Scheduled, Manual, and Broadcast Triggers in Studio

Not every automation needs to wait for a player action or a Discord interaction. Studio provides a set of time-based, lifecycle, and internal triggers that give you precise control over when your logic runs — from polling the server every few seconds while it’s live, to initialising state the moment your bot comes online, to sending a test run during development. This page covers each of these trigger types and explains when to use them.

Trigger Blocks at a Glance

erlc_when_server_active

Fires repeatedly while your ERLC server is running. Ideal for polling loops that check server state on a schedule.

erlc_when_bot_online

Fires once when your Discord bot connects and becomes ready. Use it to run initialisation logic.

erlc_when_manual

Triggered by you from the Studio dashboard. Great for one-off admin tasks that don’t need automation.

erlc_when_test_run

Triggered by the Test Run button in Studio. For development and debugging only.

erlc_when_ai_responds

Fires when an AI model finishes generating its response. Chains cleanly after AI generation blocks.

erlc_when_broadcast

Listens for a named internal broadcast sent from another automation in your project.

Server-Active Trigger

erlc_when_server_active fires on a recurring basis for as long as your linked ERLC server reports as active. Think of it as a heartbeat — every time the trigger fires, your automation can check player counts, sync data, post status updates, or perform any repeating task. Because this trigger fires continuously, you almost always want to pair it with an erlc_throttle block. Throttling limits how frequently the downstream logic actually executes, preventing your automation from hammering the ERLC API or Discord rate limits.

{
  "trigger": {
    "type": "erlc_when_server_active"
  },
  "actions": [
    {
      "type": "erlc_throttle",
      "fields": {
        "DURATION": 60,
        "UNIT": "seconds"
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "erlc_set_variable",
      "fields": {
        "VAR": "player_count"
      },
      "value": {
        "type": "erlc_player_count"
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "erlc_bot_send_message",
      "fields": {
        "CHANNEL_ID": "1234567890",
        "MESSAGE": "📡 Server update: {{player_count}} players currently online."
      }
    }
  ]
}

Do not use erlc_when_server_active without a throttle block on the critical path. Without it, your automation will execute as fast as Studio can process events and will quickly exhaust both ERLC API and Discord API rate limits.

Set your throttle duration based on how fresh the data needs to be. A player-count display can tolerate a 60-second interval; a PD alert might need 10 seconds. When in doubt, start at 30 seconds and tune from there.

Bot-Online Trigger

erlc_when_bot_online fires exactly once each time your Discord bot establishes its gateway connection and becomes ready. Use this trigger to perform initialisation steps that should run before any other automation handles an event. Common uses include:

Setting the bot’s status message or activity
Posting a “bot is online” notice to a staff channel
Loading persistent data from a storage block
Registering slash commands programmatically

This trigger fires again whenever the bot reconnects after a disconnect. Design your initialisation logic to be idempotent — running it twice should not cause duplicate messages or corrupted state.

Manual Trigger

erlc_when_manual has no automatic conditions. It fires only when you click Run next to the automation in the Studio dashboard. This is the right choice for:

Bulk operations you need to run occasionally (e.g. syncing a roster)
Maintenance tasks that are too risky to automate fully
Utilities you want to share with other admin team members who can click Run without editing the automation itself

Test Run Trigger

erlc_when_test_run fires when you press the Test Run button inside the Studio block editor. It is functionally identical to erlc_when_manual but is reserved exclusively for development and debugging workflows.

Remove or disable automations using erlc_when_test_run before sharing your project with other admins or moving to production. This trigger fires every time anyone presses Test Run, which can produce unintended side effects in a live environment.

