Schedule Jobs

Schedule Jobs in Dokploy allows you to create and manage automated tasks that run on a specified schedule using cron expressions. Each job execution creates a log entry where you can monitor the output and execution status.

Job Types

Dokploy supports four types of scheduled jobs:

Application Jobs: Run commands inside specific application containers
Compose Jobs: Execute commands in Docker Compose services
Server Jobs: Run scripts on remote servers
Dokploy Server Jobs: Execute tasks on the Dokploy server itself

Container-based Jobs (Application and Compose)

For application and compose jobs, you can run single commands that will be executed inside the target container. Dokploy internally uses Docker exec to run these commands:

docker exec -it <container_id> <command>

Example

Assuming you with a nginx container and you want to check the nginx version in a container:

Create a new schedule job
Set the command to: nginx -v
Configure your desired schedule using cron syntax
Save and monitor the execution logs

The target container must be running for the job to execute successfully.

For docker compose jobs, is required to not change the COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME environment variable, since this is used to identify the project.

Server-based Jobs (Server and Dokploy Server)

For remote servers and the Dokploy server, you can write bash scripts to perform various tasks. These scripts can use any command or tool available on the target system.

Make sure any required dependencies are installed on the target server before using them in your scripts.

Example 1: Automatic Docker Cleanup

This script cleans up unused Docker containers. You could schedule it to run every 15 minutes using the cron expression */15 * * * *:

#!/bin/bash
docker system prune --force

Example 2: Custom Database Backup

You can create scripts to backup databases that aren't natively supported by Dokploy. Here's an example structure for a custom backup script:

#!/bin/bash
# Backup script for custom database
backup_date=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
backup_file="database_${backup_date}.backup"
 
# search the container name
container_name=$(docker ps --filter "name=clickhouse" --format "{{.Names}}")
 
# Add your backup commands here
docker exec -it $container_name clickhouse-client --query "BACKUP DATABASE mydb TO '/backups/$backup_file'"
 
# Upload to S3 (if needed)
# aws s3 cp /backups/$backup_file s3://your-bucket/backups/

Best Practices

Always test your commands or scripts manually before scheduling them
Use appropriate error handling in your scripts
Consider the impact of scheduled jobs on system resources