Schedule Trigger

The Schedule Trigger node is like having a personal assistant that never forgets. It automatically starts your workflows at exactly the times you specify - whether that’s every morning at 9 AM, every 30 minutes, or on specific dates.

This is perfect for tasks that need to happen regularly without you having to remember or manually start them each time.

How it works

The node runs in the background and keeps track of time. When your specified schedule is reached, it automatically triggers your workflow and provides timing information to the next nodes.

graph LR
  Schedule[Check Schedule] --> Time{Time Match?}
  Time -->|Yes| Trigger[Start Workflow]
  Time -->|No| Wait[Wait & Check Again]
  Wait --> Schedule
  style Trigger fill:#6d28d9,stroke:#fff,color:#fff

Setup guide

1. Choose Schedule Type: Decide if you want recurring intervals (every X minutes) or specific times (daily at 9 AM).

2. Set Your Timing: Configure the exact schedule using either simple intervals or more complex time patterns.

3. Add Constraints: Optionally limit when the schedule is active (like only during business hours or weekdays).

4. Test the Schedule: Use a short interval first to make sure your workflow runs correctly before setting the final timing.

Practical example: Daily report generation

Let’s create a workflow that automatically generates a daily summary report every weekday morning.

Let’s create a workflow that automatically generates a daily summary report every weekday morning.

Example 1: Daily at 9:00 AM

• Frequency: Daily
• Time: 9:00 AM New York time
• Constraint: Monday to Friday only

Example 2: Every 30 Minutes

• Frequency: Interval
• Time: Every 30 minutes
• Constraint: Between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM

Example 3: Weekly Report

• Frequency: Weekly
• Day: Every Friday
• Time: 5:00 PM UTC

Common schedule types

Schedule Type	When to Use	Example Configuration
Interval	Regular recurring tasks	Every 15 minutes, every 2 hours
Daily	Once per day at specific time	9:00 AM every day, 6:00 PM weekdays only
Weekly	Once per week on specific day	Every Monday at 10:00 AM
Monthly	Once per month on specific date	1st of every month at 12:00 PM

Time configuration options

Setting	Purpose	Example Values
Time	Specific time of day	”09:00”, “14:30”, “23:59”
Timezone	Which timezone to use	”America/New_York”, “Europe/London”, “UTC”
Weekdays Only	Skip weekends	true/false
Active Hours	Only run during certain hours	start: “08:00”, end: “18:00”
Date Range	Only active between specific dates	startDate: “2024-01-01”, endDate: “2024-12-31”

Start with short intervals for testing

When setting up a new scheduled workflow, start with a short interval (like every 2 minutes) to test that everything works correctly. Then change it to your desired schedule.

Interval examples

Interval	Configuration	Use Case
Every 5 minutes	{"intervalMinutes": 5}	Monitoring critical systems
Every hour	{"intervalMinutes": 60}	Regular data collection
Every 4 hours	{"intervalMinutes": 240}	Periodic maintenance tasks
Twice daily	{"scheduleType": "daily", "times": ["09:00", "17:00"]}	Morning and evening reports

Real-world examples

Price monitoring

Check product prices every 2 hours between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM on weekdays.

Daily backup

Create automatically a backup every day at 2:00 AM when traffic is low.

Weekly summary

Generate and email a performance report every Friday at 5:00 PM.

Troubleshooting

• Schedule not running: Check that your timezone is set correctly and that the current time matches your expected schedule.
• Running at wrong times: Verify the timezone setting matches your local timezone or the timezone you intended to use.
• Missing executions: Check if active hours or date range constraints are preventing the schedule from running.
• Too many executions: Make sure your interval isn’t too short, which could overwhelm your system or the websites you’re accessing.