You configure a Cron job in the Catalyst console by selecting the target function, entering a cron expression (such as “0 9 * * 1-5” for weekday mornings at 9 AM), and setting the timezone. Catalyst’s scheduler fires the function at each scheduled time independently of any HTTP request. The function receives a payload indicating it was triggered by a cron job, which you can use within the function logic to distinguish it from other invocation types. Execution logs for each cron run are available in the Catalyst console for debugging.
Cron jobs are useful for any recurring background task: syncing data from an external API, sending daily summary emails to users, archiving old Datastore rows, or generating nightly reports. Indian businesses using Zoho Books often pair Catalyst Cron jobs with custom functions to pull invoice data every night and push it to an internal accounting system without manual intervention.
Cron functions must complete within the function timeout limit, so long-running jobs should process data in batches across multiple scheduled runs. Catalyst does not guarantee sub-minute scheduling precision, so avoid use cases requiring very precise timing. When testing a cron-triggered function, you can invoke it manually from the CLI with a mock cron payload to verify behaviour before the first scheduled run.
A Pune-based logistics company runs a Catalyst Cron every night at 11 PM IST. The cron triggers a function that queries the Catalyst Datastore for all deliveries still marked “In Transit” after 48 hours, then creates follow-up tasks in Zoho CRM and sends an SMS alert to the operations manager via the Zoho SMS API. The whole process runs without any human input and takes under 20 seconds.
Catalyst uses the standard Unix cron format with five fields: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. For example, “30 8 * * 1” runs at 8:30 AM every Monday. Catalyst also provides preset intervals like every 5 minutes, hourly, and daily for teams that prefer not to write cron expressions manually.
Yes. Catalyst allows you to enable or disable individual cron jobs from the console without deleting the configuration. This is useful during maintenance windows or when you need to pause a recurring job temporarily while debugging the underlying function.
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