Run Autonomous AI Agents 24/7 with Trigger.dev— Beyond Low-Code Workflow Tools

# Initialize a Trigger.dev project
npx create-trigger@latest ai-research-agent
cd ai-research-agent
 
# Install dependencies
npm install @anthropic-ai/sdk @trigger.dev/sdk

import { schedules } from "@trigger.dev/sdk/v3";
 
// Run research daily at 9 AM
export const dailyResearch = schedules.task({
  id: "daily-ai-research",
  cron: "0 9 * * *",
  maxDuration: 7200, // Maximum 2 hours
  run: async () => {
    const topics = await fetchTodayTopics();
 
    for (const topic of topics) {
      // Process each topic in parallel
      await myAiAgent.trigger({ topic });
    }
  }
});

import { task, wait } from "@trigger.dev/sdk/v3";
import Anthropic from "@anthropic-ai/sdk";
 
const anthropic = new Anthropic();
 
export const multiStepResearch = task({
  id: "multi-step-research",
  maxDuration: 14400,
  run: async (payload: { query: string; depth: number }) => {
    const results: string[] = [];
 
    // Phase 1: Initial research
    const initialResearch = await anthropic.messages.create({
      model: "claude-sonnet-4-6",
      max_tokens: 4096,
      messages: [{
        role: "user",
        content: `Research the following topic and suggest 3 subtopics worth exploring further: ${payload.query}`
      }]
    });
    results.push(initialResearch.content[0].type === "text"
      ? initialResearch.content[0].text : "");
 
    // Phase 2: Deep dive into subtopics (recursive execution)
    if (payload.depth > 0) {
      const subtopics = extractSubtopics(results[0]);
 
      for (const subtopic of subtopics) {
        // Execute each subtopic as an independent task
        const subResult = await multiStepResearch.triggerAndWait({
          query: subtopic,
          depth: payload.depth - 1
        });
        results.push(JSON.stringify(subResult));
      }
    }
 
    // Phase 3: Generate consolidated report
    const finalReport = await anthropic.messages.create({
      model: "claude-sonnet-4-6",
      max_tokens: 8192,
      messages: [{
        role: "user",
        content: `Consolidate the following research findings into a comprehensive report:\n${results.join("\n---\n")}`
      }]
    });
 
    return {
      query: payload.query,
      report: finalReport.content[0].type === "text"
        ? finalReport.content[0].text : "",
      depth: payload.depth,
      subtopicCount: results.length - 1
    };
  }
});
 
function extractSubtopics(text: string): string[] {
    // Extract subtopics from text
    const lines = text.split("\n").filter(l => l.match(/^\d+\./));
    return lines.slice(0, 3).map(l => l.replace(/^\d+\.\s*/, ""));
}

import { task } from "@trigger.dev/sdk/v3";
 
// Trigger on external events (e.g., new GitHub Issue)
export const onNewIssue = task({
  id: "github-issue-analyzer",
  run: async (payload: { title: string; body: string; repo: string }) => {
    // Analyze Issue content with AI
    const analysis = await anthropic.messages.create({
      model: "claude-sonnet-4-6",
      max_tokens: 2048,
      messages: [{
        role: "user",
        content: `Analyze this GitHub Issue and suggest priority, category, and recommended actions:\nTitle: ${payload.title}\nBody: ${payload.body}`
      }]
    });
 
    // Send analysis to Slack
    await sendSlackMessage({
      channel: "#dev-alerts",
      text: analysis.content[0].type === "text"
        ? analysis.content[0].text : "Analysis failed"
    });
 
    return { analyzed: true };
  }
});

# docker-compose.yml
version: "3.8"
 
services:
  trigger-dev:
    image: ghcr.io/triggerdotdev/trigger.dev:latest
    ports:
      - "3030:3030"
    environment:
      - DATABASE_URL=postgresql://trigger:password@postgres:5432/trigger
      - REDIS_URL=redis://redis:6379
      - SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key
    depends_on:
      - postgres
      - redis
 
  postgres:
    image: postgres:16
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_USER=trigger
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password
      - POSTGRES_DB=trigger
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
 
  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    volumes:
      - redis_data:/data
 
volumes:
  postgres_data:
  redis_data:

# Launch the stack
docker compose up -d
 
# Access the dashboard
# http://localhost:3030