Schedule trigger

Schedule triggers allow workflows to run automatically on a recurring time-based rule. When the configured cron expression matches the current time, Port starts a new workflow run.

Use schedule triggers for periodic tasks such as nightly reports, weekly compliance checks, or hourly health scans.

Configuration

A schedule trigger node requires a cron expression in its config:

{
  "identifier": "trigger",
  "title": "Weekday morning check",
  "config": {
    "type": "SCHEDULE_TRIGGER",
    "cron": "0 9 * * 1-5"
  }
}

In the workflow builder, the schedule trigger node displays a human-readable description of the cron expression (for example, "At 09:00 AM, Monday through Friday"). If the expression is missing or invalid, the node shows a generic placeholder instead.

Minimum schedule interval

The scheduler can run a workflow at most once every 5 minutes. Cron expressions that would fire more often than every 5 minutes are not supported.

Published

The published field controls whether the trigger is active and scheduled. When set to false, the workflow will not run on its cron schedule.

Property	Type	Default	Description
published	boolean	true	When `true`, the trigger is active and will run on its cron schedule. When `false`, the trigger is disabled.

This is useful for temporarily disabling a workflow without deleting it, or for creating workflows that are not yet ready for production use.

Cron expression format

Schedule triggers use standard 5-field cron syntax:

┌───────────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌─────────── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌───────── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌─────── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───── day of week (0-7, where 0 and 7 are Sunday)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Common examples

Daily

Run every day at 9:00 AM UTC:

{
  "identifier": "trigger",
  "title": "Daily report",
  "config": {
    "type": "SCHEDULE_TRIGGER",
    "cron": "0 9 * * *"
  }
}

Weekdays

Run at 9:00 AM UTC on weekdays (Monday through Friday):

{
  "identifier": "trigger",
  "title": "Weekday check",
  "config": {
    "type": "SCHEDULE_TRIGGER",
    "cron": "0 9 * * 1-5"
  }
}

Weekly

Run every Monday at 8:00 AM UTC:

{
  "identifier": "trigger",
  "title": "Weekly summary",
  "config": {
    "type": "SCHEDULE_TRIGGER",
    "cron": "0 8 * * 1"
  }
}

Hourly

Run at the start of every hour:

{
  "identifier": "trigger",
  "title": "Hourly sync",
  "config": {
    "type": "SCHEDULE_TRIGGER",
    "cron": "0 * * * *"
  }
}

Cron field reference

Field	Values	Special characters
Minute	0-59	*, ,, -, /
Hour	0-23	*, ,, -, /
Day of month	1-31	*, ,, -, /
Month	1-12	*, ,, -, /
Day of week	0-7 (0 and 7 are Sunday)	*, ,, -, /

Timezone

Schedule triggers run in UTC. Convert your desired local time to UTC when writing cron expressions.

Multiple triggers

A workflow can include a schedule trigger alongside other trigger types (self-service, event, or agent tool). At runtime, only the trigger that fired produces outputs. See multiple triggers for details.

Example: weekly compliance scan

This workflow runs every Monday at 8:00 AM UTC and sends a webhook to an external compliance service:

{
  "identifier": "weekly-compliance-scan",
  "title": "Weekly compliance scan",
  "icon": "Shield",
  "description": "Run a weekly compliance check and notify the security team",
  "nodes": [
    {
      "identifier": "trigger",
      "title": "Every Monday at 8 AM",
      "config": {
        "type": "SCHEDULE_TRIGGER",
        "cron": "0 8 * * 1"
      }
    },
    {
      "identifier": "notify-security",
      "title": "Notify security team",
      "config": {
        "type": "WEBHOOK",
        "url": "https://api.example.com/compliance/weekly-scan",
        "method": "POST",
        "body": {
          "source": "port-schedule",
          "workflow": "weekly-compliance-scan"
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "connections": [
    {
      "sourceIdentifier": "trigger",
      "targetIdentifier": "notify-security"
    }
  ]
}