---
title: "The trigger.config.ts file"
sidebarTitle: "trigger.config.ts"
description: "This file is used to configure your project and how it's built."
---

import ScrapingWarning from "/snippets/web-scraping-warning.mdx";
import BundlePackages from "/snippets/bundle-packages.mdx";
import NodeVersions from "/snippets/node-versions.mdx";

The `trigger.config.ts` file is used to configure your Trigger.dev project. It is a TypeScript file at the root of your project that exports a default configuration object. Here's an example:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  // Your project ref (you can see it on the Project settings page in the dashboard)
  project: "<project ref>",
  //The paths for your trigger folders
  dirs: ["./trigger"],
  retries: {
    //If you want to retry a task in dev mode (when using the CLI)
    enabledInDev: false,
    //the default retry settings. Used if you don't specify on a task.
    default: {
      maxAttempts: 3,
      minTimeoutInMs: 1000,
      maxTimeoutInMs: 10000,
      factor: 2,
      randomize: true,
    },
  },
});
```

The config file handles a lot of things, like:

- Specifying where your trigger tasks are located using the `dirs` option.
- Setting the default retry settings.
- Configuring OpenTelemetry instrumentations.
- Customizing the build process.
- Adding global task lifecycle functions.

<Note>
  The config file is bundled with your project, so code imported in the config file is also bundled,
  which can have an effect on build times and cold start duration. One important qualification is
  anything defined in the `build` config is automatically stripped out of the config file, and
  imports used inside build config with be tree-shaken out.
</Note>

## Dirs

You can specify the directories where your tasks are located using the `dirs` option:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  dirs: ["./trigger"],
});
```

If you omit the `dirs` option, we will automatically detect directories that are named `trigger` in your project, but we recommend specifying the directories explicitly. The `dirs` option is an array of strings, so you can specify multiple directories if you have tasks in multiple locations.

We will search for TypeScript and JavaScript files in the specified directories and include them in the build process. We automatically exclude files that have `.test` or `.spec` in the name, but you can customize this by specifying glob patterns in the `ignorePatterns` option:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  dirs: ["./trigger"],
  ignorePatterns: ["**/*.my-test.ts"],
});
```

## Custom tsconfig path

You can specify a custom path to your tsconfig file. This is useful if you have a custom tsconfig file that you want to use.

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  dirs: ["./trigger"],
  tsconfig: "./custom-tsconfig.json", // Custom tsconfig path
});
```

## Lifecycle functions

You can add lifecycle functions to get notified when any task starts, succeeds, or fails using `onStart`, `onSuccess` and `onFailure`:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  onSuccess: async ({ payload, output, ctx }) => {
    console.log("Task succeeded", ctx.task.id);
  },
  onFailure: async ({ payload, error, ctx }) => {
    console.log("Task failed", ctx.task.id);
  },
  onStart: async ({ payload, ctx }) => {
    console.log("Task started", ctx.task.id);
  },
  init: async ({ payload, ctx }) => {
    console.log("I run before any task is run");
  },
});
```

Read more about task lifecycle functions in the [tasks overview](/tasks/overview).

## Instrumentations

We use OpenTelemetry (OTEL) for our run logs. This means you get a lot of information about your tasks with no effort. But you probably want to add more information to your logs. For example, here's all the Prisma calls automatically logged:

![The run log](/images/auto-instrumentation.png)

Here we add Prisma and OpenAI instrumentations to your `trigger.config.ts` file.

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";
import { PrismaInstrumentation } from "@prisma/instrumentation";
import { OpenAIInstrumentation } from "@traceloop/instrumentation-openai";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  telemetry: {
    instrumentations: [new PrismaInstrumentation(), new OpenAIInstrumentation()],
  },
});
```

There is a [huge library of instrumentations](https://opentelemetry.io/ecosystem/registry/?language=js) you can easily add to your project like this.

Some ones we recommend:

| Package                               | Description                                                                                                              |
| ------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `@opentelemetry/instrumentation-http` | Logs all HTTP calls                                                                                                      |
| `@prisma/instrumentation`             | Logs all Prisma calls, you need to [enable tracing](https://github.com/prisma/prisma/tree/main/packages/instrumentation) |
| `@traceloop/instrumentation-openai`   | Logs all OpenAI calls                                                                                                    |

<Note>
  `@opentelemetry/instrumentation-fs` which logs all file system calls is currently not supported.
</Note>

### Telemetry Exporters

You can also configure custom telemetry exporters to send your traces, logs, and metrics to other external services. For example, you can send your logs to [Axiom](https://axiom.co/docs/guides/opentelemetry-nodejs#exporter-instrumentation-ts). First, add the opentelemetry exporter packages to your package.json file:

```json package.json
"dependencies": {
  "@opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-http": "0.52.1",
  "@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-http": "0.52.1",
  "@opentelemetry/exporter-metrics-otlp-proto": "0.52.1"
}
```

<Note>
  Axiom's `/v1/metrics` endpoint only supports protobuf (`application/x-protobuf`), not JSON. Use
  `@opentelemetry/exporter-metrics-otlp-proto` instead of
  `@opentelemetry/exporter-metrics-otlp-http` for metrics. Traces and logs work fine with the
  `-http` (JSON) exporters.
</Note>

