Node-CronJob Scheduling for Node.js

Schedule tasks with cron expressions. Prevent overlaps. Coordinate across instances. Run jobs in background processes. Zero dependencies.

Quickstart

Cron Syntax

API Reference

🔁 Cron Scheduling

Schedule recurring tasks with standard cron expressions, from seconds through weekdays, with ranges, steps, lists, and named months/weekdays.

🛡️ Overlap Prevention

Long-running task still going when the next tick fires? noOverlap skips the run instead of stacking executions. One flag, no custom locking.

🌐 Distributed Coordination

Running multiple replicas? Ensure each scheduled fire executes on exactly one instance, with env-var flags or a Redis coordinator.

⚙️ Background Processes

Move heavy jobs into isolated forked processes so a slow task never blocks your main event loop.

🕹️ Runtime Control

Start, stop, destroy, and inspect tasks at runtime with a single consistent interface, plus lifecycle events for observability.

🪶 Zero Dependencies

Pure JavaScript, written in TypeScript. No native bindings, no external packages. Production-ready and tiny.

From one line to production

These docs cover node-cron v4.

node-cron is designed to grow with you. The same schedule call you write on day one is the one you keep; you just add options as your needs grow.

import cron from 'node-cron';

// Day one: run something every minute.
cron.schedule('* * * * *', () => {
  console.log('Hello from node-cron');
});

Later, the same task can run in a specific timezone, skip overlapping runs, coordinate across a fleet, and run in its own process:

import cron from 'node-cron';

const task = cron.schedule('0 3 * * *', './tasks/nightly-backup.js', {
  name: 'nightly-backup',
  timezone: 'America/Sao_Paulo',
  noOverlap: true,
  distributed: true,
});

task.on('execution:failed', (ctx) => {
  console.error('backup failed:', ctx.execution?.error);
});

When to use node-cron

Recurring jobs on a schedule (cron expressions with second-level precision)
Overlap prevention for long-running tasks
Coordinating scheduled tasks across multiple instances or replicas
Running heavy jobs in isolated background processes
Runtime control: start, stop, inspect, and observe tasks programmatically

Need more than cron?

Check out Sidequest.js, a distributed job runner for Node.js inspired by Oban and Sidekiq. Retries, priorities, schedules, uniqueness, and a web dashboard. Works with Postgres, MySQL, SQLite and MongoDB.

When to consider something else

Durable job queues with retries and priorities: use Sidequest, BullMQ, or Agenda
Persistent workflow orchestration: use Temporal or Inngest
Exactly-once guarantees across crashes: node-cron coordinates but does not persist state to a database; a queue or workflow engine is a better fit

Explore the docs

Follow the journey in order, or jump straight to what you need:

Quickstart: install and run your first task in five minutes.
Cron Syntax: learn how to express when a task should run.
Task Lifecycle & Status: start, stop, and inspect tasks at runtime.
Scheduling Options: timezones, overlap prevention, limits, and jitter.
Events & Observability: react to every moment in a task's life.
Background Tasks: run jobs in isolated processes.
Distributed Coordination: run a task on one instance per fire across a fleet.
Logging: route node-cron's output through your own logger.
Cookbook: copy-paste recipes for common jobs.

Node-CronJob Scheduling for Node.js

🔁 Cron Scheduling

🛡️ Overlap Prevention

🌐 Distributed Coordination

⚙️ Background Processes

🕹️ Runtime Control

🪶 Zero Dependencies

From one line to production ​

When to use node-cron ​

When to consider something else ​

Explore the docs ​

Common problems ​

From one line to production

When to use node-cron

When to consider something else

Explore the docs

Common problems