Schedule Triggers

Schedule triggers start workflows at specified times using cron expressions or interval-based scheduling. Powered by Trigger.dev's scheduling infrastructure.

Configuration

Schedule triggers support two modes: cron expressions and intervals.

{
  "trigger": {
    "type": "schedule",
    "cron": "0 9 * * 1-5",
    "timezone": "America/New_York",
    "enabled": true
  }
}

{
  "trigger": {
    "type": "schedule",
    "interval": {
      "value": 30,
      "unit": "minutes"
    },
    "timezone": "UTC",
    "enabled": true
  }
}

Field	Type	Required	Description
`type`	string	Yes	Must be `"schedule"`
`cron`	string	No*	Cron expression (e.g., `"0 9 * * 1-5"`)
`interval`	object	No*	Interval configuration
`interval.value`	number	Yes	Interval value (1-525600)
`interval.unit`	string	Yes	`minutes`, `hours`, `days`, or `weeks`
`timezone`	string	No	IANA timezone (default: `"UTC"`)
`enabled`	boolean	No	Enable/disable schedule (default: `true`)

You must specify either cron or interval, but not both.

Cron Syntax

Cron expressions follow standard 5-field format:

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

Special Characters

Character	Description	Example
`*`	Any value	`* * * * *` (every minute)
`,`	List separator	`0,30 * * * *` (at 0 and 30 minutes)
`-`	Range	`0 9-17 * * *` (9am to 5pm)
`/`	Step values	`/15 * * *` (every 15 minutes)

Common Schedules

Schedule	Cron Expression	Description
Every minute	`* * * * *`	Runs every minute
Every 15 minutes	`/15 * * *`	At 0, 15, 30, 45 past the hour
Every hour	`0 * * * *`	At the start of every hour
Daily at 9am	`0 9 * * *`	Every day at 9:00 AM
Weekdays at 9am	`0 9 * * 1-5`	Monday-Friday at 9:00 AM
Weekly on Monday	`0 9 * * 1`	Mondays at 9:00 AM
Monthly on 1st	`0 9 1 * *`	First of month at 9:00 AM
Quarterly	`0 9 1 1,4,7,10 *`	First of Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct

Workflow Examples

Daily Invoice Sync (9am EST):

{
  "name": "Daily Invoice Sync",
  "trigger": {
    "type": "schedule",
    "cron": "0 9 * * *",
    "timezone": "America/New_York"
  },
  "steps": [
    {
      "id": "fetch-invoices",
      "type": "action",
      "action": "quickbooks.listInvoices",
      "config": {
        "filter": "DueDate < '{{now}}'"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Weekly Report (Fridays at 5pm):

{
  "name": "Weekly Sales Report",
  "trigger": {
    "type": "schedule",
    "cron": "0 17 * * 5",
    "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles"
  },
  "steps": [...]
}

Interval-Based Scheduling

For simpler recurring schedules, use intervals:

{
  "trigger": {
    "type": "schedule",
    "interval": {
      "value": 4,
      "unit": "hours"
    }
  }
}

Interval Units

Unit	Max Value	Example
`minutes`	525600 (1 year)	Every 30 minutes
`hours`	8760 (1 year)	Every 4 hours
`days`	365	Every day
`weeks`	52	Every week

Interval Examples

Every 30 minutes:

{
  "trigger": {
    "type": "schedule",
    "interval": { "value": 30, "unit": "minutes" }
  }
}

Every 6 hours:

{
  "trigger": {
    "type": "schedule",
    "interval": { "value": 6, "unit": "hours" }
  }
}

Weekly:

{
  "trigger": {
    "type": "schedule",
    "interval": { "value": 1, "unit": "weeks" }
  }
}

Timezone Handling

Always specify a timezone for consistent execution times:

{
  "trigger": {
    "type": "schedule",
    "cron": "0 9 * * *",
    "timezone": "America/New_York"
  }
}

Common Timezones

Region	Timezone
US Eastern	`America/New_York`
US Central	`America/Chicago`
US Mountain	`America/Denver`
US Pacific	`America/Los_Angeles`
UK	`Europe/London`
Central Europe	`Europe/Berlin`
India	`Asia/Kolkata`
Japan	`Asia/Tokyo`
Australia	`Australia/Sydney`
UTC	`UTC`

Without a timezone, schedules default to UTC. This may cause unexpected execution times.

