Schedule
Starts the automation on a recurring schedule—nightly, hourly, on the first of the month. Reach for it when the work is driven by the clock rather than by an event: a maintenance sweep, a digest, a periodic sync.
Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Payload | Optional structured input delivered with every run. A schedule has no person at fire time, so the data is filled in here at configuration time. Choose Content Type—an existing content type, plus the specific Content to deliver—or Custom JSON, where you write the object yourself in Payload (JSON). Leave unset for no input. |
| Schedule | When the automation runs. Choose Schedule Builder to assemble the recurrence from Second, Minute, Hour, Day, and Month pickers, or Cron Expression to type a cron string directly. Either way the form shows the schedule back to you in plain English. |
What later steps see
With a payload set, the trigger's output is that payload's fields. With none, the trigger produces no output and the flow works entirely from what its own steps fetch.
Running one by hand
A Schedule trigger can be run at any time without waiting for its next occurrence—the node offers Run Automation and Run as Dry Run, the same as an On Demand trigger. The run carries the payload configured on the trigger, exactly as a scheduled run does, so a schedule can be tested without temporarily rewriting it to fire sooner.
Starting a run this way leaves the schedule alone: the next scheduled run still happens at its usual time. Run history tells the two apart—a run started by hand is labeled with the name of the person who started it, and a scheduled run is labeled with its schedule.
The run buttons appear only on a trigger that is the start of the flow, and only while the automation is enabled.
Due schedules are checked about once a minute. A schedule set to fire more often than that may skip occurrences, and the form warns you when the expression you have written does so.