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Event triggers state update — Automation Mastery

Day 7 · ~12 min●

Webhooks would be useless without state. The whole point of receiving an event is doing something — and "doing" usually means updating state somewhere. Today we close week 1 by writing a parsed event to a Google Sheet.

python

import json

payload_str = '{"event": {"type": "item.created", "id": "e_100", "data": {"name": "row-100", "value": 42}}}'
payload = json.loads(payload_str)
event = payload.get("event", {})

# Discover a spreadsheet (no hardcoded ID)
ss_search = toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLESHEETS_SEARCH_SPREADSHEETS, {"query": ""})
files = ss_search.get("files", []) or ss_search.get("response_data", {}).get("files", [])
spreadsheet_id = files[0]["id"]

# Append the event data
data = event.get("data", {})
row = [event.get("id"), data.get("name"), str(data.get("value"))]
append = toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLESHEETS_SHEET_APPEND_GOOGLE_SHEET_ROW, {
    "spreadsheet_id": spreadsheet_id,
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "values": [row],
})
print(append.get("updates", {}).get("updatedRange")
      or append.get("response_data", {}).get("updates", {}).get("updatedRange"))

What if no spreadsheet exists in the user's drive?

The lesson assumes you have at least one Sheet. In production you'd either provision one at first run or fail with a clear error. The discovery pattern (SEARCH_SPREADSHEETS → take the first file) avoids hardcoded IDs but does need some sheet to exist.

And the verification?

The append response includes updatedRange (e.g., "Sheet1!A5:C5"). Asserting it's non-empty confirms the write committed. Sheets is strongly consistent for append-then-read on the same range, so we don't need a retry loop here.

Event-driven state — the canonical webhook side effect

The shape

Every production webhook handler combines four pieces:

Parse the payload (day 3)
Verify the signature (day 4)
Dispatch by type (day 5)
Update state (today)

State updates are what makes the webhook do something — write to a Sheet, create a row in a database, send a follow-up email, ping another service.

Discovery, not hardcoded IDs

Production scripts find their target resource at runtime, not via a hardcoded ID. For Sheets:

python

ss = toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLESHEETS_SEARCH_SPREADSHEETS, {"query": ""})
files = ss.get("files", []) or ss.get("response_data", {}).get("files", [])
spreadsheet_id = files[0]["id"]

Refinements you'd add in production: filter files by name ("events" or "webhook-log"), create the sheet if missing.

The append call

python

result = toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLESHEETS_SHEET_APPEND_GOOGLE_SHEET_ROW, {
    "spreadsheet_id": spreadsheet_id,
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "values": [["col_a", "col_b", "col_c"]],
})

values is a list of rows. Each row is a list of cells. For a single row, wrap it in another list: [["a", "b"]]. Forgetting the outer list is the most common mistake.

Defensive response read

The response shape varies — sometimes result["updates"]["updatedRange"], sometimes nested under response_data. Read both paths:

python

updated = (
    result.get("updates", {}).get("updatedRange")
    or result.get("response_data", {}).get("updates", {}).get("updatedRange")
)

updatedRange is a string like "Sheet1!A5:C5" — confirms the row landed and tells you where.

Strong consistency on append

Unlike Gmail (eventually consistent index), Sheets append-then-read on the same range is strongly consistent. The updatedRange from the response IS the row you just wrote. No retry loop needed.

What state-updating tools share

Tool	Discovery	Write	Strong consistency?
Sheets	`SEARCH_SPREADSHEETS`	`SHEET_APPEND_GOOGLE_SHEET_ROW`	yes
Tasks	`LIST_TASK_LISTS`	`CREATE_TASK`	yes
Calendar	(`primary` is canonical)	`CREATE_EVENT`	yes
Docs	search via Drive	`INSERT_TEXT`	yes

These four cover most state-update patterns. For the lessons in week 3-4 we'll lean on Sheets as the canonical state store.

