Schedules

Schedules let you run rules on a recurring basis using cron expressions or poll intervals. Combined with schedule guards, you can ensure rules only fire during appropriate windows and pause them instantly with Quick Freeze when needed.

How It Works

When a rule uses a schedule or poll trigger, TinyOps evaluates it at the specified cadence. Before each evaluation, schedule guards are checked. If a guard blocks execution, the run is marked as skipped with a reason logged. Otherwise, the rule evaluates normally.

Cron Expressions

Cron format follows the standard 5-field syntax:


minute  hour  day  month  weekday

Field	Values	Description
minute	0-59	Minute of the hour
hour	0-23	Hour of the day (UTC unless timezone configured)
day	1-31	Day of the month
month	1-12	Month of the year
weekday	0-6	Day of the week (0 = Sunday)

Examples

Expression	Meaning
`0 9 * * 1-5`	Weekdays at 9:00 AM
`/15 * * *`	Every 15 minutes
`0 0 1 * *`	First day of every month at midnight
`30 17 * * 5`	Fridays at 5:30 PM

cron-schedule-rule.yaml


name: daily-cost-check
trigger:
  type: schedule
  cron: "0 9 * * 1-5"
provider: vercel
condition:
  field: billing.mtd_spend
  operator: gte
  value: 50
action:
  type: notify
  channel: slack
  message: "Vercel spend alert: ${{billing.mtd_spend}} MTD"

Poll Intervals

For simpler recurring checks, use poll intervals instead of cron. Format is a number followed by a unit:

Unit	Abbreviation	Example
Minutes	`m`	`5m`
Hours	`h`	`1h`
Days	`d`	`1d`

The minimum poll interval is 1 minute. Intervals shorter than 1 minute will be rejected.

poll-interval-rule.yaml


name: stale-pr-check
trigger:
  type: poll
  interval: 1h
condition:
  field: pr.last_activity_days
  operator: gte
  value: 7
action:
  type: notify
  channel: slack
  message: "PR #{{pr.number}} is stale"

Schedule Guards

Guards add conditions that must be met before a scheduled rule executes. If a guard blocks, the execution is marked as skipped with the guard name as the reason.

Business Hours Guard

Restricts rule execution to your organization’s configured business hours.

Setting	Description
Timezone	Per-organization timezone setting
Start/End times	Configurable per day of the week

business-hours-guard.yaml


name: cost-alert
trigger:
  type: schedule
  cron: "0 * * * *"
guards:
  - type: duringBusinessHours

Freeze Window Guard

Blocks rule execution during defined freeze periods. Supports both one-time and recurring windows.

freeze-window-guard.yaml


name: deploy-notify
trigger:
  type: webhook
  event: push
guards:
  - type: excludeFreezeWindows

Each organization can have a maximum of 50 freeze windows. Remove expired one-time windows to free up slots.

Quick Freeze

Quick Freeze lets you instantly pause all scheduled rules for a specified duration. Useful for incidents, maintenance windows, or when you need immediate quiet.

Open the Schedules page in your dashboard

Click “Quick Freeze”

Select duration (e.g., 15 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours)

All scheduled rules are paused immediately

Rules resume automatically when the freeze expires

Skipped Executions

When a guard blocks a scheduled execution, TinyOps records it with:

Field	Value
Status	`skipped`
Reason	Guard name (e.g., `duringBusinessHours`, `excludeFreezeWindows`, `quickFreeze`)
Timestamp	When the execution was attempted

Skipped executions appear in your Dashboard & Analytics and can be filtered by status.

Cost Guard - uses scheduled triggers for daily spend checks
PR Health Pack - uses poll intervals for stale PR detection
Dashboard & Analytics - view and filter skipped executions
Deploy Safety - combine with freeze windows for deploy blackouts