Scheduled Workflow Running at Wrong Times or Not at All
Your Base44 app has scheduled workflows (daily reports, weekly reminders, monthly billing) that either don't run at all, run at the wrong time, or run multiple times. A workflow scheduled for 9 AM runs at 2 AM, a daily digest never fires, or a monthly report generates three times in one day.
Scheduled workflows are the backbone of automated business processes. When they fire at wrong times, reports go out overnight when nobody reads them, reminders arrive at midnight, and billing processes run at unexpected intervals causing duplicate charges or missed payments.
The timezone issue is particularly common: you configure a schedule thinking it's in your local timezone, but the server interprets it as UTC, causing a consistent offset in all your scheduled tasks.
Error Messages You Might See
Common Causes
- Timezone mismatch — The schedule is configured in your local timezone but the server runs in UTC, causing a time offset
- Cron expression wrong — The cron syntax has a common mistake like month/day-of-week confusion or using 0-indexed vs 1-indexed values
- Schedule not saved correctly — The UI shows the correct schedule but the saved configuration has a different value
- Overlapping executions — The workflow takes longer than the interval, causing multiple instances to run simultaneously
- Server restart clearing schedule — The scheduled task registration doesn't persist across server restarts or deployments
How to Fix It
- Verify the timezone setting — Check if your Base44 app's scheduler uses UTC or your local timezone. Adjust the scheduled time accordingly
- Test with a short interval first — Set the schedule to run every 5 minutes and verify it fires correctly before setting the actual interval
- Validate cron expressions — Use a cron expression tool (crontab.guru) to verify your expression means what you think it means
- Add execution logging — Log every workflow execution with a timestamp so you can verify when it actually runs
- Prevent overlapping runs — Add a lock or flag that prevents a new execution from starting if the previous one hasn't finished
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Get HelpFrequently Asked Questions
Why does my Base44 scheduled workflow run at the wrong time?
The most common cause is a timezone mismatch. If you schedule for 9 AM but the server uses UTC, and you're in EST (UTC-5), the workflow will run at 9 AM UTC which is 4 AM EST. Convert your desired time to UTC.
How do I verify when my scheduled workflow actually runs?
Add logging to the first step of your workflow that records the current timestamp. Then check the logs after the expected execution time to confirm when it actually ran.