# Jorchestrator Cron

<!-- meta: type=event-jorchestrator; location=Custom Events; category=Trigger; platforms=Joomla and WordPress (where applicable) -->

## Overview

Runs your flow on a schedule you choose — daily reports, nightly clean-up, weekly digests, and similar time-based tasks.

When this trigger fires, JOrchestrator starts the flow and passes the incoming event or request data to the next connected step. Configure filtering, payload shape, and security on the **Design** tab.

## Why use this node

Jorchestrator Cron is a **trigger** in the **Custom Events** group. Triggers start a flow. They listen for an external signal — a CMS event, inbound HTTP call, payment notification, or schedule — and pass the incoming data to the first downstream step.

Typical reasons teams add **Jorchestrator Cron** to a flow:

- Send a weekly digest email to administrators
- Purge expired cache or session data every night
- Poll an external API on a fixed interval and process new items
- Generate scheduled reports without a server cron job on the CMS

## When it runs

This **trigger** starts the flow when its signal fires on your linked site or when an inbound request matches its configuration. Downstream steps receive the trigger payload as their input.

## Example workflows

Common patterns on the canvas:

1. **Trigger or Webhook** → upstream steps → **Jorchestrator Cron** → **Send Email** or CMS update
2. **Scheduled trigger** → **Jorchestrator Cron** → **Debug** (while testing) → production action

## How to set it up

Set the schedule on the Design tab, then optionally define a starting payload (Visual or Raw JSON) with default values for downstream nodes.

## Good to know

Adding this trigger sets the flow to Draft on next save. Turn the flow Active when you are ready for it to run on schedule.

## Properties panel

The designer shows these tabs for this node:

| Tab | Purpose |
|-----|---------|
| **Info** | Plain-language description and output payload fields for downstream steps |
| **AI** | Optional assistant for trigger setup (paid plans) |
| **Design** | Trigger configuration, payload schema, and inbound settings |

### System (automatic — not edited by the user)

These fields are managed by the designer or runtime — you do not type into them directly:

| Property key | Label | Type | Required | Visible when | Notes |
|--------------|-------|------|----------|--------------|-------|
| `_nodeId` | Node ID | `node-id` | No | — | — |
| `inputSchema` | Starting payload | `json-schema` (default: `[object Object]`) | No | — | Optional JSON shape and default values for each scheduled run. Add fields in Visual or Raw JSON mode; use them downstream with {{node_id.field_name}} placeholders. |

### User-configured — General tab

| Property key | Label | Type | Required | Visible when | Notes |
|--------------|-------|------|----------|--------------|-------|
| `label` | Label | `text` | No | — | Node label |

### User-configured — Design tab

| Property key | Label | Type | Required | Visible when | Notes |
|--------------|-------|------|----------|--------------|-------|
| `schedule` | How often should this run? | `select` (`*/5 * * * *` \| `*/15 * * * *` \| `*/30 * * * *` \| `0 * * * *` \| `0 0 * * *` \| `0 0 * * 7` \| `custom`; default: `*/5 * * * *`) | No | — | — |
| `runTime` | What time? (for daily or weekly) | `time` | No | — | 09:00 (leave blank for midnight) |
| `cronExpression` | Custom schedule | `schedule-builder` | No | — | — |
| `jobName` | Job Name | `text` | **Yes** | — | e.g. Daily sync |
| `description` | What does this task do? (optional) | `textarea` | No | — | e.g. Syncs products from our warehouse system |

### CMS site configuration (not on this node's properties panel)

Credentials, API keys, mailers, SMTP, and integration defaults are configured in the CMS plugin under **Node Configuration**, not per step on this node. Link the flow to a domain before testing CMS-backed fields.

## Output payload fields

After this step runs, later nodes can reference these fields using placeholders such as
`{{jorchestrator_cron.event}}`.

| Field key | Type | Description |
|-----------|------|-------------|
| `event` | object | Inbound webhook event envelope. |
| `data` | object | Inbound event data payload. |

## Validation rules

- **Job Name** (`jobName`) must be filled before the flow can be saved.

## Related nodes

Other steps in the same area of the palette:

- **PayPal Payments Pro** (`event-paypal`) — Custom Events
- **Stripe** (`event-stripe`) — Custom Events
- **Webhook** (`webhook`) — Custom Events
- **Zapier Webhook** (`event-zapier`) — Custom Events