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Timer Trigger

The Timer Trigger will fire a workflow on a scheduled interval.

Timer Trigger

Node Properties​

The Timer Trigger can be configured in three different ways:

Simple Interval​

Configure the timer to fire after a repeating period of time. Choose an amount (a positive number) and a unit.

Application Workflows: The unit can be "Seconds", "Minutes", "Hours", or "Days". The interval can be any positive number that evaluates to at least 1 second and less than 1 year (fractional intervals are allowed).

Edge Workflows: The unit can be "Milliseconds", "Seconds", "Minutes", "Hours", or "Days". The interval can be any positive number that evaluates to at least 100 milliseconds and less than 1 year (fractional intervals are allowed).

For Gateway Edge Agent v1.12.0 and below, the interval can be any positive number that evaluates to at least 1 second and less than 1 year.

Embedded Workflows: The unit can be "Milliseconds", "Seconds", "Minutes", "Hours", or "Days". The interval can be any positive number that evaluates to at least 100 milliseconds and less than 1 year (fractional intervals are allowed).

Embedded Workflows only support simple intervals; it is not possible to define an embedded workflow's timer frequency using a simple schedule or advanced cron strings. Also, the behavior of the Timer Trigger can vary depending on how time is managed on your Embedded Device.

Simple Schedule​

Configure the timer to fire based on a simple daily schedule. Select the days of the week, the time of day that the timer should fire, and the time zone of the given time of day.

Advanced​

Configure the timer to fire using a valid cron string. The base cron spec is supported, and in addition the non-standard /, @yearly, @monthly, @weekly, @daily, and @hourly syntax is supported. The non-standard L, W, #, ?, @reboot, and @annually syntax is not supported.

Timer Trigger Config

In the above example, the timer is configured using Simple Interval, and is set so that the timer will fire every 5 minutes.

Payload​

Unlike most other triggers, there is no special data included in the payload for a Timer Trigger, so the data field is set to an empty object. The only data relevant to a Timer Trigger is the time at which the trigger fired, and that is just in the standard time field that every trigger payload has. In the general case, a timer workflow payload will look like the following:

  • ▶
    {} 10 keys
    • "555555555555eeeeeeeeeeee"
    • "My Great Application"
    • {} 0 keys
      • "333333333333cccccccccccc"
      • "My Great Workflow"
      • "myFlowVersion"
      • ▶
        {} 3 keys
        • Tue Aug 25 2026 20:34:16 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) (Date object)
        • "<unique trigger ID>"
        • "timer"

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