NodesCore
Manual Trigger
Start a workflow manually and optionally seed the run with test items.
Manual Trigger
Description
ManualTrigger starts a workflow manually. It is the best default trigger for local development, smoke tests, and examples where you want deterministic starter items.
Examples
Basic usage: seed one starter item
workflow("wf.starter.hello")
.name("Starter Hello")
.manualTrigger("Start", { step: "start" })
.map("Mark ready", (item, _ctx) => ({ ...item.json, ready: true }))
.build();Example output:
[
{
"json": {
"step": "start"
}
}
]Advanced usage: seed a batch for local workflow testing
workflow("wf.demo.batch")
.name("Batch demo")
.manualTrigger("Seed test orders", [
{ orderId: "ord_1", total: 120 },
{ orderId: "ord_2", total: 450 },
])
.map("Summarize batch", (item, _ctx) => item.json)
.build();Fluent helper callbacks such as .map(...), .if(...), and .switch({ resolveCaseKey }) receive the full workflow item plus execution ctx. Read row fields from item.json, and use ctx.data when you need outputs from earlier completed steps.
Example output:
[
{
"json": {
"orderId": "ord_1",
"total": 120
}
},
{
"json": {
"orderId": "ord_2",
"total": 450
}
}
]