Then, configure the exporters in your `trigger.config.ts` file:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";
import { OTLPTraceExporter } from "@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-http";
import { OTLPLogExporter } from "@opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-http";
import { OTLPMetricExporter } from "@opentelemetry/exporter-metrics-otlp-proto";

// Initialize OTLP trace exporter with the endpoint URL and headers;
export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  telemetry: {
    instrumentations: [
      // Your instrumentations here
    ],
    logExporters: [
      new OTLPLogExporter({
        url: "https://api.axiom.co/v1/logs",
        headers: {
          Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.AXIOM_API_TOKEN}`,
          "X-Axiom-Dataset": process.env.AXIOM_DATASET,
        },
      }),
    ],
    exporters: [
      new OTLPTraceExporter({
        url: "https://api.axiom.co/v1/traces",
        headers: {
          Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.AXIOM_API_TOKEN}`,
          "X-Axiom-Dataset": process.env.AXIOM_DATASET,
        },
      }),
    ],
    metricExporters: [
      new OTLPMetricExporter({
        url: "https://api.axiom.co/v1/metrics",
        headers: {
          Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.AXIOM_API_TOKEN}`,
          "x-axiom-metrics-dataset": process.env.AXIOM_METRICS_DATASET,
        },
      }),
    ],
  },
});
```

Make sure to set the `AXIOM_API_TOKEN`, `AXIOM_DATASET`, and `AXIOM_METRICS_DATASET` environment variables in your project. Axiom requires a separate, dedicated dataset for metrics — you cannot reuse the same dataset for traces/logs and metrics.

It's important to note that you cannot configure exporters using `OTEL_*` environment variables, as they would conflict with our internal telemetry. Instead you should configure the exporters via passing in arguments to the `OTLPTraceExporter`, `OTLPLogExporter`, and `OTLPMetricExporter` constructors. For example, here is how you can configure exporting to Honeycomb:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";
import { OTLPTraceExporter } from "@opentelemetry/exporter-trace-otlp-http";
import { OTLPLogExporter } from "@opentelemetry/exporter-logs-otlp-http";
import { OTLPMetricExporter } from "@opentelemetry/exporter-metrics-otlp-http";

// Initialize OTLP trace exporter with the endpoint URL and headers;
export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  telemetry: {
    instrumentations: [
      // Your instrumentations here
    ],
    logExporters: [
      new OTLPLogExporter({
        url: "https://api.honeycomb.io/v1/logs",
        headers: {
          "x-honeycomb-team": process.env.HONEYCOMB_API_KEY,
          "x-honeycomb-dataset": process.env.HONEYCOMB_DATASET,
        },
      }),
    ],
    exporters: [
      new OTLPTraceExporter({
        url: "https://api.honeycomb.io/v1/traces",
        headers: {
          "x-honeycomb-team": process.env.HONEYCOMB_API_KEY,
          "x-honeycomb-dataset": process.env.HONEYCOMB_DATASET,
        },
      }),
    ],
    metricExporters: [
      new OTLPMetricExporter({
        url: "https://api.honeycomb.io/v1/metrics",
        headers: {
          "x-honeycomb-team": process.env.HONEYCOMB_API_KEY,
          "x-honeycomb-dataset": process.env.HONEYCOMB_DATASET,
        },
      }),
    ],
  },
});
```

## Runtime

We currently only officially support the `node` runtime, but you can try our experimental `bun` runtime by setting the `runtime` option in your config file:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  runtime: "bun",
});
```

See our [Bun guide](/guides/frameworks/bun) for more information.

### Node.js versions

<NodeVersions />

## Default machine

You can specify the default machine for all tasks in your project:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  machine: "large-1x",
});
```

See our [machines documentation](/machines) for more information.

## Log level

You can set the log level for your project:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  logLevel: "debug",
});
```

The `logLevel` only determines which logs are sent to the Trigger.dev instance when using the `logger` API. All `console` based logs are always sent.

## Console logging

You can control console logging behavior in development:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  enableConsoleLogging: true, // Enable console logging while running dev CLI
  disableConsoleInterceptor: false, // Disable console interceptor (prevents logs from being sent to the trigger.dev dashboard)
});
```

## Max duration

You can set the default `maxDuration` for all tasks in your project:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  maxDuration: 60, // 60 seconds
});
```

See our [maxDuration guide](/runs/max-duration) for more information.

## TTL

You can set a default time-to-live (TTL) for all task runs in your project. If a run is not dequeued within this time, it will expire and never execute.

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  ttl: "1h", // Also accepts a number of seconds, e.g. 3600
});
```

You can override this on a per-task basis by setting `ttl` on the task definition, or per-trigger by passing `ttl` in the trigger options. To opt a specific task out of the config-level TTL, set `ttl: 0` on the task. See [Time-to-live (TTL)](/runs#time-to-live-ttl) for more information.

## Process keep alive

Keep the process alive after the task has finished running so the next task doesn't have to wait for the process to start up again.

