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Quick Start

This guide will help you create and manage your first cron job with A1Cron. By the end, you’ll have a scheduled task running automatically.

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Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:
  • An A1Base account
  • Your API key and secret from the dashboard
  • A publicly accessible endpoint URL to call

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Step 1: Create Your First Cron Job

Let’s create a simple daily cron job that calls your endpoint every morning at 9 AM. 
curl -X POST https://api.a1base.com/v1/cron-jobs/{accountId}/create \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key" \
  -H "X-API-Secret: your-api-secret" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Daily Morning Report",
    "description": "Generate daily sales report",
    "endpoint_url": "https://your-app.com/api/daily-report",
    "method": "POST",
    "headers": {
      "Authorization": "Bearer your-token",
      "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    "body": "{\"report_type\": \"daily\", \"format\": \"pdf\"}",
    "timezone": "America/New_York",
    "schedule_config": {
      "repeat_type": "days",
      "repeat_every": 1,
      "time": "09:00",
      "end_type": "never"
    },
    "retry_config": {
      "max_retries": 3,
      "retry_delay_seconds": 300,
      "timeout_seconds": 30
    },
    "tags": ["reports", "daily"],
    "is_active": true
  }'

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Response

{
  "data": {
    "id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
    "name": "Daily Morning Report",
    "description": "Generate daily sales report",
    "endpoint_url": "https://your-app.com/api/daily-report",
    "schedule": "0 9 * * *",
    "method": "POST",
    "is_active": true,
    "timezone": "America/New_York",
    "next_run_at": "2024-01-26T14:00:00Z",
    "created_at": "2024-01-25T10:30:00Z"
  }
}
Save the returned id - you’ll need it to manage this cron job later.

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Step 2: Verify Your Cron Job

Let’s check that your cron job was created successfully: 
curl -X GET https://api.a1base.com/v1/cron-jobs/{accountId}/details/{cron_job_id} \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key" \
  -H "X-API-Secret: your-api-secret"

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Step 3: Test with Manual Trigger

Before waiting for the scheduled time, test your cron job manually: 
curl -X POST https://api.a1base.com/v1/cron-jobs/{accountId}/trigger/{cron_job_id} \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key" \
  -H "X-API-Secret: your-api-secret"
This will immediately execute your cron job and return the result: 
{
  "data": {
    "execution_id": "exe_123456",
    "status": "success",
    "response_code": 200,
    "response_body": "{\"message\": \"Report generated successfully\"}",
    "executed_at": "2024-01-25T10:35:00Z"
  }
}

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Step 4: Monitor Execution Logs

Check the execution history of your cron job: 
curl -X GET "https://api.a1base.com/v1/cron-jobs/{accountId}/logs/{cron_job_id}?limit=10" \
  -H "X-API-Key: your-api-key" \
  -H "X-API-Secret: your-api-secret"

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Common Patterns

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Hourly Health Check

{
  "name": "API Health Check",
  "endpoint_url": "https://your-api.com/health",
  "method": "GET",
  "timezone": "UTC",
  "schedule_config": {
    "repeat_type": "hourly",
    "repeat_every": 1,
    "time": "00:00"
  },
  "callbacks": {
    "failure_url": "https://your-app.com/alerts/health-check-failed"
  }
}

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Weekly Report on Business Days

{
  "name": "Weekday Summary",
  "endpoint_url": "https://your-app.com/api/summary",
  "method": "POST",
  "timezone": "America/Chicago",
  "schedule_config": {
    "repeat_type": "weeks",
    "repeat_every": 1,
    "time": "17:00",
    "days_of_week": ["1", "2", "3", "4", "5"]
  }
}

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Limited Duration Campaign

{
  "name": "30-Day Campaign",
  "endpoint_url": "https://your-app.com/api/campaign",
  "method": "POST",
  "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles",
  "schedule_config": {
    "repeat_type": "days",
    "repeat_every": 1,
    "time": "10:00",
    "end_type": "after",
    "end_occurrences": 30
  }
}

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Troubleshooting

  • Check that is_active is set to true
  • Verify the timezone and scheduled time
  • Ensure your endpoint URL is publicly accessible
  • Check the execution logs for error messages
  • Verify your API key and secret are correct
  • Ensure you’re including both headers in your requests
  • Check that your account ID in the URL is correct
  • Increase the timeout_seconds in your retry configuration
  • Ensure your endpoint responds within the timeout period
  • Consider optimizing your endpoint for faster response

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Next Steps

Now that you have a working cron job:

Explore Examples

See more use cases and patterns

API Reference

Deep dive into all endpoints

Monitoring Guide

Learn about logs and monitoring

Webhook Setup

Configure success/failure callbacks