Context Variables

Context variables hold data about the current playbook run: trigger payloads, playbook inputs, action results, assets, variables, and runtime metadata. You use them in expressions to map inputs, build conditions, and transform data.

When to Use Context Variables

Use context variables when you need to:

Map data from a trigger into an action input (for example, $event.data.body.email)

Reference earlier action results (for example, $actions.http_request.result.body)

Build conditional logic (for example, $actions.lookup.status == "success")

Use playbook inputs or variables at runtime (for example, $inputs.customerId, $variables.counter)

Using Context Variables in Expressions

Use dot notation to access properties and bracket notation for arrays or keys with special characters.

Examples:

# Trigger data $event.data.body.severity $event.data.headers["x-request-id"]# Playbook inputs $inputs.ticketId $inputs.items[0].id# Action results $actions.enrich.result.ip $actions.lookup.status# Variables $variables.retryCount $loop.value

Where you can use expressions:

Action inputs (static value, playbook property, or expression)

Conditions (flows, triggers, and retries)

Transformations and scripts

Finding the Right Names and Paths

Use these spots in the UI to confirm the exact names and paths you should reference:

Action outputs: Open the action Outputs tab to see the output schema and property names. See OutputsOutputs.

Discovered outputs: Use Discovered Outputs when testing actions to capture runtime fields that aren't in the base schema. See Discovered Outputs and TestingDiscovered Outputs and Testing.

Trigger schemas: The trigger configuration defines the $event.data structure for that trigger.

Action names: Use the action name shown on the canvas as the <name> in $actions.<name>.

