Advanced scheduler with 6-field cron expressions, timezone support, and active time windows. Perfect for complex scheduling requirements.
Overview
The schedule node provides advanced scheduling capabilities beyond what the basic inject node offers. Key features include:
- 6-field cron expressions - Including seconds for precise timing
- Timezone support - Schedule in any timezone worldwide
- Active time windows - Only trigger between specific hours
- Day filtering - Restrict to specific days of the week
- Human-readable preview - See when the next trigger will occur
Use this node when you need precise control over when your flows execute, especially for business hours, international time zones, or second-precision timing.
Properties
| Property | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
name | string | - | - | Display name for this node in the editor. |
cron | string | - | Cron expression defining the schedule (6 fields: second minute hour day month weekday). | |
timezone | string | - | UTC | Timezone for the schedule (e.g., "America/New_York", "Europe/London", "Asia/Tehran"). |
payload | any | - | timestamp | The payload to send when the schedule triggers. |
payloadType | string | - | date | Type of payload: date, str, num, bool, json, flow, global. |
topic | string | - | - | The msg.topic value to set on outgoing messages. |
startTime | string | - | - | Time after which the schedule becomes active (HH:MM format). |
endTime | string | - | - | Time after which the schedule becomes inactive (HH:MM format). |
activeDays | array | - | [0,1,2,3,4,5,6] | Days of the week when the schedule is active (0=Sunday, 6=Saturday). |
Cron Syntax
The schedule node uses a 6-field cron expression (including seconds):
Cron Expression Format
┌────────────── second (0-59)
│ ┌──────────── minute (0-59)
│ │ ┌────────── hour (0-23)
│ │ │ ┌──────── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ │ ┌────── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ │ ┌──── day of week (0-7, 0 or 7 is Sunday)
│ │ │ │ │ │
* * * * * *Common Patterns
| Expression | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 * * * * * | Every minute (at second 0) |
| 0 0 * * * * | Every hour (at minute 0) |
| 0 0 9 * * * | Every day at 9:00 AM |
| 0 0 9 * * 1-5 | Weekdays at 9:00 AM |
| 0 */15 * * * * | Every 15 minutes |
| 0 0 0 1 * * | First day of every month at midnight |
| 30 0 9 * * * | Every day at 9:00:30 AM |
Use tools like crontab.guru to build and validate your cron expressions. Note that EdgeFlow uses 6 fields (with seconds), while most online tools use 5 fields.
Timezone Support
The schedule node supports all IANA timezone identifiers. This is crucial for IoT deployments that need to respect local time regardless of server location.
Common Timezones
Outputs
When the schedule triggers, it sends a message with the configured payload:
Output Message Format
{`{
"payload": ,
"topic": "",
"scheduledTime": "2024-01-15T09:00:00.000Z",
"timezone": "America/New_York",
"_msgid": ""
}`}
The scheduledTime property contains the exact time the trigger was scheduled
for (useful for debugging timing issues).
Examples
Hourly Report Generation
Generate a report at the top of every hour during business hours.
Hourly Business Report
Triggers every hour from 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday.
View Flow JSON
[
{
"id": "schedule1",
"type": "schedule",
"name": "Business Hours",
"cron": "0 0 9-17 * * 1-5",
"timezone": "America/New_York",
"payload": "generate_report",
"payloadType": "str",
"wires": [["function1"]]
},
{
"id": "function1",
"type": "function",
"name": "Build Report",
"func": "msg.payload = {\n type: 'hourly',\n timestamp: new Date().toISOString()\n};\nreturn msg;"
}
]Workday Morning Notification
Send a Telegram notification every workday morning at 8:30 AM local time.
Morning Briefing
Daily notification at 8:30 AM on weekdays in Tehran timezone.
View Flow JSON
[
{
"id": "schedule2",
"type": "schedule",
"name": "Morning Alert",
"cron": "0 30 8 * * 0-4",
"timezone": "Asia/Tehran",
"payload": "Good morning! Here's your daily briefing.",
"payloadType": "str",
"topic": "briefing",
"wires": [["telegram1"]]
},
{
"id": "telegram1",
"type": "telegram",
"name": "Send Alert",
"chatId": "123456789"
}
]Active Time Window
Poll sensors every 5 minutes, but only during daylight hours (6 AM to 8 PM).
Daylight Sensor Polling
Every 5 minutes between 6 AM and 8 PM.
View Flow JSON
[
{
"id": "schedule3",
"type": "schedule",
"name": "Daylight Poll",
"cron": "0 */5 * * * *",
"timezone": "UTC",
"startTime": "06:00",
"endTime": "20:00",
"payload": "poll",
"payloadType": "str",
"wires": [["sensor1"]]
},
{
"id": "sensor1",
"type": "bh1750",
"name": "Light Sensor"
}
]Troubleshooting
Schedule triggers at wrong time
Check the following:
- Verify the timezone is set correctly (not defaulting to UTC)
- Ensure your server's system clock is accurate
- Remember that cron uses 24-hour format (9 PM = 21)
- Check if DST (Daylight Saving Time) affects your timezone
Schedule doesn't trigger at all
- Make sure the flow is deployed
- Verify the cron expression is valid (use an online validator)
- Check if startTime/endTime are blocking the trigger
- Ensure activeDays includes the current day
- Look for errors in the EdgeFlow log
Invalid timezone error
Use IANA timezone identifiers (e.g., "America/New_York"), not abbreviations like "EST" or "PST". You can find the full list at Wikipedia's TZ database.
Seconds field not working
Make sure you're using a 6-field cron expression. If you copied a 5-field expression from
another source, add 0 at the beginning for the seconds field.
5-field: * * * * * (minute hour day month weekday)
6-field: 0 * * * * * (second minute hour day month weekday)