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Triggers

Cron Trigger

The Cron trigger executes agents or workflows on a recurring schedule using cron expressions. Configure the schedule with standard cron syntax and specify a timezone for execution.

For trigger setup and usage instructions, see the Usage Guide.

Use Cases:

  • Scheduled data synchronization between systems
  • Periodic health checks and monitoring
  • Daily or weekly report generation
  • Cleanup and maintenance tasks
  • Database backups

Configuration​

The Cron trigger requires only a schedule configuration. No credentials are needed.

  1. Navigate to the VoltOps Triggers page
  2. Select Cron Trigger as the provider
  3. Configure your cron expression and timezone


Cron Expression​

Enter a standard cron expression to define your schedule. The expression is validated and displays a human-readable description.

A standard cron expression with five fields:

* * * * *
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ └─ Weekday (0-7, where 0 and 7 are Sunday)
│ │ │ └─── Month (1-12)
│ │ └───── Day of month (1-31)
│ └─────── Hour (0-23)
└───────── Minute (0-59)

Special Characters:

  • * - Any value
  • , - Value list separator
  • - - Range of values
  • / - Step values

Common Presets:

PresetExpression
Every 5 minutes*/5 * * * *
Every 15 minutes*/15 * * * *
Every hour0 * * * *
Every 3 hours0 */3 * * *
Daily at 9 AM0 9 * * *
Weekly on Monday0 9 * * 1

More Examples:

ExpressionDescription
0 0 1 * *First day of every month at midnight
0 0 * * 0Every Sunday at midnight
30 2 * * *Every day at 2:30 AM
0 */6 * * *Every 6 hours

For testing cron expressions, use crontab.guru.

Timezone​

Select the timezone in which the cron expression will execute. Uses standard IANA timezone identifiers.

Default: UTC

Common Timezones:

  • UTC - Coordinated Universal Time (+0:00)
  • America/New_York - Eastern (-5:00)
  • America/Los_Angeles - Pacific (-8:00)
  • Europe/London - GMT (+0:00)
  • Asia/Tokyo - JST (+9:00)

Event Types​

Cron triggers support the following event type:

Scheduled Run​

Execute on the provided cron expression schedule (e.g., every minute, hourly).

  • Delivery Method: Schedule
  • Event ID: cron

Payload Structure​

VoltOps delivers scheduled execution events with the following structure:

{
  "schedule": {
    "type": "cron",
    "expression": "*/5 * * * *",
    "timezone": "UTC"
  },
  "executedAt": "2024-11-14T10:00:00.000Z"
}

Payload Fields​

  • schedule.type: Always "cron" for cron triggers
  • schedule.expression: The cron expression that triggered execution
  • schedule.timezone: The timezone used for scheduling
  • executedAt: ISO 8601 timestamp of when the schedule triggered

Add Target to Activate Binding​

After configuring your Cron trigger, you need to add a target (agent or workflow) to activate the binding. For detailed instructions on:

  • Adding targets to activate bindings
  • Mapping trigger data to agent inputs
  • Testing triggers with sample payloads
  • Deploying and monitoring triggers

See the Add Target to Activate Binding section. These steps are the same for all trigger providers.

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