Schedule runs and delay steps
Use Schedule to start new runs at recurring times. Use Delay to pause a run that has already started, such as waiting until an appointment reminder is due.
Automations is in Early access. Your workspace permissions determine which actions you can perform.
Configure a schedule
- Select the Schedule trigger.
- Choose Repeat, such as Every day or Every weekday.
- Set the time and timezone. Weekly and monthly patterns also need a day.
- Review the next occurrence shown in the editor.
- Save, preview, and publish when the workflow is ready.
The next occurrence is when a run becomes due. Processing may start later. A monthly schedule for a day absent from a month skips that month.
For a pattern outside the presets, use Custom schedule and Edit cron expression. The expression uses five fields: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. Check the next occurrence after editing it.
Understand missed and overlapping ticks
The default schedule skips missed ticks and skips a tick when this automation already has an active run. An older published version's active run can also cause a skip.
The schedule's missed-run policy can instead catch up with one run for the latest missed occurrence. It does not replay a run for each missed tick. Its overlap policy can permit simultaneous runs. Review any automation-wide overlap settings as well.
Publishing or resuming starts scheduling from activation. Time spent paused does not accumulate scheduled work for replay. A skipped tick creates no run in Runs or Metrics.
Add a delay
- Add Delay after the step that should precede the pause.
- Choose a duration or a specific date and time. Map a timestamp from the trigger when each run needs a different time.
- Connect the delay's next path to the follow-up step.
- Preview both the input and the continuation.
A duration measures elapsed time. A timestamp identifies an instant and must include its timezone offset. If that instant has passed when the run reaches the delay, the flow continues immediately.
The run appears as waiting during the pause. Its chosen wake-up time survives retries; a retry does not restart the duration.
Run time limit
A run has a 30-day limit, measured from when Bird accepts it. Queue time, actions, delays, and event waits share that time. The run can reach its deadline before a later step executes.
Splitting a delay across steps does not extend the limit. For example, a flow that always passes through two 15-day delays cannot be published. Leave time for the actions after a delay as well.
Account for daylight saving
A schedule follows its timezone's local clock. A local time skipped during the spring transition has no occurrence. A repeated local time during the autumn transition can occur twice, subject to overlap rules.
A duration of 24 hours measures 24 elapsed hours. It can land at a different local clock time after a daylight-saving change. Choose a UTC schedule when repeated or missing local hours do not suit the workflow.
Next steps
Verwandte Ressourcen
Weiter mit der Dokumentation, Anleitungen und Beispielen zu diesem Thema. Die Ressourcen sind auf Englisch.