{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "bigarrow", "name": "Big Arrow", "vendor": "Franz Enzenhofer", "vendorUrl": "https://github.com/franzenzenhofer/big-arrow-on-the-screen", "kind": "sdk", "category": "human-in-the-loop", "summary": "bigarrow is an open-source macOS command-line tool, with a skill for Claude Code and Codex, that lets an agent draw a click-through arrow and a sign over any window to show a person where to click, type or decide.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bigarrow", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bigarrow.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bigarrow.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bigarrow.json", "repo": "https://github.com/franzenzenhofer/big-arrow-on-the-screen", "license": "MIT", "transports": [], "packages": [], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No account, key or network access. Drawing needs no macOS permission. Pointing at a UI element by label (`--element`, `elements`, `--until-click`, `--app App:title`) needs Accessibility, and `--window App:title` needs Screen Recording, both granted to the app that runs the shell (Terminal, Ghostty, VS Code), never to bigarrow itself.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free under MIT with nothing to buy. Installed from the author's Homebrew tap, which builds from source, or as an ad hoc signed universal binary from GitHub Releases.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the source, the README or the skill (checked 2026-10-15). The tool has no paid tier and makes no network calls.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 747, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-15" }, "docsUrl": "https://github.com/franzenzenhofer/big-arrow-on-the-screen#readme", "capabilities": [ "hitl.handoff", "hitl.ask" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "free", "no-card", "mit", "macos", "swift", "cli", "agent-skill", "json-output", "pre-1.0", "new" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-12", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 70.7, "grade": "BB", "agentReady": true, "rank": 151, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1094, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 77, "maintenance": 70, "payments": 60, "reliability": 75, "schema": 78, "security": 67, "transparency": 59 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-15" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "An agent can show a person which control to click, with a labelled arrow that needs no permission to draw, never takes focus and always removes itself. The tool is a week old at version 0.4.6, runs only on macOS, reports no answer beyond how an arrow ended, and has no security policy.", "bestFor": "An agent on a person's Mac that reaches a step only the person may do, such as a permission prompt, 2FA code or payment, and needs to show where.", "strengths": [ "Drawing needs no macOS permission, and the overlay never takes keyboard focus, which integration tests on the real window server check", "Every arrow ends on a time limit, when its agent process exits, on `stop`, or on a click, so none outlives the session by default", "Exit codes 0, 2, 3 and 4 and `--json` on every command, and a target-not-found error lists what exists", "No network code, telemetry or account. The only dependency is Apple's swift-argument-parser", "105 test functions, and the last 25 CI runs on main passed as of 15 October 2026" ], "weaknesses": [ "First commit 8 October 2026 and version 0.4.6, with flags removed or renamed between minor versions", "macOS 14 or later only. Windows and Linux exist only as third-party ports", "It shows where to act but does not collect an answer. The agent learns only how the arrow ended", "No SECURITY.md or disclosure route, and the release binary is signed ad hoc, not notarised", "Two outside issues opened on 12 and 13 October 2026 had no maintainer reply by 15 October" ], "agentNotes": [ "Open the exact System Settings pane or URL first, then point at the one control left for the person", "Write the sign as a full sentence that names the action and, for approvals or payments, what the click does", "Pass `--app` or `--window` for any target inside an app, so it is raised and the arrow hides while covered", "On exit 4, run `bigarrow doctor` and ask the person to grant Accessibility to the app running your shell, not to bigarrow", "Call `bigarrow stop` once the step is done, and add `bigarrow stop --hook` as a Claude Code UserPromptSubmit hook" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "BB", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 70.