Scheduled Trigger

The internal heartbeat of the engine. Automates workflow execution based on precise time intervals or complex calendar patterns. Unlike event triggers, it originates from the system clock.

Spec v1.1 Time-Driven

Port Overview

No input ports
Entry point node — driven by the engine's internal CronService.
Scheduled Trigger
Trigger
Output ports
onTick

Node Properties

Configuration parameters for the scheduler. The engine's central CronService monitors these definitions and dispatches signals to the worker pool at the designated timestamps.

ScheduledTrigger

Schedule Configuration

Property Type Default Description
scheduleMode enum Interval Interval — Simple repetitive cadence (e.g. Every 5m).
Cron — Advanced calendar logic using standard Crontab syntax.
intervalValue int 15 The numeric value for interval mode. Minimum recommended: 1.
intervalUnit enum Minutes Seconds | Minutes | Hours | Days
cronExpression string null The Cron string (e.g. 0 8 * * 1-5 for 8AM Weekdays).
timeZone string UTC Valid IANA timezone string. Critical for DST-aware scheduling.

Instance Strategy

Property Type Default Description
correlationExpression expression null A JSONPath or regex to extract a unique Instance Context ID. Used for correlating schedule ticks to active instances.
onMatch enum AlwaysCreate MapOrCreate(Genesis) Creates a new instance if the resolved ID is unknown. Updates if known.
MapOrDiscard(Signal) Only updates existing instances. If no match is found, the signal is dropped.
AlwaysCreate — Ignores the resolved ID and spawns a parallel instance (useful for stateless logs).
MapOrReplace — Aborts the existing instance and starts a fresh one with the new payload.
misfirePolicy enum Discard FireImmediately — If the server was down during a tick, fire it as soon as it recovers.
Discard — Ignore missed ticks and wait for the next scheduled occurrence.
Context Persistence This node utilizes the Shared-State model. No data is passed via output connections. Upon triggering, the engine writes the triggeredAt timestamp and scheduleMeta directly to the WorkflowContext for downstream consumption.

Port Detail

Standardized control signals used to initiate flow logic following a successful time-event.

Output ports
onTick signal
Fires a control pulse to downstream nodes. No data payload is included in the transmission.
// Written to WorkflowContext[nodeId]:
{
  "timestamp": 1711395729,
  "iso": "2026-03-25T12:00:00Z",
  "mode": "Cron"
}