Objective For nonlinear multi-agent systems under directed topology the fixed-time consensus problem based on distributed dynamic event triggering was studied. Methods By introducing a dynamic variable based on the static event-triggered strategy a triggering condition based on state information and dynamic variables was proposed for each agent and the controller of the system was updated only when the measurement error met this triggering condition. The dynamic variable serving as an adjustable threshold parameter effectively reduced the number of event triggers thereby further reducing the resource consumption of the system compared with the static event-triggered strategy. Results Using algebraic graph theory Lyapunov stability theory and fixed-time stability theory the conditions that needed to be satisfied for each parameter in the control strategy and trigger function when the system achieved fixed-time consensus and the upper bound on the convergence time of the system was also obtained. Conclusion While the convergence time of a finite-time consensus system depends on the initial conditions of the system the proposed fixed-time consensus protocol ensures that the convergence time is independent of the initial conditions and the upper bound of the convergence time can be determined by adjusting the control parameters. The analysis of the measurement error proves that Zeno behavior can be effectively avoided under the proposed event-triggered strategy. Finally numerical simulation examples demonstrate the feasibility of the theoretical results.