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Supabase Cron Job Setup Guide

A guide for setting up and configuring scheduled cron jobs in Supabase using the Dashboard.

Prerequisites

  • A Supabase project with the pg_cron extension enabled
  • Access to the Supabase Dashboard
  1. Open your Supabase project dashboard
  2. Go to Integrations → Cron → Jobs
  3. Click Create job or navigate directly to the new job form

Configure Your Cron Job

Job Name

Enter a descriptive name for your job (e.g., upload_try_week_clean_job).

Important: Job names are case-sensitive and cannot be renamed after creation. Creating a second job with the same name will overwrite the first.

Schedule

Enter a cron expression or use the "Use natural language" toggle for presets.

Cron Syntax Reference

┌───────────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0-6, Sunday=0)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Common Examples

Expression Description
0 0 * * 0 Every Sunday at midnight (GMT)
0 0 * * 1 Every Monday at midnight (GMT)
0 2 * * 1 Every Monday at 2:00 AM (GMT)
*/5 * * * * Every 5 minutes
0 0 1 * * First day of each month at midnight
0 3 * * 6 Every Saturday at 3:00 AM (GMT)
30 seconds Every 30 seconds (requires Postgres 15.1.1.61+)

Job Type

Choose one of the following:

Type Description Requirements
SQL Snippet Execute raw SQL statements None
Database function Call an existing Postgres function Function must exist
HTTP Request Send HTTP requests to external URLs pg_net extension
Supabase Edge Function Trigger a Supabase Edge Function pg_net extension

SQL Snippet Example

For a weekly reset of upload attempt counters:

UPDATE users
SET avatar_upload_tries = 0;

Save the Job

Click Save cron job to activate your scheduled job.

Managing Existing Jobs

Edit a Job

  1. Find the job in the Jobs list
  2. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) on the right
  3. Select Edit cron job
  4. Make changes and click Save cron job

Activate/Deactivate a Job

Toggle the Active/Inactive switch next to the job name.

Delete a Job

  1. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) on the right
  2. Select Delete cron job
  3. Confirm by typing the job name

View Job History

Click the History button next to the job name to inspect past runs.

Installing pg_net Extension

Required for HTTP requests and Edge Function triggers:

  1. In the cron job form, click Install pg_net extension
  2. Or run via SQL:
CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS pg_net WITH SCHEMA extensions;

Advanced Examples

Delete Old Data Weekly

SELECT cron.schedule(
  'saturday-cleanup',
  '30 3 * * 6',  -- Saturday at 3:30 AM (GMT)
  $$ DELETE FROM events WHERE event_time < now() - interval '1 week' $$
);

Run Vacuum Daily

SELECT cron.schedule('nightly-vacuum', '0 3 * * *', 'VACUUM');

Call a Database Function

SELECT cron.schedule('call-db-function', '*/5 * * * *', 'SELECT hello_world()');

Invoke Edge Function

SELECT cron.schedule(
  'invoke-function-every-half-minute',
  '30 seconds',
  $$
  SELECT net.http_post(
    url := 'https://project-ref.supabase.co/functions/v1/function-name',
    headers := jsonb_build_object(
      'Content-Type', 'application/json',
      'Authorization', 'Bearer ' || 'YOUR_ANON_KEY'
    ),
    body := jsonb_build_object('time', now()),
    timeout_milliseconds := 5000
  ) AS request_id;
  $$
);

Caution

Be careful when scheduling system maintenance tasks. For example, terminating idle connections with pg_terminate_backend(pid) can disrupt background processes like nightly backups.

Consider using existing Postgres settings (like idle_session_timeout) instead of custom cron jobs for common maintenance tasks.

References