---
title: "Scheduled tasks"
description: "A task that is triggered on a recurring schedule using CRON syntax."
---

To use scheduled tasks you need to do two things:

1. Define a task in your code using `schedules.task()`.
2. Attach a schedule to the task either using the dashboard or the SDK.

<Info>A task can have multiple schedules attached to it.</Info>

Like all tasks they don't have timeouts, they should be placed inside a [/trigger folder](/v3/trigger-folder), and you [can configure them](/v3/tasks-overview#defining-a-task).

## Defining a scheduled task

```ts
import { schedules } from "@trigger.dev/sdk/v3";

//this task will run when any of the attached schedules trigger
export const firstScheduledTask = schedules.task({
  id: "first-scheduled-task",
  run: async (payload) => {
    //when the task was scheduled to run
    //note this will be slightly different from new Date() because it takes a few ms to run the task
    console.log(payload.timestamp); //is a Date object

    //when the task was last run
    //this can be undefined if it's never been run
    console.log(payload.lastTimestamp); //is a Date object or undefined

    //the schedule id (you can have many schedules for the same task)
    //using this you can remove the schedule, update it, etc
    console.log(payload.scheduleId); //is a string

    //you can optionally provide an external id when creating the schedule
    //usually you would set this to a userId or some other unique identifier
    //this can be undefined if you didn't provide one
    console.log(payload.externalId); //is a string or undefined

    //the next 5 dates this task is scheduled to run
    console.log(payload.upcoming); //is an array of Date objects
  },
});
```

You can see from the comments that the payload has several useful properties:

- `timestamp` - the time the task was scheduled to run
- `lastTimestamp` - the time the task was last run
- `scheduleId` - the id of the schedule that triggered the task
- `externalId` - the external id you (optionally) provided when creating the schedule
- `upcoming` - the next 5 times the task is scheduled to run

<Note>
  This task will NOT get triggered on a schedule until you attach a schedule to it. Read on for how
  to do that.
</Note>

## Supported CRON syntax

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

"L" means the last. In the "day of week" field, 1L means the last Monday of the month. In the "day of month" field, L means the last day of the month.

We do not support seconds in the CRON syntax.

## When schedules won't trigger

There are two situations when a scheduled task won't trigger:

- For Dev environments scheduled tasks will only trigger if you're running the dev CLI.
- For Staging/Production environments scheduled tasks will only trigger if the task is in the current deployment (latest version). We won't trigger tasks from previous deployments.

## Attaching schedules in the dashboard

You need to attach a schedule to a task before it will run on a schedule. You can attach static schedules in the dashboard:

<Steps>

<Step title="Go to the Schedules page">
  In the sidebar select the "Schedules" page, then press the "New schedule" button. Or you can
  follow the onboarding and press the create in dashboard button. ![Blank schedules
  page](/images/v3/schedules-blank.png)
</Step>

<Step title="Create your schedule">
  Fill in the form and press "Create schedule" when you're done. ![Environment variables
  page](/images/v3/schedules-create.png)

These are the options when creating a schedule:

| Name              | Description                                                                                   |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Task              | The id of the task you want to attach to.                                                     |
| CRON pattern      | The schedule in CRON format.                                                                  |
| External id       | An optional external id, usually you'd use a userId.                                          |
| Deduplication key | An optional deduplication key. If you pass the same value, it will update rather than create. |
| Environments      | The environments this schedule will run in.                                                   |

</Step>

</Steps>

## Attaching schedules with the SDK

You call `schedules.create()` to create a schedule from your code. Here's the simplest possible example:

```ts
const createdSchedule = await schedules.create({
  //The id of the scheduled task you want to attach to.
  task: firstScheduledTask.id,
  //The schedule in CRON format.
  cron: "0 0 * * *",
});
```

<Note>The `task` id must be a task that you defined using `schedules.task()`.</Note>

You can create many schedules with the same `task`, `cron`, and `externalId` but only one with the same `deduplicationKey`.

