Run Pipedream Workflows on Schedule

Can you run Pipedream workflows on a schedule?

Quick Answer: Yes. Pipedream supports cron-based scheduling as a workflow trigger, allowing workflows to run at fixed intervals (every minute, hour, day) or on custom cron expressions. The free plan includes 100 credits per day, where each scheduled run consumes at least one credit.

Running Pipedream Workflows on a Schedule

Pipedream provides a built-in schedule trigger that uses cron expressions to run workflows at specified intervals. As of April 2026, scheduled triggers are available on all Pipedream plans, including the free tier.

Schedule Trigger Options

Preset Intervals

Every 15 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Every hour
Every day at a specified time
Every week on a specified day and time
Every month on a specified date and time

Custom Cron Expressions

For complex schedules, Pipedream accepts standard cron expressions (5-field format):

0 9 * * 1-5 — Every weekday at 9:00 AM UTC
*/15 8-17 * * * — Every 15 minutes during business hours
0 0 1 * * — First day of every month at midnight

Common Scheduled Workflow Patterns

Daily Data Sync

Schedule: Every day at 6:00 AM
Steps: Fetch records from a REST API, transform data, insert into a Google Sheet or database

Monitoring and Alerting

Schedule: Every 5 minutes
Steps: Check website uptime or API health, send Slack alert if response time exceeds threshold

Report Generation

Schedule: Every Monday at 8:00 AM
Steps: Query analytics API, format report, send email via SendGrid

Social Media Posting

Schedule: Every day at 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM
Steps: Fetch next post from a content queue (Google Sheet or Airtable), post to Twitter/LinkedIn API

Code Steps in Scheduled Workflows

Each workflow step can include custom code in Node.js, Python, Go, or Bash:

// Node.js step example
export default defineComponent({
  async run({ steps }) {
    const response = await fetch("https://api.example.com/data");
    const data = await response.json();
    return data;
  }
});

Credit Usage

Each workflow execution consumes credits based on the number of steps and compute time:

Plan	Daily Credits	Monthly Credits
Free	100	~3,000
Basic	Included	10,000
Professional	Included	20,000
Enterprise	Custom	Custom

Timezone Configuration

Schedules default to UTC but can be configured to any timezone in the workflow settings. This ensures daily or weekly triggers fire at the expected local time.

Limitations

Minimum schedule interval: 15 seconds (paid plans) or 15 minutes (free plan)
Workflow execution timeout: 300 seconds (free) or 750 seconds (paid)
Free plan: 100 credits/day limits the number of scheduled runs