How to Setup Cron Job in Node.js

Overview
Cron is a task which allows running automated commands at specific date & time. This is developer favourite because it helps to set up the task-specific script in the background which will run on defined time. So In this post, we will learn how to a setup cron job in node.js.
Prerequisites
- Nodejs Installed system
- NPM (Node package manager) installed
- Basic knowledge of node.js
We will use node-cron module which allows you to schedule task in node.js using full crontab syntax. So go to npm website for a complete reference of the node-cron module
I have written a complete guide about cron-setup in Linux So please go through this article if you don't have any knowledge about the cron.
Let's start We will use express & node-cron for this demo .
Create a folder for node cron project
mkdir my-node-corn
cd my-node-cron
npm init -y
Install Express using npm
npm install express
Install node-cron using npm
npm install node-cron
Next, create an index.js file to setup the cron using express & node-cron & paste the below code.
const cron = require("node-cron");
const express = require("express");
/**
* Creating a new express app
*/
app = express();
// Creating a cron job which runs on every second
cron.schedule("* * * * * *", function() {
console.log("running a cron on every second");
});
const PORT = process.env.PORT || 3200;
app.listen(PORT, function () {
console.log('app listening at port %s', PORT);
});
Now run the index.js file node index OR via nodemon & you will see the output in node console.
[nodemon] restarting due to changes...
[nodemon] starting `node index.js`
app listening at port 3200
running a cron on every second
That's it now write your cron logic inside cron.schedule() function.
Conclusion
This is a simple post about how to run cron jobs in nodeJs. I hope you like this article.