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Events

Infrahub emits events on every significant mutation in the system — node creates, branch operations, group membership changes, and more. The event system lets you react to those events automatically: when a device is updated, when a circuit joins a provisioning group, when a branch merges. Common uses include keeping groups in sync as data changes, triggering Generators on attribute updates, and notifying external systems through webhooks.

Build automations using events, rules, and actions:

  • Events — the underlying framework. Infrahub generates a structured event for every key operation (infrahub.node.created, infrahub.group.member_added, etc.). Events feed multiple consumers: the activity log, the rule/action automation below, webhooks, and log forwarding.
  • Event rules — the conditions you match against events. You create a rule that names which events it cares about (a node kind, a group, a particular attribute change) and ties one or more actions to fire when the conditions match.
  • Event actions — the outcomes that fire when a rule matches. You create an action of one of two kinds today: a group action (add or remove members from a group) or a Generator action (run a Generator definition against the impacted object).

The flow always has the same shape: Infrahub emits an event, evaluates it against your rules, and fires the actions of any rule that matches.

mutation happens
    ↓
Infrahub emits an event       (Event system)
    ↓
Infrahub evaluates your rules (Event rules)
    ↓
Matching rules fire actions   (Event actions)

Webhooks consume events too, but live outside this rule/action loop because their setup is more involved. Use webhooks when you need to send a payload to an external HTTP endpoint; use event rules + actions when the outcome stays inside Infrahub.

Example workflows​

The cleanest way to think about an automation is to start from the outcome and work backward to the event.

Add Arista devices to a group automatically​

Goal: every time a device with platform Arista EOS is created, it should land in the arista_devices group.

  • Action — Create a group action that adds nodes to arista_devices.
  • Rule — Create a node trigger rule on InfraDevice that fires on the created mutation when the platform relationship points at Arista EOS. Tie it to the action above.
  • Event — infrahub.node.created. Infrahub emits this automatically; no setup.

When a new Arista device is created, the event fires, the rule matches the platform condition, and the action adds the device to the group. For the click-by-click setup, see Event actions and Event rules.

Auto-create circuit endpoints when a circuit enters provisioning​

Goal: when a circuit joins the provisioning_circuits group, run a Generator that creates its endpoints.

  • Action — Create a Generator action that runs the create_circuit_endpoints Generator.
  • Rule — Create a group trigger rule on provisioning_circuits that fires on member-added events. Tie it to the Generator action above.
  • Event — infrahub.group.member_added. Infrahub emits this automatically.

When a circuit is added to the group, the event fires, the rule matches, and the Generator runs against the new member.

For the click-by-click setup, see Event rules and Event actions.