Note that the process could be killed at any time, and we don't make any guarantees about the process being alive for a certain amount of time

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  processKeepAlive: true,
});
```

You can pass an object to the `processKeepAlive` option to configure the behavior:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  processKeepAlive: {
    enabled: true,
    // The maximum number of executions per process. If the process has run more than this number of times, it will be killed.
    maxExecutionsPerProcess: 50, // Default: 50
    // The maximum number of concurrent processes to keep alive in dev.
    devMaxPoolSize: 25, // Default: 25
  },
});
```

## Development behavior

You can control the working directory behavior in development:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  legacyDevProcessCwdBehaviour: false, // Default: true
});
```

When set to `false`, the current working directory will be set to the build directory, which more closely matches production behavior.

## CA certificates

CA Cert file to be added to NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERT environment variable, useful in use with self signed cert in the trigger.dev environment.

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  // Must start with "./" and be relative to project root
  extraCACerts: "./certs/ca.crt",
});
```

## Build configuration

You can customize the build process using the `build` option:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  build: {
    // Don't bundle these packages
    external: ["header-generator"],
    // Automatically detect external dependencies (default: true)
    autoDetectExternal: true,
    // Keep function/class names in bundle (default: true)
    keepNames: true,
    // Minify generated code (default: false, experimental)
    minify: false,
  },
});
```

<Note>
  The `trigger.config.ts` file is included in the bundle, but with the `build` configuration
  stripped out. These means any imports only used inside the `build` configuration are also removed
  from the final bundle.
</Note>

### External

All code is bundled by default, but you can exclude some packages from the bundle using the `external` option:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  build: {
    external: ["header-generator"],
  },
});
```

When a package is excluded from the bundle, it will be added to a dynamically generated package.json file in the build directory. The version of the package will be the same as the version found in your `node_modules` directory.

Each entry in the external should be a package name, not necessarily the import path. For example, if you want to exclude the `ai` package, but you are importing `ai/rsc`, you should just include `ai` in the `external` array:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  build: {
    external: ["ai"],
  },
});
```

#### WebAssembly (WASM) packages

Packages that use WebAssembly (WASM) must be added to the `external` array. WASM files are binary modules that need to be loaded at runtime and cannot be bundled into JavaScript code. When you add a WASM package to `external`, the package will be installed as a dependency in the runtime environment, ensuring the WASM files are available at their expected paths.

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  build: {
    external: ["your-wasm-package-name"],
  },
});
```

<Note>
  Any packages that install or build a native binary or use WebAssembly (WASM) should be added to
  external, as they cannot be bundled. For example, `re2`, `sharp`, `sqlite3`, and WASM packages
  should be added to external.
</Note>

### JSX

You can customize the `jsx` options that are passed to `esbuild` using the `jsx` option:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  build: {
    jsx: {
      // Use the Fragment component instead of React.Fragment
      fragment: "Fragment",
      // Use the h function instead of React.createElement
      factory: "h",
      // Turn off automatic runtime
      automatic: false,
    },
  },
});
```

By default we enabled [esbuild's automatic JSX runtime](https://esbuild.github.io/content-types/#auto-import-for-jsx) which means you don't need to import `React` in your JSX files. You can disable this by setting `automatic` to `false`.

See the [esbuild JSX documentation](https://esbuild.github.io/content-types/#jsx) for more information.

### Conditions

You can add custom [import conditions](https://esbuild.github.io/api/#conditions) to your build using the `conditions` option:

```ts trigger.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from "@trigger.dev/sdk";

export default defineConfig({
  project: "<project ref>",
  // Your other config settings...
  build: {
    conditions: ["react-server"],
  },
});
```

These conditions effect how imports are resolved during the build process. For example, the `react-server` condition will resolve `ai/rsc` to the server version of the `ai/rsc` export.

Custom conditions will also be passed to the `node` runtime when running your tasks.

### Extensions

Build extension allow you to hook into the build system and customize the build process or the resulting bundle and container image (in the case of deploying). You can use pre-built extensions by installing the `@trigger.dev/build` package into your `devDependencies`, or you can create your own.

#### additionalFiles

See the [additionalFiles documentation](/config/extensions/additionalFiles) for more information.

#### `additionalPackages`

See the [additionalPackages documentation](/config/extensions/additionalPackages) for more information.

#### `emitDecoratorMetadata`

See the [emitDecoratorMetadata documentation](/config/extensions/emitDecoratorMetadata) for more information.

#### Prisma

See the [prismaExtension documentation](/config/extensions/prismaExtension) for more information.

#### syncEnvVars

See the [syncEnvVars documentation](/config/extensions/syncEnvVars) for more information.

#### puppeteer

See the [puppeteer documentation](/config/extensions/puppeteer) for more information.

#### ffmpeg

See the [ffmpeg documentation](/config/extensions/ffmpeg) for more information.

#### esbuild plugins

See the [esbuild plugins documentation](/config/extensions/esbuildPlugin) for more information.

#### aptGet

See the [aptGet documentation](/config/extensions/aptGet) for more information.
