I need a Nodejs scheduler that allows for tasks at different intervals

Question

I am looking for a node job schedule that will allow me to schedule a number of tasks at different intervals. For instance,

• call function A every 30 seconds
• call function B every 60 seconds
• call function C every 7 days

I also want to be able to start and stop the process.

So far, I have looked at:

• later - the syntax confuses me, also apparently you cant schedule tasks beyond a month

• agenda- seems the most promising, however I'm confused about the database functionality

• timeplan - too simple, can't start and stop

I find the syntax of the latter confusing.

Answer 1

I would recommend node-cron. It allows to run tasks using Cron patterns e.g.

'* * * * * *' - runs every second
'*/5 * * * * *' - runs every 5 seconds
'10,20,30 * * * * *' - run at 10th, 20th and 30th second of every minute
'0 * * * * *' - runs every minute
'0 0 * * * *' - runs every hour (at 0 minutes and 0 seconds)

But also more complex schedules e.g.

'00 30 11 * * 1-5' - Runs every weekday (Monday through Friday) at 11:30:00 AM. It does not run on Saturday or Sunday.

Sample code: running job every 10 minutes:

var cron = require('cron');
var cronJob = cron.job("0 */10 * * * *", function(){
    // perform operation e.g. GET request http.get() etc.
    console.info('cron job completed');
}); 
cronJob.start();

You can find more examples in node-cron wiki

More on cron configuration can be found on cron wiki

I've been using that library in many projects and it does the job. I hope that will help.

Answer 2

I've used node-cron and agenda.

node-cron is a very simple library, which provide very basic and easy to understand api like crontab. It doesn't need any config and just works.

var cronJob = require('cron').CronJob;
var myJob = new cronJob('00 30 11 * * 1-5', function(){...});
myJob.start();

agenda is very powerful and fit for much more complex services. Think about ifttt, you have to run millions of tasks. agenda would be the best choice.

Note: You need Mongodb to use Agenda

var Agenda = require("Agenda");
var agenda = new Agenda({db: { address: 'localhost:27017/agenda-example'}});
agenda.every('*/3 * * * *', 'delete old users');
agenda.start();

Answer 3

I think the best ranking is

1.node-schedule

2.later

3.crontab

and the sample of node-schedule is below:

var schedule = require("node-schedule");
var rule = new schedule.RecurrenceRule();
//rule.minute = 40;
rule.second = 10;
var jj = schedule.scheduleJob(rule, function(){
    console.log("execute jj");
});

Maybe you can find the answer from node modules.

Answer 4

I have written a node module that provides a wrapper around setInterval using moment durations providing a declarative interface:

npm install every-moment

var every = require('every-moment');

var timer = every(5, 'seconds', function() {
    console.log(this.duration);
});

every(2, 'weeks', function() {
    console.log(this.duration);
    timer.stop();
    this.set(1, 'week');
    this.start();
});

https://www.npmjs.com/package/every-moment

https://github.com/raygerrard/every-moment

Answer 5

nodeJS default

https://nodejs.org/api/timers.html

setInterval(function() {
    // your function
}, 5000);

Answer 6

I have written a small module to do just that, called timexe:

• Its simple,small reliable code and has no dependencies
• Resolution is in milliseconds and has high precision over time
• Cron like, but not compatible (reversed order and other Improvements)
• I works in the browser too

Install:

npm install timexe

use:

var timexe = require('timexe');
//Every 30 sec
var res1=timexe(”* * * * * /30”, function() console.log(“Its time again”)});

//Every minute
var res2=timexe(”* * * * *”,function() console.log(“a minute has passed”)});

//Every 7 days
var res3=timexe(”* y/7”,function() console.log(“its the 7th day”)});

//Every Wednesdays 
var res3=timexe(”* * w3”,function() console.log(“its Wednesdays”)});

// Stop "every 30 sec. timer"
timexe.remove(res1.id);

you can achieve start/stop functionality by removing/re-adding the entry directly in the timexe job array. But its not an express function.