Trigger

An open-source internal ops platform that wraps Python and Bash scripts into a secure web UI — so non-technical teammates can run them without engineering involvement.

Think of it as a self-hosted alternative to tools like Airplane or Retool Workflows, minus the vendor lock-in and the managed-service pricing.

Why Trigger?

Most teams accumulate scripts — deployment helpers, data fixes, report generators — that only engineers can run because they live on the command line. Trigger solves this by giving each script a form-based UI, access controls, and an execution history, all without touching the script itself.

Screenshots

Command form	Execution history	Complex command

Features

• Zero-touch command registration — drop a script with a YAML comment header into the commands/ directory; Trigger picks it up automatically within 30 seconds
• Two roles — Operator (run assigned commands, view full execution history for those commands) and Admin (manage everything)
• Fine-grained access control — grant access per user or per group; admins always have full access
• Async execution — commands run in the background via a River job queue; poll for results
• Encrypted config store — AES-256-GCM encrypted key-value pairs injected into scripts at runtime
• Import error surfacing — broken command files are flagged in the UI without affecting healthy commands
• Admin password reset — admins can reset any user's password; self-lockout recovery via startup env vars

Tech Stack

Layer	Choice
Backend	Go, net/http (stdlib), pgx/v5, sqlc, goose, River
Auth	JWT (golang-jwt), bcrypt (x/crypto)
Database	PostgreSQL
Frontend	React + TypeScript, Ant Design, TanStack Query

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Go 1.25+
• Node.js 20+
• Docker (for PostgreSQL)

1. Clone and configure

git clone https://github.com/chiragguptadtu/trigger.git
cd trigger
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — at minimum set JWT_SECRET and ENCRYPTION_KEY

Generate a random encryption key:

openssl rand -hex 32

2. Start the database

docker compose up -d

3. Run the server

go run ./cmd/server

Migrations run automatically on startup. On first run, set ADMIN_EMAIL and ADMIN_PASSWORD in .env to seed an admin account.

The server starts on http://localhost:8080.

4. Run the frontend

cd web
npm install
npm run dev

The frontend starts on http://localhost:5173 and proxies API requests to the Go server.

Adding a Command

Create a Python or Bash script in the commands/ directory with a # ---trigger--- YAML header:

# ---trigger---
# name: Deploy Service
# description: Deploys a service to an environment
# inputs:
#   - name: environment
#     label: Environment
#     type: closed
#     options: [staging, production]
#     required: true
#   - name: reason
#     label: Reason for deploy
#     type: open
#     required: true
# ---end---

import sys, json

def run(inputs, config):
    env = inputs["environment"]
    print(f"Deploying to {env}...")
    # your logic here
    return ""  # empty string = success; non-empty = error message

if __name__ == "__main__":
    inputs = json.loads(sys.argv[1]) if len(sys.argv) > 1 else {}
    config = json.loads(sys.argv[2]) if len(sys.argv) > 2 else {}
    result = run(inputs, config)
    if result:
        print(result, file=sys.stderr)
        sys.exit(1)

Trigger auto-discovers the script within 30 seconds. No restart required.

Configuration

Variable	Required	Description
DATABASE_URL	Yes	PostgreSQL connection string
JWT_SECRET	Yes	Secret for signing JWTs
ENCRYPTION_KEY	Yes	64-char hex string (32-byte AES-256 key)
ADMIN_EMAIL	First run	Seeds an admin user if the DB is empty
ADMIN_PASSWORD	First run	Password for the seeded admin
RESET_ADMIN_EMAIL	Recovery	Resets this user's password on startup
RESET_ADMIN_PASSWORD	Recovery	New password to set on startup
COMMANDS_DIR	No	Path to commands directory (default: ./commands)
PORT	No	HTTP port (default: 8080)

API Overview

POST   /auth/login

GET    /commands                          # list accessible commands
GET    /commands/{slug}
POST   /commands/{slug}/executions        # trigger a command
GET    /commands/{slug}/executions        # execution history (current user)
GET    /executions/{id}

# Admin only
CRUD   /admin/users
CRUD   /admin/groups
CRUD   /admin/groups/{id}/members
CRUD   /admin/commands/{slug}/permissions
GET    /admin/commands/import-errors
CRUD   /admin/config

Running Tests

docker compose up -d   # PostgreSQL must be running
go test ./...

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

Elastic License 2.0 — free to use, modify, and contribute; you may not offer Trigger as a managed/hosted service. See LICENSE for full terms.