Triggers start a Tool or automation placement automatically, on a schedule or when files change in a folder. Each placement keeps its own triggers, so two copies of the same Tool can run at different times or watch different folders.
ThinkForge Desktop must remain running for a trigger to fire. Triggers run locally inside the application; they are not a separate online service.
Add or Manage a Trigger
- Open the Tools page and select a Tool or automation.
- Select Schedule to add a schedule quickly, or expand Schedules & triggers.
- Choose a schedule or file watch and configure it.
- Use Pause, Resume, or remove on an existing trigger.
For a placement in a project folder or on the Ribbon, open its manager and choose Triggers... on its row. The same trigger options appear there.
One placement can have several triggers.
Schedule
A schedule can run at a set time or repeat throughout part of the day.
At a set time runs once at the local time you choose, on the days you choose. Shortcuts are available for weekdays, every day, and weekends.
Repeat at an interval runs over and over within a daily window:
- Every (minutes) sets the gap, from 1 to 1440 minutes. The default is 5.
- Start time and Stop time set the window. The defaults are 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM.
- Choose the days it applies to.
The interval counts from the start time. Every 5 minutes from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM runs at 9:00, 9:05, and so on, with the last run at 4:55. Nothing new starts at or after the stop time, but a run already going can finish. The stop time has to be later than the start time on the same day, so a window can't run overnight. The dialog shows a summary and the next run time before you add it.
Schedules use the computer's local time and are checked once per minute, so a run can start shortly after the exact minute. If a scheduled run is still active when its next time arrives, that occurrence is skipped.
A scheduled run uses the placement's saved Documents or folders, output destination, settings, and AI model.
File Watch
A file watch keeps an eye on one folder and runs when a file in it changes. Choose one event for each watch:
- Added — a matching file appears in the folder.
- Modified — a matching file in the folder is changed.
- Deleted — a matching file is removed from the folder.
You can also enter an optional pattern, such as *.md, *.csv, or report_*.xlsx, to limit which files count.
How it behaves:
- The folder must exist.
- Subfolders are not watched.
- Renaming a file inside the watched folder doesn't count as an event.
- For Added and Modified, ThinkForge waits until the file has finished being written, then runs with that file as the main input.
- For Deleted, the file is already gone, so the run receives its former path and name instead of its contents.
A file watch you created before you could choose an event is an Added watch.
Choose the Watched Folder
Use Choose... to select a folder from the current project. You can also drag exactly one physical folder from Folder Tree onto the selector. Files and multi-item drops are rejected.
For a project-folder placement, the attached folder is selected by default. After choosing another folder, Use attached folder restores it.
For another placement, Use input folder is available only when exactly one existing input folder can be used as the default. No default is selected when there are no valid input folders or more than one.
Changing the watched folder changes only that trigger. It does not move the placement or change Documents or folders.
Pause, Resume, and Remove
Pausing stops the live trigger but keeps its settings. Resume starts it again. Remove deletes the trigger.
Disabling a placement prevents its triggers from running but preserves whether each trigger was active or paused.
Removing a placement also removes its triggers.
Unattended Runs
Trigger runs are headless. Approval and guided-mode requests are confirmed automatically, so Tools used by triggers should be safe to run unattended.
After each run, the trigger records its last run time and success or error state.
Python Script Trust
A Python-backed trigger can run only while that placement's interpreter, script path, and script contents match the version you trusted in Tool settings.
Changing the interpreter, selecting another script, or editing the script invalidates trust. ThinkForge pauses the trigger instead of starting changed code and can report Script changed — review and trust the new version.
Review the code, trust the current configuration, save Tool settings, and resume the trigger.
Use a positive timeout for unattended Python runs. A timeout of 0 means there is no automatic timeout.