Scheduler with cron in Laravel

Introduction

The scheduler helps you run tasks automatically at set times without doing it yourself.

Send daily reminder emails to users.

Clean up old files every night.

Generate reports every Monday morning.

Backup the database weekly.

Run any repetitive task automatically on a schedule.

Syntax

Laravel

protected function schedule(Schedule $schedule)
{
    $schedule->command('your:command')->cron('* * * * *');
}

The cron method uses standard cron syntax: minute, hour, day, month, weekday.

Put your scheduled commands inside the schedule method in app/Console/Kernel.php.

Examples

Runs the emails:send command every day at 9:00 AM.

Laravel

$schedule->command('emails:send')->cron('0 9 * * *');

Runs the backup:run command every Sunday at midnight.

Laravel

$schedule->command('backup:run')->cron('0 0 * * 0');

Runs the cleanup:temp command every 15 minutes.

Laravel

$schedule->command('cleanup:temp')->cron('*/15 * * * *');

Sample Program

This example shows how to schedule a command named report:generate to run every day at 7 AM using cron syntax. The command prints a message when it runs.

Laravel

<?php

namespace AppConsole;

use IlluminateConsoleSchedulingSchedule;
use IlluminateFoundationConsoleKernel as ConsoleKernel;

class Kernel extends ConsoleKernel
{
    protected function schedule(Schedule $schedule): void
    {
        // Run the 'report:generate' command every day at 7 AM
        $schedule->command('report:generate')->cron('0 7 * * *');
    }

    protected function commands(): void
    {
        $this->load(__DIR__.'/Commands');
    }
}

// Example command class
namespace AppConsoleCommands;

use IlluminateConsoleCommand;

class ReportGenerate extends Command
{
    protected $signature = 'report:generate';
    protected $description = 'Generate daily report';

    public function handle(): int
    {
        // Simulate report generation
        $this->info('Report generated successfully.');
        return 0;
    }
}

Important Notes

Make sure your server runs the Laravel scheduler every minute by adding this cron entry: * * * * * php /path-to-your-project/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

Use php artisan schedule:list to see all scheduled tasks.

Test your commands manually with php artisan your:command before scheduling.

Summary

The scheduler runs tasks automatically using cron timing.

Define scheduled commands inside app/Console/Kernel.php.

Set up a system cron job to trigger Laravel's scheduler every minute.