App Events vs Agent orchestration ​

Use this documentation to determine whether App Events or the Assign task to genie action is the right tool for your use case.

Ask yourself: Does a user need to receive a message and potentially take action?

• Yes: Use App Events
• No: Use the Assign task to genie action

App Events require a user. The genie reaches out to a specific, identified user through the chat interface. The user receives the message, responds, and the conversation continues.

Assign task to genie doesn't require a user. The genie processes a task in the background by reasoning, calling skills, and returning a structured result to the recipe. No conversation thread is created.

When to use App Events ​

Use App Events when:

• A user needs to be informed and may need to take action. For example, a ticket they created was updated, or a renewal opportunity is approaching.
• User judgment is required mid-process. The genie presents context and options and the user decides.
• The downstream skill requires Verified User Access. Verified user access requires an active user session.
• The flow involves Business Approvals. Approval notifications surface in the user's chat interface and require user interaction.
• The genie needs to initiate a conversation proactively. For example, scheduled reminders or event-triggered alerts.

App Events can't return a structured value to a recipe. The recipe continues immediately after sending the event without waiting for the genie to finish.

When to use Assign task to genie ​

Use the Assign task to genie action when:

• Processing is automated and the result feeds back into the recipe. For example, classifying a ticket, summarizing a document, or extracting invoice data.
• No user is present or needed. For example, background jobs or system-to-system integrations.
• The genie's output is structured data, not a message to a user.
• Multiple genies need to collaborate in a pipeline. An orchestrating recipe can assign tasks to specialist genies in sequence, collecting structured outputs from each.

The Assign task to genie action can't be used with:

• Verified User Access because there's no user context in a headless invocation.
• Business Approvals because approval notifications are delivered through the user's chat interface.
• Permission-aware knowledge bases because knowledge bases ingested with user-scoped permissions don't enforce those permissions without a user context.

These are platform constraints, not configuration choices.

App Events and Assign task to genie comparison ​

Use the following comparison to determine which feature to use:

Combine both features ​

The most powerful architectures combine both features in sequence.

A recipe uses Assign task to genie for automated reasoning, such as classifying a ticket or evaluating escalation criteria. The structured result allows the recipe to use App Events to notify the relevant user and start a conversation. The reasoning is automated while the decision is determined by a user.

Common mistakes ​

• Using App Events where Assign task to genie should be used: A builder needs to classify incoming support tickets automatically. The builder uses App Events to send each ticket to an agent and wait for a classification response. This creates a conversation thread for every ticket and fills agents' chat interfaces with genie messages. The Assign task to genie action, which doesn't require user involvement, should be used in this case.

• Using Assign task to genie where App Events should be used: A builder needs to notify sales reps when a renewal opportunity approaches. The builder uses the Assign task to genie action to process the renewal event and return a summary as a datapill. The sales rep never receives the notification because the Assign task to genie action doesn't start a conversation in the chat interface the way App Events do.

Use case recommendations ​

Refer to the following use case recommendations to help you choose the correct feature for your workflow: