Scheduled Cron Job Automation

Description

This automation demonstrates scheduled task execution using cron expressions. The automation runs on a defined schedule to trigger batch processes, regular maintenance tasks, or recurring business operations. This pattern is essential for implementing time-based workflows such as daily reports, subscription billing runs, data synchronization, or cleanup tasks. The cron job includes timeout configuration to prevent long-running processes from blocking the system.

Use Case

Used in a subscription management system to trigger daily donation subscription processing. The automation runs every weekday evening at 6 PM to process pending subscription charges, generate invoices, and update payment statuses. This ensures consistent billing cycles and automated revenue collection without manual intervention.

Key Features

• Cron expression for flexible scheduling
• Timeout configuration for process control
• Weekday-only execution (Monday-Thursday)
• Business process automation
• Time-zone aware scheduling
• Error handling through timeout limits

JSON Definition

{
  "key": "schedule_donation_subscription_run",
  "name": "schedule donation subscription run",
  "entityKey": "subscription_run",
  "app": "sub",
  "triggerType": "cronJob",
  "triggerParams": {
    "cronExpression": "0 18 * * 0-4",
    "timeoutMs": 30000
  },
  "actions": [
    {
      "name": "Kick off subscriptions run",
      "key": "kick_off_subscriptions_run",
      "actionTypeKey": "handle_subscription_run",
      "params": {
        "type": "Donation"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Notes

• Cron expression format: minute hour day month weekday
• 0 18 * * 0-4 runs at 18:00 (6 PM) Sunday through Thursday
• Timeout is set to 30 seconds (30000ms) to prevent hanging processes
• The automation can trigger complex batch processing workflows
• Different subscription types can have separate schedules
• Cron jobs run in the server's configured timezone
• Failed executions are logged for monitoring and retry