---
id: 'pg_cron'
title: 'pg_cron: Job Scheduling'
description: 'pgnet: a simple cron-based job scheduler for PostgreSQL that runs inside the database.'
---

The `pg_cron` extension is a simple cron-based job scheduler for PostgreSQL that runs inside the database.

<Admonition type="note">

pg_cron is not fully supported on Fly Postgres. Read more about this [Fly Postgres limitation here](/docs/guides/platform/fly-postgres#limitations).

</Admonition>

## Usage

### Enable the extension

<Tabs
  scrollable
  size="small"
  type="underlined"
  defaultActiveId="dashboard"
  queryGroup="database-method"
>
<TabPanel id="dashboard" label="Dashboard">

1. Go to the [Database](https://supabase.com/dashboard/project/_/database/tables) page in the Dashboard.
2. Click on **Extensions** in the sidebar.
3. Search for "pg_cron" and enable the extension.

</TabPanel>
<TabPanel id="sql" label="SQL">

```sql
-- Example: enable the "pg_cron" extension
create extension pg_cron with schema pg_catalog;

grant usage on schema cron to postgres;
grant all privileges on all tables in schema cron to postgres;

-- Example: disable the "pg_cron" extension
drop extension if exists pg_cron;
```

</TabPanel>
</Tabs>

### Syntax

The schedule uses the standard cron syntax, in which \* means "run every time period", and a specific number means "but only at this time":

```bash
 ┌───────────── min (0 - 59)
 │ ┌────────────── hour (0 - 23)
 │ │ ┌─────────────── day of month (1 - 31)
 │ │ │ ┌──────────────── month (1 - 12)
 │ │ │ │ ┌───────────────── day of week (0 - 6) (0 to 6 are Sunday to
 │ │ │ │ │                  Saturday, or use names; 7 is also Sunday)
 │ │ │ │ │
 │ │ │ │ │
 * * * * *
```

You can use `[1-59] seconds` as the cron syntax to schedule sub-minute jobs. This is available on `pg_cron` v1.5.0+; upgrade your existing Supabase project to use this syntax.

Head over to [crontab.guru](https://crontab.guru/) to validate your cron schedules.

### Scheduling system maintenance

Be extremely careful when setting up `pg_cron` jobs for system maintenance tasks as they can have unintended consequences. For instance, scheduling a command to terminate idle connections with `pg_terminate_backend(pid)` can disrupt critical background processes like nightly backups. Often, there is an existing Postgres setting e.g. `idle_session_timeout` that can perform these common maintenance tasks without the risk.

Reach out to [Supabase Support](https://supabase.com/support) if you're unsure if that applies to your use case.

## Examples

### Delete data every week

Delete old data every Saturday at 3:30am (GMT):

```sql
select cron.schedule (
    'saturday-cleanup', -- name of the cron job
    '30 3 * * 6', -- Saturday at 3:30am (GMT)
    $$ delete from events where event_time < now() - interval '1 week' $$
);
```

### Run a vacuum every day

Vacuum every day at 3:00am (GMT):

```sql
select cron.schedule('nightly-vacuum', '0 3 * * *', 'VACUUM');
```

### Call a database function every 5 minutes

Create a [`hello_world()`](https://supabase.com/docs/guides/database/functions?language=sql#simple-functions) database function and then call it every 5 minutes:

```sql
select cron.schedule('call-db-function', '*/5 * * * *', 'SELECT hello_world()');
```

### Call a database stored procedure

To use a stored procedure, you can call it like this:

```sql
select cron.schedule('call-db-procedure', '*/5 * * * *', 'CALL my_procedure()');
```

### Invoke Supabase Edge Function every 30 seconds

<Admonition type="note">

This requires `pg_cron` v1.5.0+ and the [`pg_net` extension](/docs/guides/database/extensions/pgnet) to be enabled.

</Admonition>

Make a POST request to a Supabase Edge Function every 30 seconds:

```sql
select
  cron.schedule(
    'invoke-function-every-half-minute',
    '30 seconds',
    $$
    select
      net.http_post(
          url:='https://project-ref.supabase.co/functions/v1/function-name',
          headers:=jsonb_build_object('Content-Type','application/json', 'Authorization', 'Bearer ' || 'YOUR_ANON_KEY'),
          body:=jsonb_build_object('time', now() ),
          timeout_milliseconds:=5000
      ) as request_id;
    $$
  );
```

### Edit a job

Changes the frequency of a job called `'vacuum'` to once every 5 minutes.

```sql
select cron.alter_job(
  job_id := (select jobid from cron.job where jobname = 'vacuum'),
  schedule := '*/5 * * * *'
);
```

Full options for the `cron.alter_job()` function are:

```sql
cron.alter_job(
  job_id bigint,
  schedule text default null,
  command text default null,
  database text default null,
  username text default null,
  active boolean default null
)
```

It is also possible to modify a job by using the `cron.schedule()` function, with the same job name. This will replace the existing job, in the manner of an upsert.

### Unschedule a job

Unschedules a job called `'nightly-vacuum'`

```sql
select cron.unschedule('nightly-vacuum');
```

### Viewing previously ran jobs

View the last ten jobs that have ran

```sql
select
  *
from cron.job_run_details
order by start_time desc
limit 10;
```

<Admonition type="note">

The records in cron.job_run_details are not cleaned automatically which will take up disk space in your database.

</Admonition>

## Resources

- [`pg_cron` GitHub Repository](https://github.com/citusdata/pg_cron)