Where schedules live
A schedule is one of three automations that start a workflow without a click; Webhooks and signals covers the other two.
In the editor's top bar, Automations (the lightning button) opens What starts this workflow, the list of every automation. Add automation asks How should this workflow start? and offers three cards, Schedule, Monitor a signal and Incoming webhook, each with a Configure button.
Create a schedule
Open the automations
Click Automations in the editor's top bar, then Add automation if it lists automations already.
Choose Schedule
Click Configure on the Schedule card.
Name it
Name is optional, up to 120 characters.
Pick the timing
When should it run? offers Calendar timing, XNYS trading days, XNYS market hours, Market open and Market close. XNYS is the New York Stock Exchange calendar.
Set the pattern
With Calendar timing, Repeat is Weekdays, Every day, Weekly or Advanced. Weekly adds a Day of week, and Advanced replaces the run times with a Cron expression.
Add the run times
Unless you chose Advanced, Market open or Market close, set each time under Run times; Add time adds another. A schedule holds up to 20 run times, and a duplicate must be removed before saving.
Choose the time zone
Time zone starts on your device's zone and follows daylight-saving changes on its own. Search time zones… finds any region.
Supply run inputs, if the workflow needs them
A workflow that requires tickers shows Run inputs. Only values the workflow confirms can be saved, and they are handed to every run. A workflow that requires any other kind of input cannot be scheduled from this form.
Save
Check the Run policy, then click Activate schedule. The row reads Pending while the scheduler registers it, then Active.
Timing
- Calendar timing: the run times on the days Repeat names, in the schedule's Time zone. Weekdays means Monday to Friday and does not know exchange holidays.
- XNYS trading days: the run times on exchange trading days, judged by the date in New York. Weekends and exchange holidays are skipped. A time outside the session, such as 07:00, still runs.
- XNYS market hours: the run times on trading days, only while the regular session is open. Premarket, after-hours and time after an early close are skipped. The session ends just before the close, so a run time of 16:00 never runs.
- Market open: one run at the official opening bell, 09:30 Eastern Time, on each trading day.
- Market close: one run at the official close on each trading day. That is 16:00 Eastern Time, or 13:00 on a scheduled early close.
The two bell timings fix the time zone to Eastern Time (New York) and follow daylight-saving changes and early closes on their own. Once saved, a bell schedule keeps its timing; create another schedule to use a different one. If exchange calendar coverage is unavailable, the run is skipped rather than guessed.
Advanced takes a five-field cron expression: minute, hour, day, month and weekday. For example, 0 9 * * 1-5 is 09:00 on weekdays.
Limits
- A run time's pattern may not repeat more often than every five minutes, so an Advanced expression such as
*/2 * * * *is refused when you save. - A run that would start more than five minutes late is skipped, not run late.
Run policy
Run policy, under the timing, sets what happens when runs collide and how many may start.
When a previous run is still active has three choices. Skip the new run is the default. Keep only the latest waits for the active run, then uses only the newest pending run. Queue every run preserves every occurrence in order and can consume credits quickly.
Cooldown is the minimum time between runs that start: No cooldown by default, then 1 minute up to 1 day.
Maximum per hour is a hard cap on runs that start in any rolling hour, 120 by default and at most 120. Maximum per day is an optional second cap of up to 2,880; tick the box beside its field to set it. A run that a cap or the cooldown refuses does not start, and its Last outcome reads Rate limited.
Uncertain signals applies to signal monitors. Skip them is the default. Ask for review holds uncertain matches for confirmation and switches on Confirmation before every run.
Confirmation before every run holds each run for an authorized person to approve before any credits are reserved. Held runs appear at the top of Automations under Needs your decision, each reading Scheduled automation waiting to start and Awaiting approval, with Approve and Reject. A request nobody decides within 24 hours expires.
The version a schedule runs
Scheduled runs use the workflow's main version once it has one, and the canvas until then; see Main.
A schedule is saved against the inputs the workflow requires. If they change under it, the schedule stops at its next run time. That happens after you resume a schedule that was paused while main moved, or edit the canvas of a workflow with no main. Its row shows Needs attention, and you get an Automation stopped notification. Edit the schedule and save it again with the inputs it now needs.
Edit, pause and remove
Each row under What starts this workflow has Edit, a pause button and a trash button, which asks Remove? before Remove deletes it. Edit opens the same form with Save changes.
On a schedule with several run times, the chip that counts them, such as 3 times, lists each time with its state, last outcome and next run. Each time has its own pause control.