Daylight Saving Time

Schedules automatically adjust for DST transitions:

Spring forward: A 2am schedule may skip when clocks move from 2am to 3am
Fall back: A 1am schedule may run twice when clocks move from 2am to 1am

For critical schedules, consider using UTC to avoid DST edge cases.

Enabling and Disabling

Temporarily disable a schedule without deleting the workflow:

{
  "trigger": {
    "type": "schedule",
    "cron": "0 9 * * *",
    "enabled": false
  }
}

Re-enable by setting enabled: true or removing the field.

Input Data

Scheduled workflows receive execution metadata as input:

{
  "input": {
    "scheduledTime": "2024-01-15T09:00:00.000Z",
    "executionTime": "2024-01-15T09:00:01.234Z",
    "timezone": "America/New_York",
    "schedule": {
      "type": "cron",
      "expression": "0 9 * * *"
    }
  }
}

Field	Description
`scheduledTime`	When the run was scheduled to start
`executionTime`	When the run actually started
`timezone`	Configured timezone
`schedule.type`	`cron` or `interval`
`schedule.expression`	The cron or interval definition

Access in your steps:

{
  "config": {
    "message": "Running scheduled job for {{input.scheduledTime}}"
  }
}

Execution Guarantees

At-Least-Once Delivery

Scheduled workflows are guaranteed to run at least once per scheduled time. In rare cases (infrastructure issues), a schedule may run more than once.

Design for idempotency:

{
  "id": "process-daily",
  "type": "action",
  "config": {
    "idempotencyKey": "daily-sync-{{input.scheduledTime | date: '%Y-%m-%d'}}"
  }
}

Missed Schedules

If a schedule is missed (workflow was paused, system outage), the missed execution is not automatically recovered. The next scheduled execution runs as normal.

For critical schedules, consider:

Monitoring workflow run history
Alerting on missed executions
Running catch-up logic on workflow resume

Concurrency

By default, a new scheduled run starts even if the previous run is still executing. To prevent overlap:

{
  "settings": {
    "concurrencyLimit": 1
  }
}

Complete Example

{
  "name": "Daily Overdue Invoice Reminder",
  "description": "Send Slack reminders for overdue invoices every weekday at 9am",
  "trigger": {
    "type": "schedule",
    "cron": "0 9 * * 1-5",
    "timezone": "America/New_York"
  },
  "steps": [
    {
      "id": "fetch-overdue",
      "type": "action",
      "name": "Get Overdue Invoices",
      "action": "quickbooks.listInvoices",
      "config": {
        "filter": "DueDate < '{{input.scheduledTime}}' AND Balance > 0"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "check-count",
      "type": "condition",
      "name": "Check if any overdue",
      "config": {
        "conditions": {
          "left": "{{steps.fetch-overdue.output.invoices.length}}",
          "operator": "gt",
          "right": "0"
        },
        "then": ["send-reminder"],
        "else": []
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "send-reminder",
      "type": "slack",
      "name": "Send Slack Reminder",
      "config": {
        "action": "sendMessage",
        "channel": "#finance",
        "text": "You have {{steps.fetch-overdue.output.invoices.length}} overdue invoices totaling ${{steps.fetch-overdue.output.totalBalance}}"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Troubleshooting

Schedule Not Running

Check workflow status - Must be active
Verify enabled - Must be true (or not set)
Check timezone - Ensure correct IANA timezone
Validate cron - Use a cron validator tool

Wrong Execution Time

Check timezone - Common issue is UTC vs local
Verify DST - Times may shift during DST transitions
Review cron syntax - Especially day-of-week (0 = Sunday)

Missing Runs

Check workflow history - Confirm workflow was active
Review system status - Check for outages
Verify concurrency - Previous run may still be executing

Schedule Triggers

Schedule Triggers

Configuration

Cron Syntax

Special Characters

Common Schedules

Workflow Examples

Interval-Based Scheduling

Interval Units

Interval Examples

Timezone Handling

Common Timezones

Daylight Saving Time

Enabling and Disabling

Input Data

Execution Guarantees

At-Least-Once Delivery

Missed Schedules

Concurrency

Complete Example

Troubleshooting

Schedule Not Running

Wrong Execution Time

Missing Runs

Next Steps

Webhook Triggers

API Triggers

Workflow Overview

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