Context Variable Reference

Context Variables	Description	Example
$playbook	The name of the playbook	find_iocs
$inputs	User-defined schema of inputs for a playbook	:::BlockQuote
"$inputs": { "some_string_playbook_input": "some_string_passed_to_the_playbook" }
:::
$event	Data related to the sensor event that triggered the playbook	:::BlockQuote
Webhook "$event": { "data": { "headers": { "x-account-id": "228edce1-be3e-4b45-99d5-b4a11ac41489", "x-tenant-id": "911b9bae-540e-4064-93dc-33c1364587dd", "host": "turbine_webhook_agent_pool", "connection": "close", "authorization": "Basic U3dpbWxhbmU6YXNk", "user-agent": "PostmanRuntime/7.28.3", "accept": "/", "cache-control": "no-cache", "postman-token": "fc42206a-66a0-4649-9885-a16e00ab8e9d", "accept-encoding": "gzip, deflate, br" }, "url": { "hostname": "turbine_webhook_agent_pool", "href": "http://turbine_webhook_agent_pool/v1/webhook/5e60bc88-5780-42a9-8026-329fd0060d55/triggers_webhook_am9pa", "ips": [], "pathname": "/v1/webhook/5e60bc88-5780-42a9-8026-329fd0060d55/triggers_webhook_am9pa", "port": 80, "protocol": "http", "query": {} }, "method": "GET" }, "post": {}, "type": "custom_webhook", "action": "request", "fqn": "turbine.custom_webhook.request", "timestamp": 1717444327944, "sensor": { "name": "triggers_webhook_am9pa", "tags": {} }, "agent": { "name": "webhook-agent-a966253ee5a4-f975040d-f3e5-4a96-beec-bd729605537e", "tags": {} }, "tags": {} },
:::
$event	Data related to the sensor event that triggered the playbook	:::BlockQuote
Record "$event": { "data": { "application": { "id": "aXRvgAk9ufrM86LOp", "uid": "records-testing-658c9", "name": "Records Testing" }, "currentUser": { "id": "a6d44865-ed5d-4b9a-a29d-d0d3302d5629", "username": "[email protected]", "isSystemUser": false }, "record": { "id": "aN1Kk0cot6maprd0C", "url": "https://localhost:443/account/228edce1-be3e-4b45-99d5-b4a11ac41489/tenant/911b9bae-540e-4064-93dc-33c1364587dd/record/aXRvgAk9ufrM86LOp/aN1Kk0cot6maprd0C", "values": { "text": "Example", "multiline-text": "Multi line example", "radio-buttons": "option-2", "numeric": 1, "tracking-id": "ORT-9", "first-created": "2024-06-03T19:56:10.0259161Z", "last-updated": "2024-06-03T19:56:10.0606078Z" } } }, "post": {}, "type": "record", "action": "create", "fqn": "turbine.record.create", "timestamp": 1717444570268, "sensor": { "name": "turbine", "tags": {} }, "agent": { "name": "sw_api", "tags": {} }, "tags": {} }
:::
$event	Data related to the sensor event that triggered the playbook	:::BlockQuote
Cron "$event": { "data": { "cron": "* * * * *" }, "post": {}, "type": "schedule", "action": "cron", "fqn": "turbine.schedule.cron", "timestamp": 1717446660290, "sensor": { "name": "turbine", "tags": {} }, "agent": { "name": "engine-local", "tags": {} }, "tags": {} }
:::
$event	Data related to the sensor event that triggered the playbook	:::BlockQuote
Manual "$event": { "data": {}, "post": {}, "type": "playbook", "action": "executeTest", "fqn": "turbine.playbook.executeTest", "timestamp": 1717442522695, "sensor": { "name": "turbine", "tags": {} }, "agent": { "name": "api-local-dev", "tags": {} }, "tags": {}
:::
$event.data	Data/inputs from the event
$event.post	Any data post-processing from the trigger
$event.type	Type of event (events, sensors, schedules)
$event.action	Action of the event type
$event.fqn	Fully qualified event name
$event.timestamp	Integer timestamp of the event in milliseconds
$event.sensor.name	Name of the sensor that received the event
$event.sensor.tags	Tags associated with the sensor
$event.agent.name	Name of the agent that was running the sensor
$event.agent.tags	Tags associated with the agent
$event.tags	Tags associated with the event
$trigger.name	The name of the trigger	:::BlockQuote
Cron "$trigger": { "type": "schedules", "name": "cron" }
:::
$trigger.name	The name of the trigger	:::BlockQuote
Webhook "$trigger": { "type": "sensors", "name": "triggers_webhook_acu1r" },
:::
$trigger.name	The name of the trigger	:::BlockQuote
Records "$trigger": { "type": "records", "name": "a6tgj.create" },
:::
$trigger.name	The name of the trigger	:::BlockQuote
Manual "$trigger": { "type": "events", "name": "playbook.executeTest" }
:::
$trigger.type	The type of trigger (events, sensors, schedules)
$actions	Object containing all preceding actions that led to the current action	:::BlockQuote
