Trigger.dev

A TypeScript platform for long-running background jobs and AI agents, with retries, queues, scheduling and live progress streamed back to your app.

16.7k stars, 1.5k forks TypeScript On GitHub since November 2022

What is Trigger.dev?

Trigger.dev runs tasks you write in TypeScript inside your codebase, then deploys them to its own runtime, where they can run for as long as needed instead of hitting serverless timeouts. It adds durable retries, queues, idempotency, schedules and pauses that wait for a human to approve. Your app can subscribe to a run and stream its progress or an AI response to users in real time. You can use Trigger.dev Cloud or self-host it.

Good fit if

  • You build a TypeScript or Next.js app that needs background jobs longer than a serverless function allows.
  • You run AI agents and want retries, queues and observability around each step.
  • You need tasks that use browsers, Python scripts or FFmpeg in their runtime.

Look elsewhere if

  • You want a lighter self-hosted stack: Trigger.dev runs about 11 services, including ClickHouse and MinIO. Hatchet is smaller.
  • Your workers are mostly Java or Go: Temporal or Conductor.

Before you adopt it

Trigger.dev is Apache-2.0, and every feature in the repository is free; the company sells the managed cloud. The repository includes Docker Compose and a Helm chart for self-hosting, but expect real operations work for the full stack.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 30 October 2026. Report a correction

Trigger.dev health: is it still maintained?

84 of 100, actively developed

  • Activity
    894 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 31 October 2026.
    30 / 30
  • Contributors
    10 people wrote the latest 100 commits; the most active wrote 23% of them.
    14 / 20
  • Releases
    15 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v4.8.3, on 30 October 2026.
    19 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 50% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 22 hours.
    16 / 20
  • Security practices
    No OpenSSF Scorecard for this repository yet, so this part gets a neutral score.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 1 November 2026. How the score works

Trigger.dev license: is it open source?

Trigger.dev uses Apache-2.0, an open-source license approved by the OSI.

  1. November 2022First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayApache-2.0.

How to run Trigger.dev yourself

Docker
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Compose file
docker/docker-compose.yml: 11 services (redis, minio, clickhouse)
Setup effort
5 of 5, judged from the compose file
Kubernetes
Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
No app builds in GitHub releases
Interface languages
English only

Install instructions: trigger.dev or the README on GitHub.

Alternatives to Trigger.dev

  • ActivepiecesAI Agents & MCPs & AI Workflow Automation • (~400 MCP servers for AI agents) • AI Automation / AI Agent with… 81 health · MIT · 25.3k stars
  • n8nFair-code workflow automation platform with native AI capabilities. Combine visual building with custom… 84 health · Sustainable Use License · 209k stars
  • DifyBuild Agentic workflows, RAG pipelines, with rich AI model and tool support on one collaborative workspace.… 84 health · Apache-2.0 with additional conditions · 160k stars
  • KestraOrchestrate everything, everywhere. The open-source control plane for workflows across data, infrastructure,… 85 health · Apache-2.0 · 30.1k stars
  • Apache AirflowApache Airflow - A platform to programmatically author, schedule, and monitor workflows 87 health · Apache-2.0 · 47.3k stars

All 33 projects in Workflow automation

Questions about Trigger.dev

Is Trigger.dev open source?

Yes. Trigger.dev is published under Apache-2.0, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is Trigger.dev still maintained?

Its health score is 84 of 100 (actively developed). It had 894 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 31 October 2026, and its latest release came out on 30 October 2026.

How do I run Trigger.dev?

You can run it with Docker, on Kubernetes with the Helm chart in the repository. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What are the alternatives to Trigger.dev?

Close alternatives in the Workflow automation category include Activepieces, n8n, Dify.