CRON / scheduled trigger
A time-based trigger that fires an automation at fixed intervals every morning at 7 AM, every Monday, the 1st of each month. CRON syntax defines the schedule. Used for reports, digests, and maintenance tasks.
Expert insight
Scheduled workflows have a failure mode webhook-triggered ones don't: nobody notices when they silently stop firing. A workflow triggered by a real event fails loudly when the event doesn't produce the expected result, but a CRON job that stops running just produces silence, no report shows up, no digest gets sent, and often nobody checks until a client asks where last week's report went. Scheduled workflows need their own separate monitoring, a check that confirms the job actually ran, not just that it works when tested manually.
In a real workflow
A cron expression "0 7 * * 1-5" runs the sales report at 7 am on weekdays.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting which time zone the scheduler uses, so jobs run an hour early or late.
- Scheduling heavy jobs at the same minute, which creates load spikes.
Complexity level
Requires some familiarity with automation concepts.
Related terms
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