Day 7 · ~12 min●

python

import json

payload_str = '{"event": {"type": "item.created", "id": "e_100", "data": {"name": "row-100", "value": 42}}}'
payload = json.loads(payload_str)
event = payload.get("event", {})

# Discover a spreadsheet (no hardcoded ID)
ss_search = toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLESHEETS_SEARCH_SPREADSHEETS, {"query": ""})
files = ss_search.get("files", []) or ss_search.get("response_data", {}).get("files", [])
spreadsheet_id = files[0]["id"]

# Append the event data
data = event.get("data", {})
row = [event.get("id"), data.get("name"), str(data.get("value"))]
append = toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLESHEETS_SHEET_APPEND_GOOGLE_SHEET_ROW, {
    "spreadsheet_id": spreadsheet_id,
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "values": [row],
})
print(append.get("updates", {}).get("updatedRange")
      or append.get("response_data", {}).get("updates", {}).get("updatedRange"))

What if no spreadsheet exists in the user's drive?

And the verification?

Event-driven state — the canonical webhook side effect

The shape

Every production webhook handler combines four pieces:

Parse the payload (day 3)
Verify the signature (day 4)
Dispatch by type (day 5)
Update state (today)

State updates are what makes the webhook do something — write to a Sheet, create a row in a database, send a follow-up email, ping another service.

Discovery, not hardcoded IDs

Production scripts find their target resource at runtime, not via a hardcoded ID. For Sheets:

python

ss = toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLESHEETS_SEARCH_SPREADSHEETS, {"query": ""})
files = ss.get("files", []) or ss.get("response_data", {}).get("files", [])
spreadsheet_id = files[0]["id"]

Refinements you'd add in production: filter files by name ("events" or "webhook-log"), create the sheet if missing.

The append call

python

result = toolset.execute_action(Action.GOOGLESHEETS_SHEET_APPEND_GOOGLE_SHEET_ROW, {
    "spreadsheet_id": spreadsheet_id,
    "sheet_name": "Sheet1",
    "values": [["col_a", "col_b", "col_c"]],
})

values is a list of rows. Each row is a list of cells. For a single row, wrap it in another list: [["a", "b"]]. Forgetting the outer list is the most common mistake.

Defensive response read

The response shape varies — sometimes result["updates"]["updatedRange"], sometimes nested under response_data. Read both paths:

python

updated = (
    result.get("updates", {}).get("updatedRange")
    or result.get("response_data", {}).get("updates", {}).get("updatedRange")
)

updatedRange is a string like "Sheet1!A5:C5" — confirms the row landed and tells you where.

Strong consistency on append

Unlike Gmail (eventually consistent index), Sheets append-then-read on the same range is strongly consistent. The updatedRange from the response IS the row you just wrote. No retry loop needed.

What state-updating tools share

Tool	Discovery	Write	Strong consistency?
Sheets	`SEARCH_SPREADSHEETS`	`SHEET_APPEND_GOOGLE_SHEET_ROW`	yes
Tasks	`LIST_TASK_LISTS`	`CREATE_TASK`	yes
Calendar	(`primary` is canonical)	`CREATE_EVENT`	yes
Docs	search via Drive	`INSERT_TEXT`	yes

These four cover most state-update patterns. For the lessons in week 3-4 we'll lean on Sheets as the canonical state store.

Event-driven state — the canonical webhook side effect

The shape

Discovery, not hardcoded IDs

The append call

Defensive response read

Strong consistency on append

What state-updating tools share

Event-driven state — the canonical webhook side effect

The shape

Discovery, not hardcoded IDs

The append call

Defensive response read

Strong consistency on append

What state-updating tools share

Event-driven state — the canonical webhook side effect

The shape

Discovery, not hardcoded IDs

The append call

Defensive response read

Strong consistency on append

What state-updating tools share

Sign up to practice

Event-driven state — the canonical webhook side effect

The shape

Discovery, not hardcoded IDs

The append call

Defensive response read

Strong consistency on append

What state-updating tools share

Sign up to practice