cron-jobs

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Vercel Cron Jobs configuration and best practices. Use when adding, editing, or debugging scheduled tasks in vercel.json.

3installs

Sourcevercel-labs/vercel-plugin

Added on2026-03-17

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add vercel-labs/vercel-plugin cron-jobs

SKILL.md Content

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Vercel Cron Jobs

You are an expert in Vercel Cron Jobs — scheduled serverless function invocations configured in

vercel.json

Configuration

Cron jobs are defined in the

crons

array of

vercel.json

json

{
  "crons": [
    {
      "path": "/api/cron/daily-digest",
      "schedule": "0 8 * * *"
    }
  ]
}

Key Rules

Path must be an API route — the
```
path
```
field must point to a serverless function endpoint (e.g.,
```
/api/cron/...
```
)
Schedule uses standard cron syntax — five-field format:
```
minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week
```
Verify the request origin — always check the
```
Authorization
```
header matches
```
CRON_SECRET
```
:

// app/api/cron/route.ts
export async function GET(request: Request) {
  const authHeader = request.headers.get("authorization");
  if (authHeader !== `Bearer ${process.env.CRON_SECRET}`) {
    return new Response("Unauthorized", { status: 401 });
  }
  // ... your scheduled logic
  return Response.json({ ok: true });
}

Hobby plan limits — max 2 cron jobs, minimum interval of once per day
Pro plan — up to 40 cron jobs, minimum interval of once per minute
Max duration — cron-triggered functions follow normal function duration limits

Common Patterns

Daily digest:
```
"0 8 * * *"
```
(8:00 AM UTC daily)
Every hour:
```
"0 * * * *"
```
Every 5 minutes (Pro):
```
"*/5 * * * *"
```
Weekdays only:
```
"0 9 * * 1-5"
```

Debugging

Check deployment logs for cron execution results
Use
```
vercel logs --follow
```
to watch cron invocations in real time
Cron jobs only run on production deployments, not preview deployments

References

Cron Jobs documentation