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Cron Engine & Scheduling

Overview

The LEAST cron engine runs background jobs on configurable schedules. All schedules are stored in the CronSchedule database table and managed through the web UI — no direct crontab editing is required for application jobs.

Navigate to the Cron Engine Canvas (system/workflow_cron.php) for all cron-related tools.

Cron Schedules

Cron Schedule (system/cron_schedule.php) lists all configured jobs:

  • Enable or disable individual schedules using the toggle
  • View: last run time, next scheduled run, frequency, and status
  • Create Schedule — add a new job with a standard or custom cron expression (e.g. 0 2 * * * = daily at 2am)
  • Edit Schedule — change the frequency, enable/disable, or update parameters

Key Scheduled Jobs

Job Frequency Purpose
Metric Snapshot Daily Captures platform-wide engagement metrics for trend analysis
Badge Processing Daily Issues queued Open Badge assertions
Email Digest Weekly Sends engagement summary reports to educators
PHP Health Checks Weekly Runs 12 platform health verifications; emails report
Audit Cron Configurable Aggregates audit log data for analytics
EKOS Review Weekly Runs AI classification suggestions for untagged lessons

Cron Queue

Cron Queue (system/cron_queue.php) shows all job executions:

  • Pending — scheduled to run, not yet started
  • Running — currently executing
  • Completed — finished successfully
  • Failed — errored; check the log for details

Cron Logs

Cron Logs (system/cron_logs.php) provides the full execution history:

  • Start time, end time, and duration per execution
  • Output/error details for failed runs
  • Filter by job name or date range

Email Queue

Email Queue (system/cron_email_queue.php) shows pending email jobs:

  • Each row is one email delivery task
  • Status: Pending, Sent, Failed
  • Click a row to view the full email content and delivery attempt log

Email Templates

Email Templates (system/cron_email_templates.php) manages the template library for system emails:

  • Templates use variable placeholders substituted at send time
  • Edit HTML and plain-text versions
  • Preview a template before saving

Common template variables: user_name, lesson_title, badge_name, site_name, action_url

Social Posting Queue

Social Posts (system/cron_social_posts.php) manages scheduled social media content:

  • View pending posts and their target platform and schedule
  • Cancel or reschedule a post
  • View post history and delivery status

Social Accounts (system/cron_social_accounts.php) — connected platform credentials. Social Platforms (system/cron_social_platforms.php) — available plugin integrations.