Overview

These nodes start workflows without uploading a file:

manualTrigger: start the workflow from the editor or a test run
schedule: run the workflow on an interval
webhookTrigger: run the workflow from an HTTP POST

In server execution they are pass-through triggers that add a triggeredAt timestamp to the incoming payload.

Configuration / Settings

Node	Setting	Type	Required	Details
`manualTrigger`	none	N/A	No	Designed for testing and ad hoc execution.
`schedule`	`interval`	`minute`, `hourly`, `daily`, `weekly`, `monthly`, `cron`	Yes	The schedule API validates the interval and enables/disables the saved workflow.
`schedule`	`cron`	cron string	Required for `cron`	Example UI hint: `0 0 * * *`.
`webhookTrigger`	webhook URL	generated string	Yes	Available only after the workflow is saved.
`webhookTrigger`	secret token	string	No	Requests must include `x-workflow-secret` when configured.

Inputs Expected

manualTrigger usually starts with {} unless the editor run injects test JSON.
schedule starts with an object like { trigger: 'schedule', scheduledAt: ISODate }.
webhookTrigger expects a JSON request body sent with POST.

Variables Exported / Outputs

Runtime output shape for pass-through triggers:

{
  "...incomingFields": "body fields copied to the root object",
  "triggeredAt": "2026-04-02T10:15:00.000Z",
  "inputData": { "...original payload" }
}

Notes:

webhookTrigger currently exposes the JSON body, not a full headers/query/body object.
schedule and manualTrigger also use this pass-through pattern.

Common Use Cases

Fire a workflow manually while tuning field mappings.
Run a cleanup or reporting workflow every hour.
Trigger downstream processing from another system by POSTing JSON into the webhook URL.

Edge Cases

The webhook URL does not exist until the workflow has been saved.
If a secret is configured, missing or incorrect x-workflow-secret values return 401.
The current cron worker supports interval-driven schedules. Custom cron expressions are stored, but the older cron worker route still marks cron parsing as TODO.