# Cron jobs, with no worker to keep alive.

URL: https://antideploy.com/platform/cron-jobs

Antideploy calls a path on your app on a schedule. It wakes the app if it is asleep, so a nightly cleanup, a digest email or a sync runs without a background process that has to stay up. Your agent writes the endpoint and schedules it.

## At a glance

- **Standard cron, in UTC**: Five fields, or @hourly, @daily, @weekly and @monthly
- **A plain HTTP call**: A GET or POST to a path on your app, marked as cron
- **Wakes a sleeping app**: The call reaches your app's public address, so it wakes to serve it
- **On every plan**: Three jobs per app, Free included

## Write the endpoint. Schedule it.

The thing your agent writes for a nightly task is a route. Antideploy only has to call it.

### Your agent schedules what it writes.

When your agent writes the endpoint that does the nightly work, it schedules it in the same breath, instead of ending its turn with a chore for you in the dashboard. A job is a path, a method and a schedule.

- Five-field cron in UTC, or @hourly, @daily, @weekly or @monthly
- The method is POST unless you say GET
- To change a schedule or a path, remove the job and add it again

[Read the API contract](https://antideploy.com/api/v1)

**Your agent runs**

```bash
API=https://antideploy.com/api/v1

# call POST /api/cron/nightly every day at 03:00 UTC
curl -X POST "$API/cron?applicationId=$APP_ID" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{"schedule":"0 3 * * *","path":"/api/cron/nightly","method":"POST"}'
```

Related: `POST /api/v1/cron`, `GET /api/v1/cron`, `PATCH /api/v1/cron/{id}`, `DELETE /api/v1/cron/{id}`

### An endpoint, not a process.

A run is a request to your app's public address plus the path, with the header `x-antideploy-cron: 1`. It is given up after 60 seconds, so keep each run short. Anyone can send that header, so an endpoint that does real work should also check a secret of its own.

- A cron library inside your server does not run, because the app sleeps when idle
- Ten failures in a row pause the job, and resuming it resets the count
- Each job shows its next and last run, its last status and any error

[Why apps sleep](https://antideploy.com/platform/hosting)

**In your code**

```
// Express: the work your schedule calls
app.post("/api/cron/nightly", async (req, res) => {
  // anyone can send the cron header, so check a secret of your own for real work
  await deleteExpiredSessions();
  res.sendStatus(200);
});
```

## Scheduled work, without a scheduler to run.

Apps sleep when nobody is using them, so a clock inside your server stops with it. A schedule outside the app does not.

- **Schedules in plain cron.** Five fields in UTC, with the usual shortcuts. A job runs at most every five minutes, and each app can have three.
- **No background process to keep alive.** A job is an HTTP call. It wakes the app, runs, and lets the app go back to sleep, so you pay nothing for the time in between.
- **Your agent does the scheduling.** It writes the endpoint and creates the job through the API, and can list, pause, resume and remove jobs. The console has a Schedules panel for the same thing.
- **Every job reports on itself.** Each job shows its next run and its last, the status of the last run and its error, and how many failures there have been in a row.
- **A header, and a secret of your own.** Every run carries `x-antideploy-cron: 1`. Because anyone can send a header, an endpoint that does real work should also check a secret that only your app knows.
- **Pause without deleting.** Pause a job while you fix its endpoint and resume it afterwards. Resuming resets its failure count.

## The same on every plan.

- 3 jobs per application
- 5 minutes between runs, at the fastest
- 60 seconds before a run is given up
- 10 failures in a row pause a job

Cron jobs are in the free plan. Schedules are in UTC.

## How a job runs.

Everything a job does, in one place.

| Rule | How it works |
| --- | --- |
| Schedule | Five-field cron in UTC, or `@hourly`, `@daily`, `@weekly`, `@monthly`. |
| Request | A GET or a POST to your application's public address plus the path. POST unless you say GET. |
| Header | `x-antideploy-cron: 1` on every run. |
| Time limit | A run is given up after 60 seconds. |
| Jobs per app | Three, on every plan. |
| Shortest interval | Runs are at least five minutes apart. |
| Failures | Ten in a row pause the job. Resuming it resets the count. |
| Where to manage them | The Schedules panel in the console, or the API. |

## Here's where it stops.

A platform that only tells you what it is good at is one you find the edges of in production. These are cron jobs'.

### In-process schedulers do not run

A cron library inside your server stops when the app sleeps. Use a scheduled job here instead. The analyser tells you about this before you deploy.

### Three jobs per app

On every plan. Put small tasks behind one endpoint if you need more of them.

### Five minutes at the fastest

Runs are at least five minutes apart. Work that must happen more often needs a different approach.

### One minute per run

A run is given up after 60 seconds, so keep each one short.

### UTC only

Schedules are written in UTC. Convert from your own time zone.

## Cron questions, answered.

Anything else? Write to us and a person answers.

[support@antideploy.com](mailto:support@antideploy.com)

### Can I run a background worker or a queue consumer?

Not today. Only the web process runs, and apps sleep when idle, so a loop inside it will not stay alive. Use a cron job to call a path on a schedule, or a webhook.

### What time zone are schedules in?

UTC. Write the schedule in UTC and convert from your own time zone.

### How often can a job run?

At most every five minutes. Runs are at least five minutes apart.

### How many jobs can I have?

Three per application, on every plan.

### Does a job wake a sleeping app?

Yes. A run is a request to your app's public address, so the app wakes to serve it. The first request after a quiet spell can take several seconds, well inside the 60 seconds a run is allowed.

### What if my endpoint takes longer than a minute?

The run is given up after 60 seconds. Keep each run short, and do the slow part in smaller steps over several runs.

### What happens if a job keeps failing?

Ten failures in a row pause the job. Fix the endpoint and resume it, which resets the failure count.

### How do I stop strangers calling my cron endpoint?

Anyone can send the `x-antideploy-cron` header, so an endpoint that does real work should also check a secret of the app's own.

### How do I change a schedule?

Remove the job and add it again. You can pause and resume a job without removing it.

### Can my coding agent create jobs?

Yes. It can list, create, pause, resume and remove jobs through the API, the same things the console's Schedules panel does.

## Everything else your app can use.

Every service is created by your coding agent, wired into your app, and included in the plans. [See the whole platform](https://antideploy.com/platform).

- [Hosting](https://antideploy.com/platform/hosting)
- [Static sites](https://antideploy.com/platform/static-sites)
- [Deployments](https://antideploy.com/platform/deployments)
- [Database](https://antideploy.com/platform/database)
- [Authentication](https://antideploy.com/platform/authentication)
- [File storage](https://antideploy.com/platform/file-storage)
- [Email](https://antideploy.com/platform/email)
- [AI models](https://antideploy.com/platform/ai-models)
- [Custom domains](https://antideploy.com/platform/custom-domains)
- [Environment variables](https://antideploy.com/platform/environment-variables)
- [Logs and monitoring](https://antideploy.com/platform/logs-and-monitoring)
- [Security checks](https://antideploy.com/platform/security-checks)
- [Console](https://antideploy.com/platform/console)
- [Agent API](https://antideploy.com/platform/agent-api)

Facts on this page were checked against the live platform on 5 October 2026.

## Schedule something. In one sentence.

Paste the sentence into your agent. It writes the endpoint and schedules it, so there is nothing left for you to set up in a dashboard.

To set this up, give your coding agent this sentence:

```text
Set this project up to deploy on Antideploy. Fetch https://antideploy.com/agent.md and follow it.
```