Set a Cron Job in Laravel
Hello,
I just read this post: https://blog.railway.app/p/cron-jobs and I am trying to create and run a cron job in my laravel application.
Does anyone has any idea of how this can be done in a laravel project?
I created a file named "crone.ts" in the root directory with the next code:
const cron = require('node-cron');
const shell = require('shelljs');
// Schedule tasks to be run on the server.
cron.schedule('* * * * *', function() {
console.log('Running cronjobs');
shell.exec('php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1');
});
I created a task in the Laravel scheduler (.\app\Console\Kernel.php) with the next code:
$schedule->call(function () {
info("called every minute");
})->everyMinute();
And I modified my npm start script, so it now is:
"start": "php artisan serve && node /app/cron.ts&"
But I still can't make it work, any help would be really appreciated.
Railway Blog
Cron Jobs on Railway
A brief guide on deploying and running cron jobs on Railway using JavaScript.
23 Replies
Project ID:
919d7c14-3b5b-4e9d-b55f-8be1a2de52d3919d7c14-3b5b-4e9d-b55f-8be1a2de52d3
don't know why you need to involve node into this
https://laravel.com/docs/10.x/scheduling
Thank you for your answer @Brody
So if you read the documentation you just sent:
https://laravel.com/docs/10.x/scheduling#running-the-scheduler
It says:
"So, when using Laravel's scheduler, we only need to add a single cron configuration entry to our server that runs the schedule:run command every minute."
The problem with Railway is that there isn't any first-party support for cron jobs, or any other simple way to add this configuration entry. That's why I am trying to configure it by using the ts file.
whats wrong with
php artisan schedule:workThat's only used to run and test the schedule locally... or what are you suggesting here?
As I said, to be able to run the cron jobs on the server it's necessary to to add a cron configuration entry to the server (crontab).
yes it does say its used locally, but it also doesnt say you cant use it in production
Are you sure about this? I've make many tests and I am still not able to make my scheduled tasks work, how am I supposed to run php artisan schedule:work in prod?
what are you even trying to schedule to begin with?
The goal is to make a database backup, but I first tried to do a simple:
info("Hello World!");
to begin with, but it didn''t work either
then make a seprate service to do database backups
https://blog.railway.app/p/automated-postgresql-backups
Yeah... I saw this blog post earlier, but I am backing up my database data into Google Drive, not Amazon S3, and it's already working locally though, I know this is a good alternative, but I should be able to do it from the same service, right?
doing it from the same service is not advisable
Why? 😮
That's the purpose of the Laravel Scheduler
you are just making things needlessly complicated for yourself, write a simple node cron app to backup the database, job done
With server access or first-party support this is'nt complicated at all, that's the whole point of the Laravel Scheduler, avoiding to write unecessary code or add unecessary services, but it's ok if ther's no other alternative I guess I don't have any other option
so undo all that node stuff you did, and just write a simple node app to dump and upload the dump to google drive, simple
Don't get me wrong, I like Railway and I've loved it so far, but adding support for something like this would be really great. https://fly.io/docs/laravel/the-basics/cron-and-queues/
Im not able to use php artisan queue:work in production
It's just my point of view @Brody as a developer that has been using Railway for a small period of time, my intention is not to compare or criticize what we have in a bad way
^
To set up a cron scheduler, create a new instance of the app using the same env variable used in the main instance. Then change the start command to
php artisan schedule:work. As Brody said there is nowhere it is written that you cannot use this in production. I have been using it without any issues.
Regarding backing up your Laravel database, consider using spatie/laravel-backup. This will allow you to schedule a command like this $schedule->command(command: 'backup:run')->everySixHours(); You can backup to any file system e.g S3 at any interval you want.
I will try it