# How Hookshot Works

## What this is

This page explains the customer mental model for Hookshot without diving into internal architecture.

## When to use it

Use this page when you want to understand the sequence from incoming event to verified outcome.

## What you need first

* Familiarity with the terms in the [glossary](/glossary.md)

## Steps

### 1. Something starts the workflow

A Protege starts because of:

* A live event from an integration, or
* A schedule you configured

### 2. Hookshot checks whether the Protege should act

Hookshot looks at:

* The available trigger source
* The Protege configuration
* The connected tool access needed to complete the task

### 3. The Protege runs or is skipped

Possible outcomes you may see:

* `ran`: the Protege executed
* `dispatching`: the event is still in progress
* `skipped`: Hookshot chose not to run the Protege for that event
* `unevaluated`: the event has not reached a final usable state yet

### 4. You verify what happened

* Use **Event Feed** to confirm the event arrived and see the immediate status
* Use **Audit** to inspect the run and outcome

{% hint style="info" %}
Event Feed answers “did Hookshot see the event and what happened next?” Audit answers “what did the Protege actually do?”
{% endhint %}

## How to verify

You understand the model well enough when you can point to:

* The system that starts the Protege
* The condition that decides whether the Protege should act
* The product section where you will confirm success

## Common failures

* Looking only at Audit when the event never arrived in Event Feed
* Assuming a connected integration automatically means the trigger source is ready
* Confusing a visible event with a confirmed successful run

## Next step

* [Create a Protege](https://github.com/tryprotege/hookshot-private/blob/main/docs/build/create-a-protege.md)
* [Event Feed](/event-feed.md)
* [Audit](/event-feed/audit.md)


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