Cron jobs

Cron jobs in Nautilus are the Clockwork API (/v1/clockwork/*, for API keys with the clockwork scope): a managed scheduler for teams that need reliable, observable job scheduling without running their own cron daemons or queue workers. This section calls it Clockwork wherever it names the API.

What is Clockwork?

Clockwork lets you schedule HTTP callbacks on two execution models:

Cron Jobs — recurring tasks defined by a 5-field cron expression (e.g. 0 * * * * for every hour). Note that a schedule may restrict day-of-month or day-of-week, but not both — see the API reference.
Delayed Jobs — one-shot tasks fired at a specific future timestamp.

In both cases, Clockwork's worker picks up the job at the right time and makes an HTTP request to any URL you configure — your own API, a webhook, a microservice endpoint, or a third-party integration.

Under the hood, Clockwork is a purpose-built Rust worker (clockwork_worker) with atomic job claiming to prevent double-execution across concurrent instances, automatic retries for failures worth repeating, and a full execution history covering every attempt.

Why Clockwork?

Capability	Description
Reliable Scheduling	Atomic DB claim prevents double-execution across concurrent worker instances.
Automatic Retries	Network failures, `5xx` and `429` are retried up to 3 times with a growing delay. A `4xx` is not — see Retries.
Full Execution History	Every attempt is recorded with status, duration, HTTP response code, and error details.
Flexible HTTP Dispatch	Any HTTP method (GET / POST / PUT / PATCH / DELETE), custom headers, and optional body.
Dashboard UI	Manage and monitor all jobs from the Verne Console without writing infrastructure code.
Included in your plan	Scheduled runs and Clockwork API calls are not counted or billed. Each plan limits how many jobs are active at once and how long run history is kept — see Plan Limits.
Multi-tenant	Each tenant's jobs and execution history are strictly isolated.
Zero Ops	No queues to manage, no cron daemons to maintain — just an API call or a few clicks.

Quick Start

Log in and open the Clockwork Dashboard.
Go to the Cron Jobs tab to create a recurring job, or the Delayed Jobs tab to schedule a one-shot task.
Fill in the target URL, HTTP method, schedule (cron expression or datetime), and optional headers/body.
Click Create — Clockwork handles the rest.

Or use the API directly from your backend with a Clockwork API key (create one on Dashboard → Keys):

# Create a cron job that pings your health endpoint every 5 minutes
curl -X POST https://api.vernesoft.com/v1/clockwork/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer vrn_9f8a7..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Health ping",
    "schedule": "*/5 * * * *",
    "url": "https://yourapp.com/health",
    "method": "GET"
  }'

# Schedule a one-shot job to run at a specific time
curl -X POST https://api.vernesoft.com/v1/clockwork/delayed \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer vrn_9f8a7..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Send welcome email",
    "run_at": "2026-04-10T09:00:00Z",
    "url": "https://yourapp.com/internal/send-welcome",
    "method": "POST",
    "body": "{\"user_id\": \"usr_001\"}"
  }'

Authentication

Clockwork can be called two ways, both strictly scoped to a single tenant — Clockwork will never expose or modify another tenant's jobs:

API key (recommended for backends) — send an API key with the clockwork scope as a Bearer token against the /v1/clockwork/* routes. The tenant is derived from the key. Create and rotate keys on Dashboard → Keys.
Session cookie (Console / browser) — forward the ory_kratos_session cookie against the /dashboard/clockwork/* routes. The session is set automatically when you log in to the Verne Console.

Both modes operate on the same jobs and are documented side by side in the API Reference.