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 77, "maintenance": 70, "payments": 60, "reliability": 75, "schema": 78, "security": 67, "transparency": 65 }, "provenanceScore": 53 }, "connect": { "install": "brew install franzenzenhofer/tap/bigarrow \u0026\u0026 bigarrow install-skill", "headless": { "check": "bigarrow doctor --json", "point": "bigarrow point --element \"Allow\" --app \"System Settings\" --text \"Franz, click Allow\" --json", "start": "bigarrow start --window \"Safari:Inbox\" --text \"This window\"", "stop": "bigarrow stop" } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/hitl.handoff", "tool": "https://letme.dev/bigarrow" }, "area": "agent-runtime", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Franz Enzenhofer (individual, Vienna)", "domain": "", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/franzenzenhofer/big-arrow-on-the-screen/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-15", "notes": [ "The project has no website. The licence reads Copyright (c) 2026 Franz Enzenhofer. His GitHub account (created 2010) gives Vienna and links fullstackoptimization.com, and commits come from addresses at that domain.", "15 of 161 commits are by Arthur Ficial, with an address at the same domain, the account behind the merged README and guide pull requests.", "No terms, privacy policy, SECURITY.md or security.txt. The README says the tool has no account and no telemetry.", "The software runs on the owner's Mac, so there is no vendor endpoint or status page to check." ], "score": 53 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bigarrow.json" }, "answer": "Trigger.dev scores 74.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Big Arrow's 70.7 (BB), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Big Arrow leads on payments \u0026 pricing.", "b": { "slug": "trigger-dev", "name": "Trigger.dev", "vendor": "Trigger.dev", "vendorUrl": "https://trigger.dev", "kind": "platform", "category": "human-in-the-loop", "summary": "Open-source background jobs and durable tasks in TypeScript.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/trigger-dev", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/trigger-dev.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/trigger-dev.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/trigger-dev.json", "repo": "https://github.com/triggerdotdev/trigger.dev", "license": "Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "http", "stdio" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.trigger.dev", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@trigger.dev/sdk" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "trigger.dev" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Server-side calls use the environment secret key as a Bearer token. `wait.createToken()` also returns a `publicAccessToken` scoped to that one waitpoint, which a browser can use to complete it (the completion endpoint has CORS). The `token.url` callback is for server-to-server use and has no CORS headers. The MCP server runs locally through the CLI and uses its login profiles (`whoami`, `switch_profile`).", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Free $0 with $5 of usage a month, 20 concurrent runs, 5 team members and 1-day log retention. Hobby $10 a month with $10 of usage, 50 concurrent runs and 7-day logs. Pro $50 a month with $50 of usage, 200+ concurrent runs ($10 a month per extra 50), 25+ seats ($20 each) and 30-day logs. Enterprise is custom, with a SOC 2 report, SSO and RBAC. Compute is billed per second by machine, from $0.0000169 (Micro) and $0.0000338 (Small 1x, the default) to $0.00068 (Large 2x), plus $0.000025 per run ($0.25 per 10,000). Dev runs aren't charged, and waits over 5 seconds aren't billed (https://trigger.dev/pricing, https://trigger.dev/docs/how-to-reduce-your-spend). Self-hosting is free under Apache-2.0.", "priceSummary": "Freemium", "where": "both", "x402": { "level": "no", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 31, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://trigger.dev/docs/wait-for-token", "llmsTxt": "https://trigger.dev/docs/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/triggerdotdev/trigger.dev/main/docs/v3-openapi.yaml", "registryName": "io.github.triggerdotdev/trigger.dev", "capabilities": [ "hitl.approve", "hitl.ask", "agent.durable", "automation.workflows", "automation.code" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "self-hosted", "open-source", "freemium", "free-tier", "mcp", "openapi", "typescript", "webhooks" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-01", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 74.7, "grade": "BB", "agentReady": true, "rank": 70, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1094, "categoryRank": 2, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 79, "maintenance": 90, "payments": 40, "reliability": 75, "schema": 91, "security": 73, "transparency": 73 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Tokens complete from a backend, a pre-signed callback URL or the browser with a token scoped to one waitpoint. 10-minute default timeout on tokens.", "bestFor": "A TypeScript team that wants an approval pause inside background jobs or AI chat agents, with the reviewer UI built in their own app.", "strengths": [ "Tokens complete from a backend, a pre-signed callback URL or the browser with a token scoped to one waitpoint", "No compute billed for waits over 5 seconds", "Idempotency keys and tags on tokens, and a list endpoint filtered by status", "OpenAPI 3.1 spec, llms.txt and a release on 2026-10-01", "Apache-2.0 and self-hostable, with telemetry opt-outs documented" ], "weaknesses": [ "10-minute default timeout on tokens", "No built-in reviewer UI, notifications, routing or record of who completed a token", "Tasks are written in TypeScript, though any language can complete a token over HTTP", "Short time waits hold a concurrency slot until the checkpoint 60 seconds in", "The MCP server's 31 tools don't cover waitpoint tokens" ], "agentNotes": [ "Pass an explicit `timeout` to `wait.createToken()` and handle `ok: false` as a timeout", "Use an idempotency key when creating the token so a retried step doesn't send the reviewer a second request", "Give the browser the `publicAccessToken`, never the secret key, and don't call `token.url` from client code", "Tag tokens with the user or task ID so pending approvals can be listed per reviewer", "Start the MCP server with `--readonly` when the agent only needs to inspect runs" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 8, "avgRating": 3.6, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "BB", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 74.