"$actions": { "some_create_variables_action_key_name": { "result": { "string_at7xg": "test", "number_ajpro": 1, "boolean_a7qe9": true, "object_a4k88": { "string_amul7": "" }, "array_afhe7": [ { "array_agz7a": [ "" ] } ], "attachment_ah5dr": null, "iterable": [ 1, 2, 0 ] }, "published": {}, "status": "success" }, "some_http_action_key_name": { "result": { "status_code": 200, "headers": { "date": "Mon, 03 Jun 2024 20:08:02 GMT", "content-type": "application/json; charset=utf-8", "content-length": "2110", "connection": "close", "etag": "W/\"83e-HiAiudLaghvV/6XO4efAJkfVWT0\"", "set-cookie": [ "sails.sid=s%3A6NN48IK2HUVfuh99U38mgwQTe3kfa9ZB.ebTIFfsxekw%2Fn8r1yME8yYz2VzJxsa7pOsv9hBFmaQk; Path=/; HttpOnly" ] }, "status_reason": "OK", "body": { "args": { "test": "1", "{\"block_1\":{\"text\":\"some text\",\"text-2\":\"more text\",\"text-list\":": { "\"text1\",\"text2\",\"text3\"": { "1,2.2,3.45,-4": { "\"one\",\"three\"": { "\"option-1\",\"option-3\"": { "\"ORT-4\"": { "[\"ORT-4\",\"ORT-5\"],\"reference-grid\":[\"ORT-4\",\"ORT-5\"]},\"block_2\":[\"text1\",\"text2\",\"text3\"],\"true\":true}": "[\"text1\",\"text2\",\"text3\"]" } } } } } } }, "headers": { "x-forwarded-proto": "https", "x-forwarded-port": "443", "host": "postman-echo.com", "x-amzn-trace-id": "Root=1-665e22a1-454ed58d1b586c896b75161a", "accept-encoding": "gzip, deflate, br" }, "url": "https://postman-echo.com/get?xxxx" } }, "published": {}, "status": "success" }, "some_loop_action": { "result": [ { "script_ac4ft": { "result": { "string_ano7f": "text1" } } }, { "script_ac4ft": { "result": { "string_ano7f": "text2" } } }, { "script_ac4ft": { "result": { "string_ano7f": "text3" } } } ], "published": {}, "status": "success" }, "$parent": { "published": {}, "status": "fail" }, "$current": { "result": { "actions": { "createVariables_atysx": { "result": { "string_awuwp": "asdf" }, "published": {}, "status": "success" } }, "published": {} }, "published": {}, "status": "success" }, "newComponent_az0s4": { "result": { "actions": { "createVariables_atysx": { "result": { "string_awuwp": "asdf" }, "published": {}, "status": "success" } }, "published": {} }, "published": {}, "status": "success" }, "7_Script": { "result": {}, "published": {}, "status": "success" }, "condition_aexis": { "result": "3", "published": {}, "status": "success" }, "transformation_alag3": { "result": { "block_1": { "text": "some text", "text-2": "more text", "text-list": [ "text1", "text2", "text3" ], "email": "[email protected]", "url": "https://swimlane.com", "rich-text": "<h3>header</h3>", "multiline-text": "multiline\ntext\ndata", "telephone": "123-345-5678", "ip": "127.0.0.1", "json": "{ \"property1\": \"value 1\", \"property2\": true }", "numeric": 123.4, "numeric-list": [ 1, 2.2, 3.45, -4 ], "single-select": "value-2", "multi-select": [ "one", "three" ], "radio-buttons": "option-2", "checkboxes": [ "option-1", "option-3" ], "date--time": "2023-11-20T10:45:03Z", "date": "2023-11-20", "timespan": "123456789", "time": "10:45:03", "usergroups": "swimlaneadmin", "reference-single": [ "ORT-4" ], "reference-multi": [ "ORT-4", "ORT-5" ], "reference-grid": [ "ORT-4", "ORT-5" ] }, "block_2": [ "text1", "text2", "text3" ], "true": true }, "published": {}, "status": "success" } },
:::
$actions.<name>.result	Result of the specified action
$actions.<name>.post	Posted values from the specified action
$actions.<name>.status	Status of the specified action
$actions.$current.result	Result of the current action (not populated until the action has run)
$actions.$current.post	Posted values from the current action (not populated until the action has run)
$actions.$parent.result	Result of the previous action
$actions.$parent.post	Posted values from the previous action
$assets	Object of asset names and their respective parameters	:::BlockQuote
"$assets": { "vt_asset": { "url": "https://www.virustotal.com", "x-apikey": "xxx", },
:::
$published	The current published object. Needed when mapping an output to an application record or to use outside of the playbook	:::BlockQuote
"$published": { "published_body": { "access_token": "test_access_token" },
:::
$repeat (deprecated)	If job is part of repeat, current iteration's key/value
$loop	If job is part of a loop, current iteration's key/value	:::BlockQuote
"$loop": { "index": 0, "key": "0", "value": "text1" },
:::
$loop.index	Index of the current loop iteration
$loop.key	Key of the current loop iteration
$loop.value	Value of the current loop iteration
$loops	If job is part of a loop or nested loop, current and nested loop iteration keys/values	:::BlockQuote
"$loops": { "loop_aey0k": { "index": 0, "key": "0", "value": "text1" } }
:::
$loops.<loop_name>	Specific loop name in nested loops
$loops.<loop_name>.index	Index of the specific loop iteration
$loops.<loop_name>.key	Key of the specific loop iteration
$loops.<loop_name>.value	Value of the specific loop iteration
$variables	Current value of any variables defined upstream of this job	:::BlockQuote
"$variables": { "string_at7xg": "new", "number_ajpro": 1, "boolean_a7qe9": true, "object_a4k88": { "string_amul7": "" }, "array_afhe7": [ { "array_agz7a": [ "" ] } ], "attachment_ah5dr": null, "iterable": [1,2,0] }
:::
$variables.<name>	Value of a specific variable defined upstream	:::BlockQuote
$variables.retryCount
:::

Trigger-Specific Notes

Webhook triggers: Use $event.data for headers, query parameters, and body fields from the incoming request. See Using Webhook Triggers in Swimlane TurbineUsing Webhook Triggers in Swimlane Turbine.

Flow event triggers: $event.data matches the event data schema configured in the trigger. See Flow Event TriggerFlow Event Trigger.