[☂️] Dify Trigger — Event-driven Workflow Foundation

[Yeuoly]

[Umbrella] Dify Trigger System — Event-driven Workflow Foundation                                                                                             

Background

Trigger = When something → then do something

This is the foundation for event-driven Workflow capabilities, covering the following types:

• Schedule (time-based triggers)
• SaaS Integration Event (events from external SaaS platforms like Slack/Github/Linear, integrated by Plugins)
• Webhook (external http callbacks)
• Something to be discuss

All of those features are only designed for Workflow, Chatflow / Agent / BasicChat are not supported.

Design Premise

After careful consideration, we concluded that the start node design cannot fully embody the philosophy behind Triggers.
Therefore, we have redesigned the start node as a component bound to WebApp or Service API.
This means:

• The workflow input parameters are equivalent to the form defined by the start node.
• Trigger types can define their own input formats instead of following Dify’s start node format:
  • Webhook: users can freely define the HTTP payload structure they need.
  • Plugins: predefine workflow input parameters for specific third-party platforms.
  • Schedule: only needs a single $current_time parameter.

As a result, we introduced 3 kinds of start nodes, they are all the trigger nodes, and we've already completed the product design, and the UI/UX design is also finished.
The implementation of Trigger will be divided into:

• WebHook — configuration of webhook-related information in Canvas
• Schedule — time-based triggers
• Plugins — plugin system (most third-party platform integrations will depend on this)

WebHook	Schedule	Plugins

Why

1. Enable more scenarios
   Currently, if you want to build something like a Discord ticket bot → Linear in an enterprise setup, you need custom glue code, pre-published extensions, and manual token retrieval from the Discord developer console instead of simple one-click OAuth binding.
   Similar pain points exist for GitHub PR plugin review, Hello Dify email replies, etc., all requiring manual download/upload/trigger actions.
2. Reduce fragmented experiences
   While it’s possible to achieve similar outcomes using external automation platforms with Dify API calls, the cross-platform experience is fragmented, and many external automation platforms are adding their own LLM orchestration capabilities.
3. Centralize configuration and management
   Developers often have to host multiple services to poll for events. Endpoints can help, but they are not purpose-built for trigger scenarios, making the configuration flow unintuitive.
4. Real user demand
   Multiple community members have requested this feature:
   • Workflow Schedule Feature #9168
   • Expanded Starting Nodes for Workflows/Chatflows to Enhance Automation Capabilities #4516
   • Add cron trigger | add option to schedule flow runs directly in Dify #19409
   • [Enhancement] Trigger workflow on a schedule #21583

How to Contribute

If you think a task is too large and should be split, please comment under this issue and @Yeuoly so we can discuss how to break it down.

If you want to claim a task:

1. Create a new issue in this repository.

   • Name it starting with:

     [☂️] Dify Trigger —
     

   • Clearly describe the part you want to claim.

   • Include a deadline (DDL) that is realistic for your skill and availability.

2. Post the issue number in the comments of this Umbrella issue.
3. All discussions related to that sub-task should happen in your sub-issue.
4. Once maintainers review and approve, we will update the tracker in this Umbrella issue to link your sub-issue.
5. Our cooperation will under branch feat/trigger

Cooperation docs under this notion workspace: https://www.notion.so/Trigger-tech-design-README-2550ad0f26b980359ad3e6b4d8e21f7e

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Task Tracker

This list is maintained and updated by the core team. Community members are free to claim tasks.
Sub-tasks may depend on the completion of parent tasks.

• Backend: Unified Trigger Entry [☂️] Dify Trigger — Backend: Unified Entry of Workflow #23995
  • Abstract a single entry point for all triggers
  • Handle billing and rate-limiting
  • Ensure workflows run in Celery
  • Assignee: @Yeuoly (align with @laipz8200)
• Backend: Single-Step Debug for Trigger
  • Implement the ability to listen for an incoming trigger event (Webhook / Schedule / Plugin) in debug mode.
  • The system should wait until an event is received and then store the received payload into the Variables Inspector for inspection.
  • Status: Available for claim
• Backend: Plugin Specification [☂️] Dify Trigger — Backend: Plugin specification #24241
  • Implement Schema of Plugin
  • Assignee: @Mairuis
• Backend: Schedule System & Node (depends on Unified Trigger Entry)
  • Implement schedule dispatcher and schedule node
  • Support both Cloud and Self-Hosted scheduling
  • Update App structure as needed
  • Assignee: @ACAne0320 (align with @Yeuoly)
• Backend: Webhook Node (depends on Unified Trigger Entry) [☂️] Dify Trigger — Backend: Webhook Node of Workflow #24000
  • Design and implement webhook trigger node
  • Assignee: @hjlarry (align with @Yeuoly)
• Backend: Trigger Plugin Specification (independent)
  • Continue work from PR #162
  • Status: Available for claim
• Frontend: Schedule Node & Panel UI [☂️] Dify Trigger — Frontend: Schedule Node UI & Configuration Panel #24001
  • Assignee: @lyzno1

[lyzno1]

1

[CathyL0]

2

[ACAne0320]

3

[bowenliang123]

4

[ZeroZ-lab]

5

[hjlarry]

6
please assign Webhook Node to me