Cron Jobs

Run any Edge Function on a schedule — daily reports, weekly emails, monthly cleanups. Cron jobs use standard cron expression syntax and execute in the Africa/Lagos timezone (WAT, UTC+1) by default.

Overview

Attach a cron schedule to any existing function. NaijaBase will invoke the function automatically at the specified interval. The function receives an empty object {} as the request payload for scheduled runs (trigger type: cron).

Setting a Schedule (Dashboard)

1. Open your project → Functions tab
2. Select a function
3. Click the Cron Schedule tab
4. Enter a cron expression (e.g. 0 8 * * *)
5. Click Set schedule

The next scheduled run time (in WAT) is shown immediately.

Setting a Schedule (API)

curl -X POST https://api.naijabase.dev/functions/FUNCTION_ID/cron \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "schedule": "0 8 * * *",
    "timezone": "Africa/Lagos"
  }'

Cron Expression Syntax

┌───── minute (0-59)
│ ┌───── hour (0-23, in WAT / UTC+1)
│ │ ┌───── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌───── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───── day of week (0-7, 0 and 7 = Sunday)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Common Patterns

Expression	Description
0 8 * * *	Every day at 8:00 AM WAT
0 9 * * 1	Every Monday at 9:00 AM WAT
0 * * * *	Every hour (on the hour)
*/30 * * * *	Every 30 minutes
0 0 1 * *	First of every month at midnight WAT
0 18 * * 5	Every Friday at 6:00 PM WAT
0 7 * * 1-5	Weekdays at 7:00 AM WAT
0 6,12,18 * * *	Three times a day (6am, noon, 6pm WAT)

Nigerian Business Hours Reference

Time (WAT)	Use case
0 6 * * 1-5	Pre-market reports (banking opens 8am)
0 8 * * 1-5	Morning digest emails
0 12 * * 1-5	Midday summaries
0 17 * * 1-5	End-of-business reports
0 22 * * *	Nightly data cleanup (low-traffic window)

Example: Daily Summary Email

export default async function handler(req) {
  // req will be {} when triggered by cron
  const today = new Date().toLocaleDateString('en-NG', {
    timeZone: 'Africa/Lagos',
    weekday: 'long',
    year: 'numeric',
    month: 'long',
    day: 'numeric',
  })

  // Fetch your data, send emails, etc.
  const summary = await fetchDailySummary()

  await sendEmail({
    to: 'team@yourcompany.com',
    subject: `Daily Report — ${today}`,
    body: summary,
  })

  return { sent: true, date: today }
}

Schedule it with 0 8 * * 1-5 to run every weekday at 8am WAT.

Example: Monthly Cleanup

export default async function handler(req) {
  const thirtyDaysAgo = new Date()
  thirtyDaysAgo.setDate(thirtyDaysAgo.getDate() - 30)

  // Delete old records (use your NaijaBase project credentials via env vars)
  const response = await fetch(`${process.env.PROJECT_URL}/rest/v1/events`, {
    method: 'DELETE',
    headers: {
      apikey: process.env.API_KEY,
      'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ created_at: { lt: thirtyDaysAgo.toISOString() } }),
  })

  const deleted = await response.json()
  return { deleted_count: deleted.length, ran_at: new Date().toISOString() }
}

Schedule: 0 2 1 * * — 2am WAT on the first of each month.

Plan Limits

Plan	Cron Jobs
Starter	0
Growth	0
Scale	5
Business	20
Compliance Pro	Unlimited

Removing a Schedule

To remove a cron schedule without deleting the function:

Dashboard: Functions → select function → Cron Schedule → Remove schedule

API:

curl -X DELETE https://api.naijabase.dev/functions/FUNCTION_ID/cron \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN"

The function itself is not deleted — it can still be invoked via HTTP.

Execution Behaviour

• Cron jobs run in the same isolated Docker container as HTTP invocations
• If a previous run is still executing when the next one is scheduled, the new run starts anyway (no queue — concurrent runs are allowed)
• Logs for cron runs appear in the function's Logs tab with trigger type cron
• Failed runs (non-zero exit code or timeout) are logged as error but do not disable the schedule
• Timezone: always Africa/Lagos (WAT, UTC+1) — no daylight saving adjustment needed