---
title: "Trigger Sets: Custom Instructions"
description: "Astro PM runs the night, but every setup has its own rituals – a settle wait here, a flip-flat nudge there. Trigger sets are drop boxes for **your own NINA instructions** at four key moments of the automated night. ###…"
url: "https://astro-pm.com/docs/trigger-sets-custom-instructions/"
updated: "2026-07-12"
category: Astro PM NINA Guide
---

# Trigger Sets: Custom Instructions

Astro PM runs the night, but every setup has its own rituals – a settle wait here, a flip-flat nudge there. Trigger sets are drop boxes for **your own NINA instructions** at four key moments of the automated night.

### The Four Sets

- **Before Each Exposure Instructions** – runs ahead of every Astro PM exposure.
- **After Each Exposure Instructions** – runs after every exposure completes.
- **Before Target Change Instructions** – runs each time Astro PM is about to slew to a new target block.
- **After Target Change Instructions** – runs when a target block finishes.

Add them like any trigger on the container that holds Astro PM Instructions, then drag instructions into their boxes.

[![](https://astro-pm.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-12-133143.png)](https://astro-pm.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Screenshot-2026-07-12-133143.png)

### Coordinates Just Work

Instructions that need target coordinates – Center, Center and Rotate, Slew to RA/Dec – receive the **live target’s coordinates** automatically when they run inside a trigger set. You do not have to (and should not) hard-code coordinates into them.

### Good Uses

- Re-center or run a custom platesolve routine after each target change.
- Fire an external script (lights, notifications) when a new target starts.
- Add a settle delay after each exposure for a sensitive mount.

   **Tip:** Standard NINA triggers (autofocus, meridian flip, center after drift) do not need trigger sets – attach them to the parent container as usual and Astro PM honors them between exposures.