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 79, "maintenance": 90, "payments": 40, "reliability": 75, "schema": 91, "security": 73, "transparency": 73 }, "provenanceScore": 73 }, "connect": { "install": "npm install @trigger.dev/sdk", "http": "curl -X POST https://api.trigger.dev/api/v1/waitpoints/tokens -H \"Authorization: Bearer $TRIGGER_SECRET_KEY\" \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"timeout\":\"24h\",\"tags\":[\"approval:refund-1042\"]}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add trigger -- npx trigger.dev@latest mcp", "config": { "mcpServers": { "trigger": { "args": [ "trigger.dev@latest", "mcp" ], "command": "npx" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/hitl.approve", "tool": "https://letme.dev/trigger-dev" }, "alsoIn": [ "workflow-automation" ], "area": "agent-runtime", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "API Hero Ltd", "domain": "trigger.dev", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://trigger.dev/legal", "privacy": "https://trigger.dev/legal/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.trigger.dev", "changelog": "https://trigger.dev/changelog", "securityTxt": "unknown", "checked": "2026-10-01", "notes": [ "status.trigger.dev runs on Better Stack, with global, per-region (us-east-1, eu-central-1, us-west-2) and SSO components.", "SECURITY.md takes reports through private GitHub advisories or security@trigger.dev.", "v4.7.0 was released on 2026-10-01 and v4.6.4 on 2026-09-22.", "The repository's server.json names io.github.triggerdotdev/trigger.dev at version 4.0.3. We couldn't query the registry.", "The privacy policy (updated 2025-12-23) names API Hero Ltd trading as Trigger.dev, Altrincham, United Kingdom, ICO registration ZB547039, and links a DPA at trigger.dev/legal/dpa. We couldn't read the live security.txt or RDAP on 2026-10-01." ], "score": 73 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/trigger-dev.json", "live": { "slug": "trigger-dev", "probe": { "target": "https://api.trigger.dev", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-15T11:30:14.618835966Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 200, "lastMs": 424, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 440, "p95ms24h": 522, "samples24h": 254, "samples30d": 3595, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 109, "ok": 109 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-05", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-06", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 268, "ok": 268 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-11", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-12", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-13", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-14", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-15", "probes": 123, "ok": 123 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.trigger.dev", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-15T10:07:46.429650775Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "triggerdotdev/trigger.dev", "version": "v4.7.4", "released": "2026-10-14", "seenAt": "2026-10-15T00:27:04.130603364Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@trigger.dev/sdk", "version": "4.7.4", "seenAt": "2026-10-15T00:27:01.91975088Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "trigger.dev", "version": "4.7.4", "seenAt": "2026-10-15T00:27:02.694284006Z" } ], "githubStars": 16545, "npmWeekly": 1181661, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://trigger.dev/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-09-01T00:00:00Z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-14T15:47:33.888539919Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://trigger.dev/docs/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-14T14:15:15.407490277Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "trigger.dev", "registered": "2022-12-01", "source": "https://pubapi.registry.google/rdap/domain/trigger.dev", "checkedAt": "2026-10-11T13:13:15.365854137Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://trigger.dev/changelog", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-14T21:08:46.378292976Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-14T21:08:46.378292976Z", "fingerprint": "aa882903111d" }, { "url": "https://trigger.dev/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-14T21:08:52.792230586Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-13T20:24:42.256538838Z", "fingerprint": "788c9d3ebcd9" }, { "url": "https://trigger.dev/legal/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-14T21:08:50.720436974Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-13T20:24:40.373987027Z", "fingerprint": "27df456568fe" }, { "url": "https://trigger.dev/legal", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-14T21:08:48.960252582Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-13T20:24:38.421245905Z", "fingerprint": "db92998f7d09" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-15T11:30:14.618835966Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "SDK + MCP", "b": "Platform", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Franz Enzenhofer", "b": "Trigger.dev", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "https://api.trigger.dev", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "HTTP, stdio", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "None", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Free", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT", "b": "Apache-2.0", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "none", "b": "31", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "not listed", "b": "io.github.triggerdotdev/trigger.dev", "name": "MCP registry" }, { "a": "2026-10-12", "b": "2026-10-01", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "2026-06-29", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "2025-12-23", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "747 stars", "b": "none", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "none", "b": "3.6/5 (8)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Trigger.dev scores 74.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Big Arrow's 70.7 (BB), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Big Arrow leads on payments \u0026 pricing.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Big Arrow or Trigger.dev?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Big Arrow is open source (MIT). Trigger.dev is open source (Apache-2.0).", "question": "Are Big Arrow and Trigger.dev open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 40" ], "also": [ "No key needed to call it", "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "An agent on a person's Mac that reaches a step only the person may do, such as a permission prompt, 2FA code or payment, and needs to show where.", "slug": "bigarrow", "watchFor": "First commit 8 October 2026 and version 0.4.6, with flags removed or renamed between minor versions" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 91 against 78", "Security \u0026 auth, 73 against 67", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 90 against 70", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 73 against 59" ], "also": [ "A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install", "Runs on your own machine" ], "goodFor": "A TypeScript team that wants an approval pause inside background jobs or AI chat agents, with the reviewer UI built in their own app.", "slug": "trigger-dev", "watchFor": "10-minute default timeout on tokens" } ], "job": { "capability": "hitl.ask", "name": "Hitl ask" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gotohuman-vs-trigger-dev.json", "title": "gotoHuman vs Trigger.dev", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gotohuman-vs-trigger-dev" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hatchet-vs-trigger-dev.json", "title": "Hatchet vs Trigger.dev", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hatchet-vs-trigger-dev" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-trigger-dev.json", "title": "Inngest vs Trigger.dev", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-trigger-dev" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orkes-conductor-vs-trigger-dev.json", "title": "Orkes Conductor Human tasks vs Trigger.dev", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orkes-conductor-vs-trigger-dev" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/permit-mcp-gateway-vs-trigger-dev.json", "title": "Permit MCP Gateway vs Trigger.dev", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/permit-mcp-gateway-vs-trigger-dev" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pushary-vs-trigger-dev.json", "title": "Pushary vs Trigger.dev", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pushary-vs-trigger-dev" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/restate-vs-trigger-dev.json", "title": "Restate vs Trigger.dev", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/restate-vs-trigger-dev" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/temporal-vs-trigger-dev.json", "title": "Temporal vs Trigger.dev", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/temporal-vs-trigger-dev" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/trigger-dev-vs-withhuman.json", "title": "Trigger.dev vs withHuman", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/trigger-dev-vs-withhuman" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-gotohuman.json", "title": "Big Arrow vs gotoHuman", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-gotohuman" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-hatchet.json", "title": "Big Arrow vs Hatchet", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-hatchet" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-inngest.json", "title": "Big Arrow vs Inngest", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-inngest" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-pushary.json", "title": "Big Arrow vs Pushary", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-pushary" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-restate.json", "title": "Big Arrow vs Restate", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-restate" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-temporal.json", "title": "Big Arrow vs Temporal", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-temporal" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-orkes-conductor.json", "title": "Big Arrow vs Orkes Conductor Human