Scheduling

Scheduling lets you run a Workflow automatically on a recurring cron expression. The LenserFight scheduler creates a new run at each scheduled time, passes in a pre-configured set of root inputs, and records the run in your history like any other run.

Creating a schedule

lf schedule create \
  --workflow <workflow-slug> \
  --cron "<cron-expression>" \
  --timezone "<tz-name>" \
  --name "My daily digest"

Flag	Required	Default	Description
--workflow	Yes	—	Slug of the Workflow to schedule
--cron	Yes	—	Standard 5-field cron expression
--timezone	No	UTC	IANA timezone name (e.g. Europe/Istanbul)
--name	No	—	Human-readable label for the schedule
--input key=value	No	Workflow defaults	Root inputs to pass to each run
--enabled	No	true	Whether the schedule is active after creation

Example: daily digest at 09:00 Istanbul time

lf schedule create \
  --workflow daily-digest \
  --cron "0 9 * * *" \
  --timezone "Europe/Istanbul" \
  --name "Morning digest" \
  --input audience="tech community" \
  --input tone="conversational"

Cron expression reference

LenserFight uses standard 5-field cron syntax:

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

Common patterns:

Expression	Fires
0 9 * * *	Every day at 09:00
0 9 * * 1-5	Weekdays at 09:00
0 0 * * 0	Every Sunday at midnight
0 */6 * * *	Every 6 hours
0 0 1 * *	First of every month at midnight
*/30 * * * *	Every 30 minutes
0 9,18 * * *	At 09:00 and 18:00 daily

Managing schedules

# List all schedules
lf schedule list

# Show details for a specific schedule
lf schedule show <schedule-id>

# Pause a schedule (stops future runs, does not delete)
lf schedule pause <schedule-id>

# Resume a paused schedule
lf schedule resume <schedule-id>

# Update cron expression or inputs
lf schedule update <schedule-id> \
  --cron "0 10 * * 1-5" \
  --timezone "America/New_York"

# Delete a schedule (does not delete the workflow or its runs)
lf schedule delete <schedule-id>

Scheduled run behaviour

Each scheduled run is treated identically to a manual run:

• It produces a workflow_runs record with trigger = 'scheduled'
• It generates node results, artifacts, and run history
• It is subject to the same retry, timeout, and failure policies as manual runs
• It can be cancelled while in progress: lf run cancel <run-id>

Idempotency

Scheduled runs carry an idempotency_key derived from (workflow_id, scheduled_at, rootInputsHash). If a run with the same key already exists, the scheduler does not create a duplicate. This prevents double-firing if the scheduler is briefly inconsistent.

Missed runs

If the scheduler is unavailable during a scheduled window, the run is not retried automatically. The schedule resumes at the next cron interval. Missed runs are logged in the schedule's history with status missed.

# View the firing history of a schedule
lf schedule history <schedule-id>

Conflict avoidance

By default, if the previous run for a schedule is still in progress when the next interval fires, the new run is skipped (not queued). This prevents an accumulating backlog of runs for slow workflows.

To change this behaviour:

lf schedule update <schedule-id> \
  --overlap-policy allow  # or: skip (default), queue

Policy	Behaviour
skip (default)	New run is dropped if previous is still running
allow	New run starts regardless of previous run status
queue	New run is queued and starts as soon as the previous finishes

Monitoring scheduled runs

# Stream logs from the most recent scheduled run
lf run logs --workflow <workflow-slug> --trigger scheduled --latest --stream

# List all runs for a workflow, filtered by trigger
lf run list --workflow <workflow-slug> --trigger scheduled

# Show run details
lf run show <run-id>

In the web app, the Automation section of your workspace shows a calendar view of past and upcoming scheduled runs, with status indicators and quick links to run details.

Timezone support

LenserFight uses IANA timezone names (e.g. Europe/Istanbul, America/New_York, Asia/Tokyo). Cron expressions are evaluated in the specified timezone, including correct handling of daylight saving time transitions.

# A schedule in Istanbul time (UTC+3) at 09:00
lf schedule create \
  --workflow morning-brief \
  --cron "0 9 * * *" \
  --timezone "Europe/Istanbul"

During a DST spring-forward, the 02:00 → 03:00 hour is skipped. Schedules that would have fired in the skipped hour are treated as missed. During a DST fall-back, the 02:00 hour repeats; the scheduler fires exactly once per wall-clock occurrence.

Related

• Automation Triggers — All trigger types: manual, scheduled, event, API
• Automation Workspace Overview — Workspace structure and product layers
• Workflow Concepts — DAG model, nodes, edges, and runs
• Workflow Types — Sequential, parallel, conditional, and scheduled patterns