BackgroundIdiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (IDILI) is common in hepatology practices and, in some cases, lethal. Increasing evidence show that tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) can induce IDILI in clinical applications but the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood.MethodsWe assessed the specificity of several TCAs for NLRP3 inflammasome via MCC950 (a selective NLRP3 inhibitor) pretreatment andNlrp3knockout (Nlrp3−/−) BMDMs. Meanwhile, the role of NLRP3 inflammasome in the TCA nortriptyline-induced hepatotoxicity was demonstrated inNlrp3−/−mice.ResultsWe reported here that nortriptyline, a common TCA, induced idiosyncratic hepatotoxicity in a NLRP3 inflammasome-dependent manner in mildly inflammatory states. In parallel in vitro studies, nortriptyline triggered the inflammasome activation, which was completely blocked byNlrp3deficiency or MCC950 pretreatment. Furthermore, nortriptyline treatment led to mitochondrial damage and subsequent mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) production resulting in aberrant activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome; a selective mitochondrial ROS inhibitor pretreatment dramatically abrogated nortriptyline-triggered the NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Notably, exposure to other TCAs also induced aberrant activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome by triggering upstream signaling events.ConclusionCollectively, our findings revealed that the NLRP3 inflammasome may act as a crucial target for TCA agents and suggested that the core structures of TCAs may contribute to the aberrant activation of NLRP3 inflammasome induced by them, an important factor involved in the pathogenesis of TCA-induced liver injury.Video AbstractSupplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12964-023-01128-x.