Trigger.dev Has a Free Background Jobs Framework — Run Long Tasks with Retries and Scheduling in TypeScript

Why Trigger.dev?

Trigger.dev runs background jobs in TypeScript with automatic retries, scheduling, and monitoring. No Redis, no Bull, no separate worker processes.

npx trigger.dev@latest init

Define a Job

import { task } from '@trigger.dev/sdk/v3'

export const processOrder = task({
  id: 'process-order',
  retry: { maxAttempts: 3 },
  run: async (payload: { orderId: string }) => {
    const order = await db.getOrder(payload.orderId)
    await chargePayment(order)
    await sendConfirmationEmail(order)
    await updateInventory(order)
    return { success: true }
  },
})

Trigger from Your App

import { processOrder } from './trigger/process-order'

// From API route
app.post('/checkout', async (req, res) => {
  const order = await createOrder(req.body)
  await processOrder.trigger({ orderId: order.id })
  res.json({ status: 'processing' })
})

Scheduled Jobs (Cron)

import { schedules } from '@trigger.dev/sdk/v3'

export const dailyReport = schedules.task({
  id: 'daily-report',
  cron: '0 9 * * *',  // 9 AM daily
  run: async () => {
    const stats = await generateDailyStats()
    await sendSlackMessage(stats)
  },
})

Trigger.dev vs Bull/BullMQ

Feature	Trigger.dev	BullMQ
Redis	Not needed	Required
Monitoring	Built-in UI	Separate
Scheduling	Built-in	Built-in
TypeScript	Native	Via adapter
Deploy	Managed	Self-host

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