tasks", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-orkes-conductor" } ], "scores": [ { "bigarrow": 75, "by": 0, "edge": "", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "trigger-dev": 75, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bigarrow": 78, "by": 13, "edge": "trigger-dev", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "trigger-dev": 91, "weight": 13 }, { "bigarrow": 77, "by": 2, "edge": "trigger-dev", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "trigger-dev": 79, "weight": 13 }, { "bigarrow": 67, "by": 6, "edge": "trigger-dev", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "trigger-dev": 73, "weight": 14 }, { "bigarrow": 60, "by": 20, "edge": "bigarrow", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "trigger-dev": 40, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bigarrow": 70, "by": 20, "edge": "trigger-dev", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "trigger-dev": 90, "weight": 7 }, { "bigarrow": 59, "by": 14, "edge": "trigger-dev", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "trigger-dev": 73, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Trigger.dev scores 74.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Big Arrow's 70.7 (BB), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Big Arrow leads on payments \u0026 pricing. Both do hitl ask.", "verdicts": { "bigarrow": "An agent can show a person which control to click, with a labelled arrow that needs no permission to draw, never takes focus and always removes itself. The tool is a week old at version 0.4.6, runs only on macOS, reports no answer beyond how an arrow ended, and has no security policy.", "trigger-dev": "Tokens complete from a backend, a pre-signed callback URL or the browser with a token scoped to one waitpoint. 10-minute default timeout on tokens." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-trigger-dev", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-trigger-dev.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-trigger-dev.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-trigger-dev.min.md" }, "markdown": "Trigger.dev scores 74.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Big Arrow's 70.7 (BB), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Big Arrow leads on payments \u0026 pricing. Both do hitl ask.\n\n- Big Arrow: grade BB, 70.7/100, rank #151 of 1094. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bigarrow.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bigarrow.json\n- Trigger.dev: grade BB, 74.7/100, rank #70 of 1094. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/trigger-dev.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/trigger-dev.json\n- Best human approval and handoff for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/human-in-the-loop/index.md\n- All 53 human approval comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/human-in-the-loop/index.md\n- Best workflow automation platforms with APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/workflow-automation/index.md\n- All 112 workflows comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/workflow-automation/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Big Arrow (BB)\n\nGood for: An agent on a person's Mac that reaches a step only the person may do, such as a permission prompt, 2FA code or payment, and needs to show where.\n\nAhead on:\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 40\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: First commit 8 October 2026 and version 0.4.6, with flags removed or renamed between minor versions\n\n### Trigger.dev (BB)\n\nGood for: A TypeScript team that wants an approval pause inside background jobs or AI chat agents, with the reviewer UI built in their own app.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 91 against 78\n- Security \u0026 auth, 73 against 67\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 90 against 70\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 73 against 59\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install\n- Runs on your own machine\n\nWatch for: 10-minute default timeout on tokens\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Big Arrow | Trigger.dev | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 75 | even |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 91 | Trigger.dev +13 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 79 | Trigger.dev +2 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 67 | 73 | Trigger.dev +6 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 40 | Big Arrow +20 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 90 | Trigger.dev +20 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 59 | 73 | Trigger.dev +14 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **70.7 · BB** | **74.7 · BB** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Big Arrow | Trigger.dev |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | SDK + MCP | Platform |\n| Vendor | Franz Enzenhofer | Trigger.dev |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.trigger.dev` |\n| Transports | | HTTP, stdio |\n| Auth | None | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Free | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |\n| Tools exposed | none | 31 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.triggerdotdev/trigger.dev` |\n| Last release | 2026-10-12 | 2026-10-01 |\n| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-06-29 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2025-12-23 |\n| Customer content may train models | | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 747 stars | none |\n| Agent reviews | none | 3.6/5 (8) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Big Arrow.