Trigger.dev - Open-source platform to build and deploy durable AI agents and workflows

What it does

Trigger.dev is an open-source platform for building and deploying fully-managed AI agents and workflows in TypeScript. It provides long-running tasks with retries, queues, observability, and elastic scaling. The platform supports durable AI agents that survive refreshes, redeploys, and crashes, with features like tool calling, human-in-the-loop, and streaming responses directly to the frontend. It also handles media processing, scheduled tasks, browser automation, and more.

Who it is for

Trigger.dev is designed for developers building AI applications that require reliable background jobs, workflow orchestration, and durable execution. It is used by companies like Supabase, Magic Patterns, MagicSchool AI, Pallet, Flick.social, Unkey, Resend, and DRPCRD. The platform is particularly suited for teams that want to offload long-running async AI tasks to managed infrastructure without managing servers.

Why it matters

Trigger.dev addresses the challenge of building reliable AI applications by providing a platform that handles retries, queues, and scaling automatically. It eliminates timeouts and server management, allowing developers to focus on AI logic rather than infrastructure. The platform's durability ensures that AI agents and workflows survive crashes and redeploys, and its observability features help find and fix bugs fast. With support for human-in-the-loop, real-time streaming, and integration with existing tech stacks (Vercel, AWS, Next.js, etc.), it simplifies the development of production-grade AI applications.

Launch signal

Trigger.dev launched on Hacker News as "Launch HN: Trigger.dev (YC W23) – Open-source platform to build reliable AI apps" (source: Hacker News). It is backed by Y Combinator (W23) and has over 15,600 GitHub stars. The platform is Apache 2.0 licensed and has a community of 5,000+ Discord members.

Brand and naming

The name "Trigger.dev" clearly communicates the product's core function: triggering and managing background tasks and workflows. The ".dev" domain reinforces its developer-focused positioning. The brand is positioned as an open-source, reliable alternative for building AI applications, emphasizing durability and ease of use.