This means you can have thousands of schedules attached to a single task, but only one schedule per `deduplicationKey`. Here's an example with all the options:

```ts
const createdSchedule = await schedules.create({
  //The id of the scheduled task you want to attach to.
  task: firstScheduledTask.id,
  //The schedule in CRON format.
  cron: "0 0 * * *",
  //Optionally, you can specify your own IDs (like a user ID) and then use it inside the run function of your task.
  //This allows you to have per-user CRON tasks.
  externalId: "user_123456",
  //(Optional) You can only create one schedule with this key.
  //If you use it twice, the second call will update the schedule.
  //This is useful if you don't want to create duplicate schedules for a user.
  deduplicationKey: "user_123456-todo_reminder",
});
```

See [the SDK reference](/v3/management-create-schedule) for full details.

### Dynamic schedules (or multi-tenant schedules)

By using the `externalId` you can have schedules for your users. This is useful for things like reminders, where you want to have a schedule for each user.

A reminder task:

```ts /trigger/reminder.ts
import { schedules } from "@trigger.dev/sdk/v3";

//this task will run when any of the attached schedules trigger
export const reminderTask = schedules.task({
  id: "todo-reminder",
  run: async (payload) => {
    if (!payload.externalId) {
      throw new Error("externalId is required");
    }

    //get user using the externalId you used when creating the schedule
    const user = await db.getUser(payload.externalId);

    //send a reminder email
    await sendReminderEmail(user);
  },
});
```

Then in your backend code, you can create a schedule for each user:

```ts Next.js API route
import { reminderTask } from "~/trigger/reminder";

//app/reminders/route.ts
export async function POST(request: Request) {
  //get the JSON from the request
  const data = await request.json();

  //create a schedule for the user
  const createdSchedule = await schedules.create({
    task: reminderTask.id,
    //8am every day
    cron: "0 8 * * *",
    //the user id
    externalId: data.userId,
    //this makes it impossible to have two reminder schedules for the same user
    deduplicationKey: `${data.userId}-reminder`,
  });

  //return a success response with the schedule
  return Response.json(createdSchedule);
}
```

You can also retrieve, list, delete, deactivate and re-activate schedules using the SDK. More on that later.

## Testing schedules

You can test a scheduled task in the dashboard. Note that the `scheduleId` will always come through as `sched_1234` to the run.

<Steps>

<Step title="Go to the Test page">
  In the sidebar select the "Test" page, then select a scheduled task from the list (they have a
  clock icon on them) ![Test page](/images/v3/schedules-test.png)
</Step>

<Step title="Create your schedule">
  Fill in the form [1]. You can select from a recent run [2] to pre-populate the fields. Press "Run
  test" when you're ready ![Schedule test form](/images/v3/schedules-test-form.png)
</Step>

</Steps>

## Managing schedules with the SDK

### Retrieving an existing schedule

```ts
const retrievedSchedule = await schedules.retrieve(scheduleId);
```

See [the SDK reference](/v3/management-retrieve-schedule) for full details.

### Listing schedules

```ts
const allSchedules = await schedules.list();
```

See [the SDK reference](/v3/management-list-schedules) for full details.

### Updating a schedule

```ts
const updatedSchedule = await schedules.update(scheduleId, {
  task: firstScheduledTask.id,
  cron: "0 0 1 * *",
  externalId: "ext_1234444",
});
```

See [the SDK reference](/v3/management-update-schedule) for full details.

### Deactivating a schedule

```ts
const deactivatedSchedule = await schedules.deactivate(scheduleId);
```

See [the SDK reference](/v3/management-deactivate-schedule) for full details.

### Activating a schedule

```ts
const activatedSchedule = await schedules.activate(scheduleId);
```

See [the SDK reference](/v3/management-activate-schedule) for full details.

### Deleting a schedule

```ts
const deletedSchedule = await schedules.del(scheduleId);
```

See [the SDK reference](/v3/management-delete-schedule) for full details.
