Automated software agents that lie dormant until triggered by specific system events (such as a database record creation, an incoming email, or a webhook alert) to perform a task.

Brandished in MLOps presentations to make an automated script attached to an incoming email trigger sound like a reactive synthetic organism waiting in ambush.

• Reactive Organism Posture: Framing a standard software event listener script as a vigilant digital organism.
• Over-Engineered Label: Calling a basic database trigger script an "event-driven agent."
• Kitchen Reality Check: Like a motion-activated soap dispenser dispensing soap when your hand moves and calling it an "event-driven hygiene agent."

War of the Worlds (2000s) scene where subterranean tripod probes sit dormant until tripped by physical movement events, instantly triggering search and extraction sequences.

Automated software scripts that execute automatically when triggered by specific system events.

“Event-driven agents process uploaded legal briefs instantly upon cloud storage sync.”

“We set up an automated script that triggers as soon as a client uploads a PDF, extracting contract dates and saving them to our database.”