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Cron job fields and limits

A cron job is a scheduled outbound HTTP request. How to create and trigger one is in Create and run a cron job. Plan numbers are in plan limits.

The expression follows Unix cron with five fields: minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week. Maximum length is 255 characters.

Minimum interval is 5 minutes on Free and 1 minute on Starter and Standard.

FieldLimit
Name3–255 characters
DescriptionUp to 2048 characters
URLUp to 2048 characters; http or https only
HTTP methodGET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE
Request headersMax 20 name/value pairs; name up to 255 characters; value up to 4 KB
Request bodyMax 256 KB; plain text, JSON, or XML
Redirect-follow limit0–10
Connection timeout3 seconds–15 minutes (3000–900000 ms)

GET requests may include a body. Private, loopback, and link-local destinations are rejected.

A definition update takes effect for scheduled runs within 5 minutes. A manual trigger always uses the latest definition.

BehaviorValue
Schedule lagWithin 5 seconds under normal load
Queue waitUp to 5 minutes
Upstream response cap32 MB
RetryStarter and Standard: up to 10 attempts within 30 minutes total
Retry-AfterNot supported; it does not change retry behavior
Disabled, deleted, or pausedScheduler skips the job
Manual trigger while disabledAllowed; uses latest definition
Manual trigger rate limitPer team, not per job (50/week on Free)

HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2.0 are supported on every plan.

Each execution stores a copy of the job definition used for that run, plus response error code, HTTP status, headers, body, and timing (scheduled, started, completed).

PlanMax response body captureLog visibility
Free030 days
Starter4 KB90 days
Standard16 KB365 days

Crystade retains execution logs regardless of plan. Visibility is what the plan gates.

When retry is present on Starter or Standard:

FieldRange
Initial interval1 ms–30 minutes
Max interval1 ms–30 minutes; must be ≥ initial
Multiplier1–10

Standard jobs include tracing metadata on the outbound request: execution ID (idempotency key), cron job ID, scheduled-at, started-at, and whether the run was manual. Free and Starter do not include tracing metadata.