Trigger: Item Assigned to a Person

The Item Assigned to a Person trigger fires a workflow when a person is added to (or changed in) a Person-type column on a Board item. It's the friendly version of Board Column Changed, built specifically to notify whoever just got put on the hook for a task.

When it fires

When the value of a Person-type column on a Board item changes — typically when a new assignee is added.

Trigger configuration

• Board: restrict to a specific board. Empty = any board.
• Person column: restrict to a specific Person-type column. Empty = any.

Available variables

• $record.object_type, $record.object_id, $record.workspace_id
• $trigger.column_id, $trigger.column_old, $trigger.column_new (the full list of assigned user IDs after the change)
• $trigger.board_id
• ⚠️ $trigger.assigned_user_id is not available today: even though it was at some point documented as "the first new assignee", the system never computes or populates that key — it always resolves empty. Use $trigger.column_new (the full list of assigned IDs) instead.

Example workflow

"Notify the person on the hook": Item Assigned to a Person trigger (Board = "Projects") → "Send internal message" action using {{$trigger.column_new}} to identify assignees: "You were just assigned task #{{$record.object_id}}. Check it on the board." (Don't use $trigger.assigned_user_id, it always comes back empty today.)

Tips

• Since $trigger.assigned_user_id doesn't work, if you need to notify specifically the first new assignee you'll have to derive it yourself from $trigger.column_new (e.g. by comparing it against $trigger.column_old in a Condition or Code node, if your plan allows it).
• Pair it with "Item Overdue" to escalate automatically if the assignee doesn't resolve it in time.

Troubleshooting

• If it doesn't fire when reassigning from one person to another, confirm the filtered column is actually a Person-type column — on other column types this trigger doesn't apply and you should use Board Column Changed instead.
• If your message shows blank where you expected {{$trigger.assigned_user_id}}: this is a known issue, that variable never gets populated. Use $trigger.column_new instead.