Background Tasks

Build and run workflows on a set schedule

What are background tasks?

Background tasks, or sometimes referred to as "cron jobs" are workflows that run on a set schedule. Background tasks are great for things like sending out marketing emails, report generation, analytics, and large data processing jobs.

Building and Using Background Tasks

1

Click in the left-hand menu to access your background tasks.

2

Click to create a new background task.

Fill in your desired options, such as name, description, tags, request history, and the preferred data source.

3

Build your background task.

Background tasks are a little different from APIs and custom functions, in that they do not have inputs or deliver a response. Tasks have two sections that require your attention.

🔄 Function stack

This is where all of the magic happens. All of the different steps and functions that are performed inside of a function stack happen here.

📅 Schedule

The schedule determines when your background task runs, and how often.

If a new run is scheduled to begin before the previous has completed, the currently due run will be skipped.

4

Set your task to active.

Once you have built your function stack and your task schedule, click Enable Task to set it as active, and publish your changes.