Use erlc_when_test_run to:

Verify that your block logic executes without errors
Inspect variable values using a log or message block
Test action blocks (Discord messages, ERLC commands) with known inputs before wiring up a real trigger

AI Response Trigger

erlc_when_ai_responds fires after an AI generation block completes and the model returns its output. Use it to chain post-processing logic onto AI responses — for example, forwarding the generated text to a Discord channel or storing it in a variable. The MODEL dropdown currently supports:

Model	Description
`qwen2.5:1.5b`	Lightweight, fast model suited for short-form responses and classification tasks

AI generation is asynchronous. The erlc_when_ai_responds trigger ensures your downstream actions only run after the model has fully completed its output — you do not need to add delays or polling logic yourself.

Broadcasts

Broadcasts let your automations communicate with each other inside Studio. One automation sends a named broadcast; other automations listening for that broadcast name fire in response. This is the primary mechanism for decoupling complex multi-automation workflows.

`erlc_when_broadcast`

Set the MESSAGE field to the broadcast name you want this automation to listen for. When another automation sends a broadcast with that exact name, this trigger fires.

Reading Broadcast Payloads

Use the following blocks to access data that was passed along with the broadcast:

Block	Description
`erlc_received_message_name`	Returns the name of the broadcast that fired this trigger
`erlc_received_message_value`	Returns the value/payload attached to the broadcast

{
  "trigger": {
    "type": "erlc_when_broadcast",
    "fields": {
      "MESSAGE": "player_verified"
    }
  },
  "actions": [
    {
      "type": "erlc_received_message_value",
      "output_variable": "verified_player_name"
    },
    {
      "type": "erlc_bot_send_message",
      "fields": {
        "CHANNEL_ID": "9876543210",
        "MESSAGE": "✅ {{verified_player_name}} has been verified and added to the roster."
      }
    }
  ]
}

Use broadcasts to split large automations into smaller, focused blocks. For example, one automation handles a slash command and sends a player_verified broadcast; a separate automation listens for that broadcast and updates a spreadsheet. This keeps each automation readable and testable independently.

Choosing the Right Trigger

Need to poll the server on a schedule?

Use erlc_when_server_active with an erlc_throttle block. The throttle controls the effective interval without requiring a cron-style scheduler.

Need to set up state before anything else runs?

Use erlc_when_bot_online. It fires before any interactions arrive, giving you a clean window to initialise variables, post status messages, or load stored data.

Need to run something on demand?

Use erlc_when_manual for production one-off tasks. Reserve erlc_when_test_run strictly for development — never leave it active in a production project.

Need to coordinate between automations?

Use erlc_when_broadcast as the receiving trigger, and send the broadcast from whichever automation produces the relevant event. Read the payload with erlc_received_message_value.

Need to act after an AI block finishes?

Use erlc_when_ai_responds to chain cleanly onto the output without polling or delays.

Get Started

Studio Basics

Events

Discord Actions

Game & Server

Data & Logic

Guides

Scheduled, Manual, and Broadcast Triggers in Studio

Trigger Blocks at a Glance

erlc_when_server_active

erlc_when_bot_online

erlc_when_manual

erlc_when_test_run

erlc_when_ai_responds

erlc_when_broadcast

Server-Active Trigger

Bot-Online Trigger

Manual Trigger

Test Run Trigger

AI Response Trigger

Broadcasts

`erlc_when_broadcast`

Reading Broadcast Payloads

Choosing the Right Trigger

​Trigger Blocks at a Glance

erlc_when_server_active

erlc_when_bot_online

erlc_when_manual

erlc_when_test_run

erlc_when_ai_responds

erlc_when_broadcast

​Server-Active Trigger

​Bot-Online Trigger

​Manual Trigger

​Test Run Trigger

​AI Response Trigger

​Broadcasts

​erlc_when_broadcast

​Reading Broadcast Payloads

​Choosing the Right Trigger

Trigger Blocks at a Glance

Server-Active Trigger

Bot-Online Trigger

Manual Trigger

Test Run Trigger

AI Response Trigger

Broadcasts

`erlc_when_broadcast`

Reading Broadcast Payloads

Choosing the Right Trigger