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Cron

input

Schedule your workflow to run at specific times using cron expressions. This input type uses standard cron syntax to define when the workflow should execute automatically.

Configuration

Add a cron input to your workflow to schedule automatic executions: 

workflow:
  name: scheduled-workflow
  input:
    type: cron
    cron: "0 9 * * *"
    start_now: false

Configuration Options

Required and optional configuration fields for this input type:

Parameter Type Required Description
type string Yes Set to "cron"
cron string Yes A cron expression defining the schedule (e.g., '0 8 * * 1-5' for 8 AM Mon-Fri)
start_now boolean No Whether to trigger immediately on startup
Default: false
payload object No A static JSON dictionary that will be passed as the payload on every invocation

Cron Syntax

Cron expressions consist of five fields that define when the workflow should run: 

┌───────────── minute (0 - 59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0 - 23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1 - 31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1 - 12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday to Saturday)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Note: All times are in UTC. Example: '0 8 * * 1-5' fires at 08:00 UTC Monday through Friday.

Common Patterns

Here are some frequently used cron schedules:

"* * * * *" Every minute
"0 * * * *" Every hour
"0 0 * * *" Daily at midnight
"0 9 * * 1-5" Weekdays at 9 AM
"*/15 * * * *" Every 15 minutes
"0 0 1 * *" First day of month
"0 0 * * 0" Every Sunday
"0 12 * * 1-5" Weekdays at noon

Start Now Option

The start_now parameter determines whether the workflow should trigger immediately when it starts up: 

input:
  type: cron
  cron: "0 9 * * *"
  start_now: true  # Triggers once immediately on startup

Static Payload

You can provide a static payload that will be passed to the workflow on each execution: 

input:
  type: cron
  cron: "0 9 * * 1-5"
  payload:
    task_type: "daily_report"
    environment: "production"
    recipients:
      - "team@company.com"
      - "manager@company.com"

Example Workflow

Here's a complete example that generates a daily report every weekday morning: 

pipeline:
  name: daily-sales-report
  input:
    type: cron
    cron: "0 9 * * 1-5"  # Weekdays at 9 AM UTC
    start_now: false
    payload:
      report_type: "daily"
  steps:
    - type: add_timestamp
      field: generated_at
    - type: http_call
      method: GET
      url: "https://api.company.com/sales/daily"
      output_to: sales_data
    - type: resend_email
      api_key: "${env:RESEND_API_KEY}"
      from_email: "reports@company.com"
      to: "team@company.com"
      subject_template: "Daily Sales Report - ${generated_at}"
      html_template: |
        <h2>Daily Sales Report</h2>
        <p>Total sales: $${sales_data.total}</p>
        <p>Orders: ${sales_data.order_count}</p>

Best Practices

  • UTC Awareness - All cron schedules run in UTC. Convert your local times to UTC when setting schedules
  • Testing - Use start_now: true to test your workflow immediately before setting a schedule
  • Monitoring - Set up alerts for failed scheduled executions
  • Idempotency - Ensure your workflows can run multiple times safely
  • Rate Limits - Be mindful of API rate limits when scheduling frequent executions

Useful Tools

Use online cron expression generators to help create and validate your schedules: