. 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.metafield` with `value`, `previous_value`, `typed_value`, `previous_typed_value`, `type` and `change` (whether it was created, changed or removed).
- `event.changes.items` with one entry: field `metafield_value`, `oldValue` and `newValue`.

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

1. Choose the trigger.
2. In the trigger panel, pick the **Metaobject**. The list shows your store's metaobject definitions; it needs the permission to read metaobject definitions.
3. 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`.

> [!NOTE]
> **The first value counts, the first sighting does not**
> When you turn the workflow on, the app reads the chosen metafield for your existing resources in the background, including the ones that have no value yet. After that, a metafield that gets its first value starts the workflow as created. Until that initial sync has reached a resource, its first change only sets the starting point.

## Good to know

- A metafield written by your own workflow comes back as an event. Loop protection recognises that echo. See [Loop protection](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/loop-protection.md).
- 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](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/permissions-and-store-data-access.md).
- 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](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/shopify-actions.md).