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Creating Schedules

This guide walks you through creating and managing Schedules in Hooklistener.

Creating a New Schedule​

  1. Navigate to Schedules: Go to the Schedules section in your Hooklistener dashboard
  2. Click "Create Schedule": Open the schedule creation wizard
  3. Follow the 3-step wizard:

Step 1: Basics​

  • Name: Give your schedule a descriptive name (e.g., "API Health Check", "Daily Data Sync")
  • Status: Choose whether to start the schedule as active or inactive

Step 2: Timing​

Configure when your schedule should run using a cron expression.

Quick Presets: Use one of the common presets:

  • Every minute: * * * * *
  • Every 5 minutes: */5 * * * *
  • Every hour: 0 * * * * or @hourly
  • Every day at midnight: 0 0 * * * or @daily
  • Every week: 0 0 * * 0 or @weekly

Custom Cron: Or enter your own cron expression using the standard 5-field format:

* * * * *
│ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ └─── Day of week (0-7, Sunday = 0 or 7)
│ │ │ └───── Month (1-12)
│ │ └─────── Day of month (1-31)
│ └───────── Hour (0-23)
└─────────── Minute (0-59)

Cron Macros: Supported shortcuts:

  • @hourly - Run every hour
  • @daily - Run daily at midnight
  • @weekly - Run weekly on Sunday at midnight
  • @monthly - Run on the first day of each month

Step 3: Request Configuration​

Configure the HTTP request details:

HTTP Method: Select GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, or DELETE

Target URL: Enter the complete URL to request (e.g., https://api.example.com/health)

Timeout: Set request timeout in seconds (1-120, default: 10)

  • Use shorter timeouts for quick health checks (5-10 seconds)
  • Use longer timeouts for data processing endpoints (30-120 seconds)

Headers: Add custom HTTP headers as key-value pairs

  • Example: Authorization: Bearer token123
  • Example: Content-Type: application/json

Request Body (for POST, PUT, PATCH):

  • Enter the body content (JSON, text, etc.)
  • Make sure to set appropriate Content-Type header

Alert on Failure: Toggle to receive notifications when the schedule fails

Expected Status Codes: Define which HTTP status codes indicate success

  • Default: 200
  • Add multiple codes: 200, 201, 204
  • Use ranges for flexibility

Expected Response Keyword (optional): Enter a keyword that must appear in the response body

  • Example: "status": "ok"
  • Example: success
  • Useful for validating that the response contains expected content
  1. Create: Click "Create Schedule" to finish

Editing a Schedule​

To modify an existing schedule:

  1. Click on the schedule in your dashboard
  2. Update any fields (timing, request details, validation rules)
  3. Click "Save" to apply changes

Changes take effect immediately. If you modify the cron expression, the next run time will be recalculated automatically.

Activating and Deactivating​

You can pause a schedule without deleting it:

  • Toggle the active switch in the schedule details view or on the schedule card
  • Active schedules execute at their scheduled times
  • Inactive schedules are paused and won't run until reactivated

Deleting a Schedule​

To permanently remove a schedule:

  1. Open the schedule details
  2. Click "Delete" in the top-right corner
  3. Confirm the deletion

Note: Deleted schedules cannot be recovered. If you might need the schedule again, consider deactivating it instead.

Viewing Execution History​

Each schedule displays:

  • Last Run: Timestamp of the most recent execution
  • Last Status: Success or failure indicator
  • Last Message: Details about what happened (e.g., "status 200", "unexpected status 500")
  • Next Run: When the schedule will execute next

Review this information to monitor your schedules and troubleshoot any issues.

Monitoring and Troubleshooting​

Common Failure Messages​

  • "request failed: :econnrefused": The target server refused the connection (check URL and server availability)
  • "unexpected status 500": The server returned an error (check server logs)
  • "missing keyword xyz": The response didn't contain the expected keyword (verify keyword and response format)
  • "timeout": The request took longer than the configured timeout (increase timeout or optimize endpoint)

Best Practices​

  1. Start with inactive: Create schedules as inactive first to verify configuration before activating
  2. Test the endpoint: Ensure your target URL is accessible and returns expected responses
  3. Use appropriate timeouts: Set timeouts based on expected response times
  4. Validate responses: Use expected status codes and keywords to catch subtle failures
  5. Monitor regularly: Check execution history periodically to catch issues early
  6. Use descriptive names: Name schedules clearly so you can identify them at a glance

Limits and Constraints​

  • Maximum timeout: 120 seconds
  • Minimum interval: No hard limit, but avoid excessively frequent schedules (sub-minute intervals should be used carefully)
  • Organization scope: Schedules are private to your organization
  • Cron validation: Invalid cron expressions will be rejected during creation