Node-Cron Module

This page documents all public methods available in the node-cron module, including usage examples, parameter descriptions, and behavior notes.

🔹 schedule(expression, func, options?)

Schedules a task to be executed based on a cron expression.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
expression	string	A valid cron expression (e.g., "0 0 * * *" to run at midnight daily)
func	Function | string	A function to execute, or a path to a module that exports a task function. By passing a path node-cron is going to create Background Task
options	Options (optional)	Additional options to control execution (see below)

Options

type Options = {
  name?: string;
  timezone?: string;       // E.g., "America/New_York"
  noOverlap?: boolean;     // Prevents overlapping executions
  maxExecutions?: number;  // Maximum number of times the task should run
};

Returns

Returns a ScheduledTask instance with control methods:

import cron from 'node-cron';

const task = cron.schedule('* * * * *', () => {
  console.log('Running every minute');
});

task.stop();    // Pauses the task
task.start();   // Starts or resumes the task
task.destroy(); // Completely removes the task

See more on Task Controls Guide

🔹 createTask(expression, func, options?)

Creates a task instance without automatically starting it. Useful for cases where you need more control (e.g., starting later, conditionally, or in tests).

import cron from 'node-cron';

const task = cron.createTask('0 * * * *', () => {
  console.log('Running every hour');
});
task.start();

🔹 validate(expression: string): boolean

Validates whether a given cron expression is syntactically correct. Example

import cron from 'node-cron';

cron.validate('0 12 * * *'); // true
cron.validate('invalid');    // false

Returns true if the expression is valid, false otherwise.