Abstract In this work, we study masses and decays of triply-heavy pentaquarks \(QQQn\bar{n}(Q=b,c)\) in the unified MIT bag model. We construct the color-spin wave functions of the triply-heavy pentaquarks we address and use numerical variational method to compute all ground-state masses of these system. By excluding the scattering states in these configurations, we compute the decay width ratios of each decay channels relative to the maximum width for the compact pentaquark states, obtaining main decay modes of the triply-heavy pentaquark systems. Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. Article funded by SCOAP3 and published under licence by Chinese Physical Society and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Science and the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and IOP Publishing Ltd.