Scheduler with cron in Laravel - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Scheduler with cron in Laravel

📖 Scenario: You are building a Laravel application that needs to run a task every minute to clean up old records. You will set up a scheduler using Laravel's task scheduling system and configure a cron job to trigger it.

🎯 Goal: Create a Laravel command, schedule it to run every minute using Laravel's scheduler, and configure the cron entry to run the scheduler.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Laravel command named CleanupOldRecords

Schedule the command to run every minute in app/Console/Kernel.php

Add the cron entry to run Laravel's scheduler every minute

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Many web applications need to perform regular maintenance tasks like cleaning old data or sending notifications. Laravel's scheduler with cron makes this easy and reliable.

💼 Career

Understanding Laravel's task scheduling and cron integration is essential for backend developers working with Laravel to automate repetitive tasks efficiently.

1

Create the Laravel command CleanupOldRecords

Run the artisan command to create a new command named CleanupOldRecords inside the app/Console/Commands directory.

Laravel

# Run the artisan command to create CleanupOldRecords
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use php artisan make:command CleanupOldRecords to create the command.

2

Schedule the CleanupOldRecords command every minute

Open app/Console/Kernel.php and add the line $schedule->command('cleanup:oldrecords')->everyMinute(); inside the schedule method.

Laravel

protected function schedule(Schedule $schedule)
{
    // Add the command schedule here
    # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Inside the schedule method, use $schedule->command('cleanup:oldrecords')->everyMinute();.

3

Add the cron entry to run Laravel scheduler every minute

Add the following cron entry to your server's crontab: * * * * * cd /path-to-your-project && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1. Replace /path-to-your-project with your Laravel project path.

Laravel

# Add this cron entry to your crontab
# * * * * * cd /path-to-your-project && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use crontab -e to edit the cron jobs and add the line to run Laravel's scheduler every minute.

4

Complete the CleanupOldRecords command handle method

Open app/Console/Commands/CleanupOldRecords.php and add a handle method that deletes records older than 30 days from the old_records table using Eloquent's whereDate and delete methods.

Laravel

public function handle()
{
    // Delete records older than 30 days from old_records table
    # Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use Carbon to get the date 30 days ago and delete records older than that from the old_records table.