Cron jobs#

Cron jobs schedule custom functions at specific times via `node-schedule`, activated through server config and optional task files.

The cron.enabled configuration option should be set to true in the ./config/server.js (or ./config/server.ts for TypeScript projects) file.

cron allows scheduling arbitrary functions for execution at specific dates, with optional recurrence rules. These functions are named cron jobs. cron only uses a single timer at any given time, rather than reevaluating upcoming jobs every second/minute.

This feature is powered by the package.

The cron format consists of:


* * * * * *
┬ ┬ ┬ ┬ ┬ ┬
│ │ │ │ │ |
│ │ │ │ │ └ day of week (0 - 7) (0 or 7 is Sun)
│ │ │ │ └───── month (1 - 12)
│ │ │ └────────── day of month (1 - 31)
│ │ └─────────────── hour (0 - 23)
│ └──────────────────── minute (0 - 59)
└───────────────────────── second (0 - 59, OPTIONAL)

To define cron jobs and have them run at the required times:

Create the appropriate file.
Enable the cron jobs in the server configuration file.

Creating a cron job#

A cron job can be created using the object format or key format.

Using the object format#

To define a cron job with the object format, create a file with the following structure:

module.exports = {
  /**
   * Simple example.
   * Every monday at 1am.
   */

  myJob: {
    task: ({ strapi }) => {
      // Add your own logic here (e.g. send a queue of email, create a database backup, etc.).
    },
    options: {
      rule: "0 0 1 * * 1",
    },
  },
};

export default {
  /**
   * Simple example.
   * Every monday at 1am.
   */

  myJob: {
    task: ({ strapi }) => {
      // Add your own logic here (e.g. send a queue of email, create a database backup, etc.).
    },
    options: {
      rule: "0 0 1 * * 1",
    },
  },
};

Advanced example #1: Timezones

The following cron job runs on a specific timezone:

module.exports = {
  /**
   * Cron job with timezone example.
   * Every Monday at 1am for Asia/Dhaka timezone.
   * List of valid timezones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones#List
   */

  myJob: {
    task: ({ strapi }) => {
      /* Add your own logic here */
    },
    options: {
      rule: "0 0 1 * * 1",
      tz: "Asia/Dhaka",
    },
  },
};

export default {
  /**
   * Cron job with timezone example.
   * Every Monday at 1am for Asia/Dhaka timezone.
   * List of valid timezones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones#List
   */

  myJob: {
    task: ({ strapi }) => {
      /* Add your own logic here */
    },
    options: {
      rule: "0 0 1 * * 1",
      tz: "Asia/Dhaka",
    },
  },
};

Advanced example #2: One-off cron jobs

The following cron job is run only once at a given time:

module.exports = {
  myJob: {
    task: ({ strapi }) => {
      /* Add your own logic here */
    },
    // only run once after 10 seconds
    options: new Date(Date.now() + 10000),
  },
};

export default {
  myJob: {
    task: ({ strapi }) => {
      /* Add your own logic here */
    },
    // only run once after 10 seconds
    options: new Date(Date.now() + 10000),
  },
};

Advanced example #3: Start and end times

The following cron job uses start and end times:

module.exports = {
  myJob: {
    task: ({ strapi }) => {
      /* Add your own logic here */
    },
    options: {
      rule: "* * * * * *",
      // start 10 seconds from now
      start: new Date(Date.now() + 10000),
      // end 20 seconds from now
      end: new Date(Date.now() + 20000),
    },
  },
};

export default {
  myJob: {
    task: ({ strapi }) => {
      /* Add your own logic here */
    },
    // only run once after 10 seconds
    options: {
      rule: "* * * * * *",
      // start 10 seconds from now
      start: new Date(Date.now() + 10000),
      // end 20 seconds from now
      end: new Date(Date.now() + 20000),
    },
  },
};

Using the key format#

To define a cron job with the key format, create a file with the following structure:

module.exports = {
  /**
   * Simple example.
   * Every monday at 1am.
   */

  "0 0 1 * * 1": ({ strapi }) => {
    // Add your own logic here (e.g. send a queue of email, create a database backup, etc.).
  },
};

export default {
  /**
   * Simple example.
   * Every monday at 1am.
   */

  "0 0 1 * * 1": ({ strapi }) => {
    // Add your own logic here (e.g. send a queue of email, create a database backup, etc.).
  },
};

Enabling cron jobs#

To enable cron jobs, set cron.enabled to true in the server configuration file and declare the jobs:

const cronTasks = require("./cron-tasks");

module.exports = ({ env }) => ({
  host: env("HOST", "0.0.0.0"),
  port: env.int("PORT", 1337),
  cron: {
    enabled: true,
    tasks: cronTasks,
  },
});

import cronTasks from "./cron-tasks";

export default ({ env }) => ({
  host: env("HOST", "0.0.0.0"),
  port: env.int("PORT", 1337),
  cron: {
    enabled: true,
    tasks: cronTasks,
  },
});

Adding or removing cron jobs#

Use strapi.cron.add anywhere in your custom code add CRON jobs to the Strapi instance:

module.exports = () => ({
  bootstrap({ strapi }) {
    strapi.cron.add({
      // runs every second
      myJob: {
        task: ({ strapi }) => {
          console.log("hello from plugin");
        },
        options: {
          rule: "* * * * * *",
        },
      },
    });
  },
});

Use strapi.cron.remove anywhere in your custom code to remove CRON jobs from the Strapi instance, passing in the key corresponding to the CRON job you want to remove:

strapi.cron.remove("myJob");

Listing cron jobs#

Use strapi.cron.jobs anywhere in your custom code to list all the cron jobs that are currently running:

strapi.cron.jobs