Triggers run a deployment automatically. Each deployment can have its own schedules and watched 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 deployment.
- 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.
One deployment can have several triggers.
Schedule
Choose a local time and one or more days. Shortcuts are available for weekdays, every day, and weekends.
The schedule uses the computer's local time and is checked once per minute.
If a scheduled run is still active when its next time arrives, the overlapping occurrence is skipped.
A scheduled run uses the deployment's saved Documents or folders, output destination, settings, and AI model.
File Watch
A file watch monitors one folder for newly created files that match an optional pattern such as *.md, *.csv, or report_*.xlsx.
Current behavior:
- The folder must exist.
- Subfolders are not watched.
- Creating a matching file starts the trigger.
- Editing an existing file does not start it.
- The new file becomes the run's primary input.
- There is no delay or wait-for-copy-completion option.
A large file can therefore be detected while another application is still writing it.
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 deployment, the attached folder is selected by default. After choosing another folder, Use attached folder restores it.
For another deployment, 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 deployment 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 deployment prevents its triggers from running but preserves whether each trigger was active or paused.
Removing a deployment 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 deployment'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.