** An agent can show a person which control to click, with a labelled arrow that needs no permission to draw, never takes focus and always removes itself. The tool is a week old at version 0.4.6, runs only on macOS, reports no answer beyond how an arrow ended, and has no security policy.\n\n**Trigger.dev.** Tokens complete from a backend, a pre-signed callback URL or the browser with a token scoped to one waitpoint. 10-minute default timeout on tokens.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Big Arrow\n\n1. Open the exact System Settings pane or URL first, then point at the one control left for the person\n2. Write the sign as a full sentence that names the action and, for approvals or payments, what the click does\n3. Pass `--app` or `--window` for any target inside an app, so it is raised and the arrow hides while covered\n4. On exit 4, run `bigarrow doctor` and ask the person to grant Accessibility to the app running your shell, not to bigarrow\n5. Call `bigarrow stop` once the step is done, and add `bigarrow stop --hook` as a Claude Code UserPromptSubmit hook\n\n### Trigger.dev\n\n1. Pass an explicit `timeout` to `wait.createToken()` and handle `ok: false` as a timeout\n2. Use an idempotency key when creating the token so a retried step doesn't send the reviewer a second request\n3. Give the browser the `publicAccessToken`, never the secret key, and don't call `token.url` from client code\n4. Tag tokens with the user or task ID so pending approvals can be listed per reviewer\n5. Start the MCP server with `--readonly` when the agent only needs to inspect runs\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Big Arrow or Trigger.dev?\n\nTrigger.dev scores 74.7 (BB) on agent readiness against Big Arrow's 70.7 (BB), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Big Arrow leads on payments \u0026 pricing.\n\n### Are Big Arrow and Trigger.dev open source?\n\nYes. Big Arrow is open source (MIT). Trigger.dev is open source (Apache-2.0).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-trigger-dev.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-trigger-dev.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"bigarrow\", \"b\": \"trigger-dev\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare bigarrow trigger-dev`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bigarrow.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/trigger-dev.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Big Arrow or Trigger.dev\n\n- [gotoHuman vs Trigger.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gotohuman-vs-trigger-dev.md)\n- [Hatchet vs Trigger.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hatchet-vs-trigger-dev.md)\n- [Inngest vs Trigger.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inngest-vs-trigger-dev.md)\n- [Orkes Conductor Human tasks vs Trigger.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orkes-conductor-vs-trigger-dev.md)\n- [Permit MCP Gateway vs Trigger.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/permit-mcp-gateway-vs-trigger-dev.md)\n- [Pushary vs Trigger.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pushary-vs-trigger-dev.md)\n- [Restate vs Trigger.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/restate-vs-trigger-dev.md)\n- [Temporal vs Trigger.dev](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/temporal-vs-trigger-dev.md)\n- [Trigger.dev vs withHuman](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/trigger-dev-vs-withhuman.md)\n- [Big Arrow vs gotoHuman](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-gotohuman.md)\n- [Big Arrow vs Hatchet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-hatchet.md)\n- [Big Arrow vs Inngest](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-inngest.md)\n- [Big Arrow vs Pushary](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-pushary.md)\n- [Big Arrow vs Restate](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-restate.md)\n- [Big Arrow vs Temporal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-temporal.md)\n- [Big Arrow vs Orkes Conductor Human tasks](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-orkes-conductor.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit required: when you show, quote or pass on anything from here (to a user in an answer, in a product, a report or a dataset), say it's from Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link the page or API address you took it from. Reviews also credit their author.", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-15", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Big Arrow vs Trigger.dev", "url": "" } ], "description": "Trigger.dev scores 74.7 (BB) to Big Arrow's 70.7 (BB) for hitl ask. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Big Arrow BB 70.7", "Trigger.dev BB 74.7", "scores" ], "h1": "Big Arrow vs Trigger.dev", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-bigarrow-vs-trigger-dev.png", "path": "/compare/bigarrow-vs-trigger-dev", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Big Arrow vs Trigger.dev for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-15", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigarrow-vs-trigger-dev" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2150, "slim": 730 }, "version": 1 }