Manual Trigger

input.manual Input v0.1.0

Starts the workflow when run manually, passing your run/test data forward (empty item by default).

Finding it in the library

Search the builder's node library for Manual Trigger (it lives under Input). A single click opens the in-editor docs panel shown here — description, ports, and every property, without leaving the canvas. Double-click (or drag) to add it to the workflow.

Library capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes.

Wired up in the builder

Manual Trigger in a real, runnable flow — captured live from the Studio editor, exactly as it looks on your canvas. This is the same workflow used for the example input & output below.

Canvas capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes.

How it’s configured

The node’s Configure panel as it opens in the builder when you select the step — every setting laid out with real values. Click any field to edit it.

Config capture pending — regenerate with npm run shots:nodes. See the full property reference below.

Ports

This is a trigger — it starts runs and takes no input wire.

Ports are the node’s contract with its neighbours. In the editor a port label renders bold when wired and italic when optional; ◈ ports accept attachment carriers rather than data wires.

Direction	Port	Label	What flows through it
Output	`output`	Output

How data flows through it

As a trigger, Manual Trigger starts runs — it takes no input wire. What it emits is the request wrapper: the event’s body becomes the payload, and the wrapper carries the event metadata around it (for an HTTP-style trigger that’s headers.*, request.method, request.path and query). Downstream nodes consume the content — the wrapper is unwrapped at each node boundary, and expression roots like {{ headers.x }} still resolve against the wrapper when you need the metadata. See Runs & run data for the envelope model.

Expressions in the config

None of this node’s properties are string-typed, so {{ }} expressions don’t apply here — JSON- and code-typed fields are always taken literally.

Build it with AI

Every node in this reference is reachable through Flowdrome’s AI Copilot and the MCP tools — say what you want, and the graph surgery happens server-side. Node types resolve fuzzily, so the catalog label (Manual Trigger) works as well as the exact type id (input.manual).

In the Copilot panel (or any connected AI):

create a workflow that starts with manual trigger and logs the result

As a step in a create_chain_workflow call:

{"type":"Manual Trigger","config":{}}

Raw MCP call — add this node to a workflow with add_node

curl -s -X POST http://localhost:48170/mcp -H "content-type: application/json" -d '{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": "1", "method": "tools/call", "params": { "name": "add_node", "arguments": { "workflowId": "<id>", "type": "Manual Trigger" } } }'

Example input & output

Captured from a real test run of the workflow above — this is what you see in the run data panel after pressing Test workflow.

Input — what the node received

{
  "hello": "manual"
}

Output — what the node produced

{
  "hello": "manual"
}

Property reference

This node has no configurable properties.

Related nodes

The rest of the Input group — the same folder you’d scan in the editor’s library.

This page is generated from the node registry by gen-node-docs.mjs on every site build — ports, properties, defaults and visibility rules cannot drift from the code. The screenshots and example data are captured from a live Flowdrome by npm run shots:nodes and npm run gen:examples.