How to Configure Trigger Conditions for Auto Agents

Overview

A trigger is what makes an agent run on its own. It has two parts, and they do two different things:

• The trigger type sets how often Eve checks, and which matters it looks at when it does.

• The run condition sets what has to be true about a matter before the agent actually runs on it.

Both are configured on the agent, and an agent does not run automatically until they are saved.

This page covers when an agent runs and on which matters. For what the agent reads once it starts, see 📄 How to Tell Auto Agents Which Documents to Focus On. The trigger narrows the matters; the context and instructions narrow the documents.

Before You Start

• Firm admin access, which is required to configure triggers.

• An existing agent to attach the trigger to: chat, drafting, or discovery response.

• A clear idea of which matters should qualify and what event should set the agent off.

Step 1: Choose a Trigger Type

Activity means a new document was uploaded or a medical overview was run. A matter with no activity in the look back window is not evaluated at all, regardless of what the condition says.

Step 2: Add a Run Condition

The Run condition is an extra rule that must be true before the agent runs. It is optional, and leaving it off can : an On Matter Update agent with no condition runs every time any document is uploaded or a medical overview is run, on every matter with activity.

Two ways to set one.

Select a template. There are some options preloaded:

• If a new matter is created

• If new documents are uploaded

• If new [document title, type, or category] are uploaded

• If new documents are uploaded to [X] folder

• If a new matter is created AND new [document title, type, or category] are uploaded to [X] folder

• If new documents have been uploaded in the last [X] days

• If a new matter is created and not until at least [X] days after the matter was created

• If any correspondence from an insurance adjuster is uploaded

• If an answer from any defendant is uploaded

• If a court order or ruling is uploaded

Templates with a placeholder request you add the placeholder in when selected. Enter folder names and document types exactly as they appear in your matters. Be careful when writing document or folder titles, as they need to be exact.

Write a custom condition. Select Custom condition and describe in plain language what should happen first. For example: "When new ER records are uploaded and the matter is less than 60 days old," or "When correspondence from State Farm is uploaded to the Insurance folder."

Writing a Condition That Holds Up

A condition decides which matters qualify, so the failure modes are running too often, running on the wrong cases, or never running at all.

• Say "new" when you mean new. "New documents uploaded to Medical Records" and "documents exist in Medical Records" are different rules. Without specifying "new", the second one qualifies every matter that has ever had a record in that folder.

• Match folder and document names exactly. DISCOVERY will not match DISCOVERY RECEIVED. Check the names in several matters before saving, and where naming varies across the firm, build the variations into the condition with AND/OR logic: "files in DISCOVERY or DISCOVERY RECEIVED folders."

• Scope it on purpose. "Any document uploaded" qualifies almost everything. "New medical records uploaded to the Medical Records folder" qualifies the cases the agent was built for. A condition that fires constantly produces output nobody reads, which is the same outcome as an agent that never fires.

• Add a time bound where the age of the material matters. "Documents uploaded in the last 7 days" is worth stating explicitly on a monthly agent, where the 30-day lookback may be wider than the task needs.

Step 3: Save and Activate

Save the agent to enable the trigger. The first evaluation runs at the next full hour, whichever trigger type is set: an agent saved at 2:35 PM is first evaluated at 3:00 PM that day. A monthly agent then settles onto its regular cadence, evaluating at midnight PST on the selected date each month after that.

Step 4: Check the Configuration

Open the agent and confirm four things before leaving it to run:

• The trigger type matches the intent: On Matter Update for work that follows case activity, Monthly for work on a cadence.

• The condition describes when the agent should act, in terms someone else at the firm would read the same way.

• Folder names and document types match the exact values used in matters.

• Any time bound or exclusion the task needs is actually written into the condition.

Running the condition against real matters before activating it catches the three problems a careful reread does not. See 📄 How to Test and Validate Agent Run Conditions.

Editing a Condition Later

A condition can be changed at any time. Changing it resets matter evaluations going forward, so the agent evaluates against the new rule from the next cycle on rather than carrying anything over from the old one.