CRON Scheduling Made Simple with QueueSaaS

CRON scheduling is one of the most powerful features of QueueSaaS, allowing you to create reliable, recurring tasks without managing your own scheduler infrastructure. Whether you need daily reports, hourly health checks, or complex recurring workflows, QueueSaaS handles the scheduling, execution, and retry logic for you.

Why Use CRON Scheduling?

Traditional approaches to recurring tasks often involve:

Managing cron servers
Handling timezone complexities
Dealing with missed executions
Implementing retry logic
Monitoring execution status

QueueSaaS eliminates all of this by providing a fully managed CRON scheduling service that:

✅ Executes tasks reliably on schedule
✅ Supports any timezone
✅ Handles retries automatically if execution fails
✅ Tracks execution history
✅ Allows pause/resume without losing schedule

Getting Started

Basic CRON Schedule

import { Client } from '@anlyonhq/scheduler';

const client = new Client({
  apiKey: process.env.ANLYON_API_KEY!,
});

// Create a daily schedule at 9 AM
await client.schedules.create({
  name: 'Daily Report',
  cronExpression: '0 9 * * *', // 9:00 AM every day
  timezone: 'America/New_York',
  url: 'https://api.example.com/report',
  method: 'POST',
  body: { type: 'daily_report' },
});

Using the Fluent Builder

The SDK provides a fluent builder API for common scheduling patterns:

// Hourly schedule
await client.schedules
  .createSchedule()
  .name('Hourly Health Check')
  .hourly()
  .to('https://api.example.com/health-check')
  .body({ check: 'system' })
  .create();

// Daily schedule
await client.schedules
  .createSchedule()
  .name('Daily Backup')
  .daily()
  .at('02:00') // 2 AM
  .to('https://api.example.com/backup')
  .create();

// Weekly schedule
await client.schedules
  .createSchedule()
  .name('Weekly Summary')
  .weekly()
  .on('Monday')
  .at('09:00')
  .to('https://api.example.com/weekly-summary')
  .create();

Common CRON Patterns

Every Minute

cronExpression: '* * * * *'

Every Hour

cronExpression: '0 * * * *'

Every Day at 9 AM

cronExpression: '0 9 * * *'

Every Monday at 9 AM

cronExpression: '0 9 * * 1'

Every 1st of the Month at Midnight

cronExpression: '0 0 1 * *'

Every 15 Minutes

cronExpression: '*/15 * * * *'

Timezone Support

QueueSaaS supports all IANA timezone identifiers, making it easy to schedule tasks in any timezone:

// Schedule in different timezones
await client.schedules.create({
  name: 'Tokyo Daily Report',
  cronExpression: '0 9 * * *',
  timezone: 'Asia/Tokyo', // 9 AM Tokyo time
  url: 'https://api.example.com/report',
});

await client.schedules.create({
  name: 'London Daily Report',
  cronExpression: '0 9 * * *',
  timezone: 'Europe/London', // 9 AM London time
  url: 'https://api.example.com/report',
});

Managing Schedules

List All Schedules

const schedules = await client.schedules.list();
console.log(`You have ${schedules.data.length} active schedules`);

Pause and Resume

Temporarily disable a schedule without deleting it:

// Pause a schedule
await client.schedules.pause('schedule-id');

// Resume a paused schedule
await client.schedules.resume('schedule-id');

Update a Schedule

Modify an existing schedule:

await client.schedules.update('schedule-id', {
  name: 'Updated Schedule Name',
  cronExpression: '0 10 * * *', // Change to 10 AM
  body: { type: 'updated_report' },
});

Delete a Schedule

await client.schedules.delete('schedule-id');

Real-World Examples

Daily Email Digest

await client.schedules.create({
  name: 'Daily Email Digest',
  cronExpression: '0 8 * * *', // 8 AM every day
  timezone: 'America/New_York',
  url: 'https://api.example.com/send-digest',
  method: 'POST',
  body: {
    type: 'email_digest',
    recipients: ['team@example.com'],
  },
});

Weekly Database Cleanup

await client.schedules.create({
  name: 'Weekly Database Cleanup',
  cronExpression: '0 2 * * 0', // 2 AM every Sunday
  timezone: 'UTC',
  url: 'https://api.example.com/cleanup',
  method: 'POST',
  body: {
    type: 'database_cleanup',
    retentionDays: 90,
  },
});

Hourly Metrics Collection

await client.schedules.create({
  name: 'Hourly Metrics',
  cronExpression: '0 * * * *', // Every hour
  url: 'https://api.example.com/collect-metrics',
  method: 'POST',
  body: {
    type: 'metrics',
    interval: 'hourly',
  },
});

Best Practices

Use descriptive names: Make it easy to identify schedules in your dashboard
Choose appropriate timezones: Schedule tasks when they’re needed, not just in UTC
Handle failures gracefully: Your webhook should handle errors and return appropriate status codes
Monitor execution: Use the analytics API to track schedule execution success rates
Test your schedules: Use the pause feature to test webhook endpoints before enabling schedules

Advanced Features

Custom Headers

Add custom headers to your scheduled requests:

await client.schedules.create({
  name: 'Authenticated Schedule',
  cronExpression: '0 9 * * *',
  url: 'https://api.example.com/secure-endpoint',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer your-token',
    'X-Custom-Header': 'value',
  },
  body: { data: 'value' },
});

Execution History

QueueSaaS tracks execution history for all schedules:

const schedule = await client.schedules.get('schedule-id');
console.log(`Last executed: ${schedule.data.lastExecutedAt}`);
console.log(`Next execution: ${schedule.data.nextRunAt}`);
console.log(`Status: ${schedule.data.status}`);

Troubleshooting

Schedule Not Executing

Check if the schedule is paused
Verify the CRON expression is correct
Ensure the timezone is set correctly
Check your webhook endpoint is accessible
Review execution logs in the dashboard

Timezone Issues

Always specify timezones explicitly. If you don’t, schedules default to UTC:

// Good - explicit timezone
cronExpression: '0 9 * * *',
timezone: 'America/New_York',

// Avoid - defaults to UTC
cronExpression: '0 9 * * *',
// timezone not specified

Next Steps

Learn about URL Groups for fan-out messaging
Explore Dead Letter Queue management
Check out our TypeScript SDK guide

Start scheduling your recurring tasks today with QueueSaaS! 🕐