Run a function on a schedule

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Run a function automatically on a cron schedule - every few minutes, hourly, or daily - without a Shopify Flow trigger.

A function can run automatically on a schedule, without a Shopify Flow trigger - handy for periodic exports, syncs, clean-ups, or health checks. Combine it with Write with AI to build, say, "every 5 minutes, export new orders to my endpoint".

Turn it on

Open the function and go to the Settings tab.
Switch on Run on a schedule.
Pick a preset (every 5 minutes, hourly, daily at 09:00, weekdays, and so on) or choose Custom cron expression and write your own.
Save. From then on, the function runs on that schedule.

The Schedule section of a function's Settings with Run on a schedule on and a cron expression — Run on a schedule: pick a preset or enter a cron expression (UTC). The editor shows how many runs per 30 days that means.

Custom cron expressions

A custom schedule is a standard 5-field crontab: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week.

Example	Runs
`/5 * * *`	Every 5 minutes
`0 * * * *`	Every hour, on the hour
`0 9 * * *`	Every day at 09:00 UTC
`0 9 * * 1-5`	Weekdays at 09:00 UTC
`30 2 1 * *`	02:30 UTC on the 1st of each month

The editor shows how many runs a schedule works out to over 30 days, and warns you if that is more than your plan allows.

What the function receives

A scheduled run calls your function with an empty input ({}) - there is no Flow action supplying data. Use ctx.shopify.graphql(...) to read what you need, ctx.fetch(...) for outbound HTTP, and secrets.NAME for credentials, exactly as in a Flow run. Scheduled runs appear in Run history and troubleshooting with the trigger Scheduled.