Metaobject triggers

Metaobjects are custom structured records: size guides, store locators, ingredient lists, care instructions, and anything else you model yourself. The Metaobject entry updated trigger fires when one of those entries changes.

Setting one up

The example on this page watches a metaobject called Size guide with one entry, linen-shirts.

1. Open Metaobject Triggers

Open Metaobject Triggers in the app navigation. Until you add a type, the page is empty.

The Metaobject Triggers page before any definition is watched, with an Add trigger button — The Metaobject Triggers page before anything is watched.

2. Choose the metaobject type

Click Add Trigger, pick the metaobject type you want to watch, and click Add Trigger in the dialog. You watch a whole type, not single entries: every entry of it fires, including entries you create later.

A type you created a moment ago may be missing from the dialog, because the list is remembered for a while. Click Refresh Metaobjects and open the dialog again.

The Select Metaobject Type dialog with the type Size guide selected — Pick the type to watch. Every entry of it fires, also entries created later.

3. The type is now watched

The type appears in the list as Active. Delete stops watching it.

The Metaobject Triggers list with the type Size guide shown as Active — The watched type, Active. Delete stops watching it.

What an event carries

Editing any entry of that type fires Metaobject entry updated in Shopify Flow. Flow receives metaobjectHandle for conditions, and the entry itself as metaobject: its type, display name and fields, as they are now. There is no previous value for metaobject fields. In the app's Event History the same event is listed with the entry's id, type and handle.

Use the handle in a condition when only one entry matters (metaobjectHandle equal to linen-shirts). Step by step: Metaobject trigger, step by step.

An event in Event History: Metaobject entry updated for the entry linen-shirts of type size_guide — The event in Event History after one edit to the entry linen-shirts.

Permission

Metaobject triggers need Metaobject Data Access (read_metaobjects), which includes access to both definitions and entries. Grant it on the Permissions page.

Typical uses

Notify the content team when a size guide or care instruction changes.
Sync a changed store-locator record to an external system.
Re-run a validation workflow when a structured content record is edited.