Route orders with dispatchers
A dispatcher routes orders automatically from one or more source bridges to a destination bridge when they match conditions you define. It is what sends an order from Shopify to ShipStation (or a specific 3PL) without anyone touching it. Manage them under Dispatchers.
Open Dispatchers
Build a dispatcher
Click New Dispatcher and walk through the five steps:
- Basics: name and describe it, for example "West Coast Priority Orders".
- Routing: pick one or more Sources and a single Destination. If the destination platform supports it, you can set destination overrides here, such as forcing a warehouse or service.
- Conditions: choose Match All or Match Any, then add conditions on order fields. See the condition builder below.
- Triggers: when the dispatcher evaluates. Options are Order Created, Order Updated, Shipment Created, and Manual Only.
- Review: confirm the summary, then set a Priority (higher runs first) and toggle it Active.
The condition builder
Each condition is a field, an operator, and a value. Fields are grouped into Status, Customer, Shipping, Billing, Totals, and more (order status, ship-to state, total amount, tags, and so on). Operators adapt to the field's type:
| Kind | Operators |
|---|---|
| Text | equals, does not equal, contains, starts/ends with, matches regex |
| Number | =, ≠, >, ≥, <, ≤ |
| Lists (tags) | contains, does not contain, exists, does not exist |
| Sets | is in set / is not in set, is any of / is none of |
| Presence | exists, does not exist |
For is any of you enter multiple values as chips. For is in set you point at a reusable condition set, which is the right tool when the list is large (all your West Coast ZIP codes, a SKU list, and so on).
All conditions in a dispatcher are joined by the single Match All / Match Any mode. There is no nested AND/OR grouping.
Run dispatch on orders
Dispatchers fire automatically on their triggers. You can also run them on demand from the Orders page: ⋯ → Dispatch order → Evaluate dispatchers runs your rules against an order (or a selection) and creates assignments for whichever match, or you can assign directly to one dispatcher.
An order's Destinations show where it was dispatched, via which dispatcher, and whether the export succeeded. If an assignment fails, select the order and use Retry Dispatch.
Next steps
- Condition sets: reusable value lists for conditions.
- Split rules: divide one order into several before routing.