Skip to main content

Trigger.dev

Trigger.dev appears twice in the catalog, and the two entries do different things:

  • Trigger.dev with an Official badge — this page. Trigger.dev's own MCP server (trigger.dev mcp, part of the Trigger.dev CLI), which Willow runs for you in read-only mode and connects with your personal access token.
  • Trigger.dev with a By Willow badge — the built-in connector, which calls the Trigger.dev management API with an environment API key.

Which one do you want​

If you needUse
An agent to change things: trigger, replay or cancel runs, manage schedules, queues, deployments or environment variablesBy Willow connector
One connection that reaches every project and environment your account can seeOfficial server
Agents to act as you, under your own Trigger.dev accountOfficial server
A shared identity scoped to a single environment, with an access preset you chooseBy Willow connector
Runs, traces, deployments and TRQL queries, read onlyEither

The Willow-hosted official server always runs with Trigger.dev's --readonly flag, which hides the tools that write to your account. Use the built-in connector for anything that changes state.

Running both is fine. The reads overlap, and each covers something the other cannot.

What it gives agents​

Trigger.dev publishes this server only as a local command, npx trigger.dev@latest mcp, which talks over stdio. It has no hosted URL. When you add it in Willow, Willow runs that command for your organization, so nobody needs Node or the Trigger.dev CLI on their machine.

With --readonly, the server offers (read from the running server's tool list):

  • Docs: search_docs.
  • Projects and tasks: list_orgs, list_projects, get_current_worker, get_task_schema.
  • Runs and traces: list_runs, get_run_details, get_span_details, wait_for_run_to_complete, read_session_channel.
  • Deployments: list_deploys, list_preview_branches.
  • Query and dashboards: query (TRQL), get_query_schema, list_dashboards, run_dashboard_query, get_report.
  • Alerts and webhooks: list_alerts, list_alert_capabilities, list_webhook_endpoints, get_webhook_endpoint_details, list_webhook_deliveries, get_webhook_delivery.
  • Agents and prompts: list_agents, list_prompts, get_prompt_versions.
  • Account: whoami.

Tools that start or stop a local dev server, or switch CLI profiles (start_dev_server, stop_dev_server, dev_server_status, list_profiles, switch_profile), are also listed. They act on the machine the server runs on, so they aren't useful when Willow hosts it.

Setting up​

  1. Create a personal access token. In the Trigger.dev dashboard, open Account → Personal Access Tokens and create a token (for example, named Willow). It starts with tr_pat_. Copy it when it's shown.

    Each person uses their own token. The server rejects any other kind of token, such as an environment API key (tr_prod_sk_…).

  2. In Willow, go to MCP Servers → + Add MCP server and find the Trigger.dev card with the Official badge.

  3. Click + Use. Under Authentication, paste the personal access token.

  4. Self-hosted only: set API URL to your instance's API URL (for example, https://trigger.example.com). Leave it as https://api.trigger.dev for Trigger.dev Cloud.

  5. Click Save Changes. To check the connection, ask the agent to run whoami. It returns your Trigger.dev user and the API URL in use.

note

This server doesn't use OAuth, and there's no CLI browser login to complete. Willow gives the token to the server through its TRIGGER_ACCESS_TOKEN setting, which makes the server skip its own login step.

A personal access token carries your account's access, across all your organizations and projects, so keep it out of shared channels and revoke it from the same Personal Access Tokens page if it leaks.

Troubleshooting​

"Your TRIGGER_ACCESS_TOKEN is not a Personal Access Token"​

Cause: The value isn't a personal access token. Environment API keys (tr_dev_sk_…, tr_prod_sk_…) and organization tokens don't work here.

Solution: Create a token under Account → Personal Access Tokens. It starts with tr_pat_. To use an environment API key, add the built-in connector instead.

Authentication fails or tools return an error right after setup​

Cause: The token is mistyped or revoked, or it was issued by a different Trigger.dev instance than the one API URL points to.

Solution: Create a new token, paste it again, and check that API URL matches the instance that issued it.

A tool like trigger_task or deploy is missing​

Cause: This is intended. The Willow-hosted server runs with --readonly, which hides every tool that writes to your account.

Solution: Use the built-in connector for writes.

Additional Resources​

On this page