Trigger.dev: automation features and setup

Overview

Trigger.dev is designed for developers who write long-running tasks and AI workflows in TypeScript and want to run them outside the site's regular request cycle. You can build background jobs, wait for a result, and continue without blocking the user. Before enabling it, consider separating tasks that read data from tasks that write to a customer's account, and check how to cancel a run that has already started.

Features

• Long-running background tasks in TypeScript
• Workflows that combine AI steps
• Open source, with an option for managed hosting

Business uses

• Process a large file after upload without blocking the page
• A model action chain that ends by updating a record

Getting started

• Run a short test task in a TypeScript project.
• Add a wait step and check that it resumes after a failure.
• Check task cancellation and prevention of duplicate writes.

What to check

• Code maintenance is required; this is not a visual builder for content editors.
• Check the runtime environment before running tasks with large files.