npx claudepluginhub render-oss/skills --plugin renderThis skill uses the workspace's default tool permissions.
This skill covers **Cron Job** services on Render: how schedules run, what the platform guarantees, and how they differ from workers and workflows. Pair it with Blueprint and deploy skills when authoring `render.yaml` or Dashboard settings.
Manages cron job scheduler operations for backend apps with Node.js, Python, Go. Generates configs, provides best practices, step-by-step guidance.
Builds production-grade cron scheduled jobs with overlap prevention, monitoring, alerting, structured logging, timezone handling, and health checks.
Share bugs, ideas, or general feedback.
This skill covers Cron Job services on Render: how schedules run, what the platform guarantees, and how they differ from workers and workflows. Pair it with Blueprint and deploy skills when authoring render.yaml or Dashboard settings.
type: cron, schedule, and commandsExpression cheat sheets, framework startCommand examples, and Heroku Scheduler migration mapping live under references/.
| Need | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Periodic task under 12h | Cron Job | Scheduled, simple, exits when done |
| Continuous job processing | Background Worker | Always running, polls a queue |
| Periodic but over 12h | Background Worker | No 12h cron run ceiling |
| Scheduled parallel compute | Cron Job + Workflow | Cron triggers workflow runs on a schedule; workflows fan out or orchestrate parallel steps |
Cron services use type: cron with a schedule and the usual build/start and env wiring:
services:
- type: cron
name: nightly-cleanup
schedule: "0 * * * *" # hourly at minute 0 — must be quoted in YAML
buildCommand: pip install -r requirements.txt
startCommand: python cleanup.py
envVars:
- key: DATABASE_URL
fromDatabase:
name: my-db
property: connectionString
schedule: standard five-field cron (minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week), UTC.buildCommand / startCommand: same roles as other non-Docker services; Docker images use image + start command as configured for image-backed crons.envVars: same patterns as web services and workers (secrets, linked databases, etc.).YAML note: the schedule value must be quoted so characters like * are not parsed as YAML aliases or flow syntax.
| Topic | File |
|---|---|
| Expression examples, framework commands, errors, env vars | references/cron-patterns.md |
| Heroku Scheduler → Render mapping, blueprint example | references/migration-from-scheduler.md |
render.yaml schema, previews, common mistakes