Cron workstation

Configure behavior = CRON for cron schedules, time work, guards, and input readiness on Workstation steps.

How To Use

Author a workstation with behavior CRON and set the cron expression that owns the schedule. Keep type on the runtime axis for the execution family you need. Bind a worker when the type requires one. Wire inputs plus outputs, onContinue, onRejection, and onFailure so scheduled outcomes route correctly. Keep guards and readiness places intentional so a tick does not dispatch when work is blocked. Choose STANDARD, REPEATER, or POLLER when those non-schedule semantics are required. CRON is not STANDARD fire-once, REPEATER change-triggered looping, or POLLER long-lived scheduling — those behaviors exclude cron.

Discriminator: behavior = CRON

CRON is compatible with every published WorkstationType. Bind a matching Worker for worker-backed types; LOGICAL_MOVE stays worker-free.

Schema reference

The embed below shows the live Workstation base definition with CRON overlay applicability. CRON selects the cron field as its exclusive schedule contract. Excluded fields belong to other WorkstationType families and must not appear on this behavior. Open the full Factory schema reference for exhaustive field lookup rather than copying contract text into this page.

Workstation

object

A processing step in the factory graph. Workstations consume authored work states, run a worker or logical move, and emit the next work states.

additionalPropertiesfalse (closed)

Fields

behaviorbehaviorOptionalWorkstationKind
Scheduling behavior for this workstation, such as STANDARD, REPEATER, or CRON execution.
bodybodyOptionalstring
Inline workstation instructions or script body when authored directly in factory config.
classificationRoutesclassificationRoutesOptionalClassificationRoute[]Excluded
Explicit label-to-destination routing used only by CLASSIFIER_WORKSTATION definitions. Each route must declare a unique non-empty label and one or more outputs.
copyReferencedScriptscopyReferencedScriptsOptionalboolean
Copy supported referenced script files into the expanded workstation layout when config expand runs.
croncronOptionalWorkstationCronSelected
Cron trigger configuration for workstations whose behavior is CRON.
descriptiondescriptionOptionalNameValue
Optional localized customer-facing explanation of this workstation.
envenvOptionalStringMap
Environment variables added to the workstation execution context.
guardsguardsOptionalWorkstationGuard[]Excluded
Guarded loop breakers should use `VISIT_COUNT` guards here with a `LOGICAL_MOVE` workstation instead of top-level exhaustion rules.
ididOptionalstring
Optional durable public identifier for this workstation. Graph and layout references should use this id instead of the mutable name.
inputsinputsRequiredWorkstationIO[]
Work states this workstation can consume before it dispatches.
limitslimitsOptionalWorkstationLimits
Retry and execution ceilings applied to this workstation.
namenameRequiredstring
Customer-authored workstation name used by guards, diagnostics, and authored references.
onContinueonContinueOptionalWorkstationIO[]
Optional destination emitted when the workstation makes partial progress and should continue iterating. Classifier workstations must not declare onContinue.
onFailureonFailureOptionalWorkstationIO[]
Optional destination emitted when the workstation fails permanently.
onRejectiononRejectionOptionalWorkstationIO[]
Optional destination emitted when the worker rejects the current work without a hard failure. Classifier workstations must not declare onRejection.
operationoperationOptionalModelOperationNameExcluded
Uppercase provider-agnostic operation requested by `MODEL_INVOKE` workstations, such as `TTS`.
operationBindingsoperationBindingsOptionalWorkstationOperationBinding[]Excluded
Optional workstation-authored slot bindings that resolve operation inputs from runtime content or static config content.
outcomeFormatoutcomeFormatOptionalWorkstationOutcomeFormatExcluded
Optional worker-output parsing mode for model workstations. When set to `decision-envelope`, agent output is parsed as a reviewer/checker JSON envelope that maps directly onto WorkResult outcome, feedback, output, and optional recorded output work instead of stop-token routing.
outputSchemaoutputSchemaOptionalstringExcluded
JSON schema string used to validate or parse structured model output when configured.
outputsoutputsOptionalWorkstationIO[]
Work states emitted after a non-classifier workstation succeeds. Classifier workstations must use classificationRoutes instead of normal success outputs.
promptFilepromptFileOptionalstringExcluded
Path to a prompt template file loaded for model-oriented workstation execution.
resourcesresourcesOptionalResourceRequirement[]
Resource capacity this workstation consumes while one dispatch is in flight.
runnerrunnerOptionalRunnerID
Optional workstation-specific runner override. When omitted, dispatch falls back to the factory runner, then worker modelProvider compatibility when no explicit runner is configured, then the default codex runner.
stopWordsstopWordsOptionalarrayExcluded
Stop words authored on the topology entry for model-oriented dispatches.
typetypeOptionalWorkstationType
Runtime workstation implementation type, equivalent to the workstation AGENTS.md frontmatter type.
workPropagationworkPropagationOptionalWorkPropagation
Optional policy for whether downstream work uses the workstation output payload or preserves the consumed input payload.
workerworkerRequiredstring
Name of a worker declared in the workers list.
workingDirectoryworkingDirectoryOptionalstring
Go template resolved from token tags at dispatch time.
worktreeworktreeOptionalstring
Go template resolved and passed as the worktree path to CLI dispatchers.

Full Factory schema reference

Examples

Use the minimal valid example when starting a CRON workstation. The misuse example shows behavior CRON without cron — the schedule field is required on this behavior.

Minimal valid CRON workstation:

{
  "name": "nightly-review",
  "worker": "agent-main",
  "type": "AGENT_RUN",
  "behavior": "CRON",
  "cron": "0 2 * * *",
  "inputs": [
    "ready"
  ],
  "outputs": [
    "accepted"
  ],
  "onContinue": [
    "ready"
  ],
  "onFailure": [
    "failed"
  ]
}

Incompatible misuse — CRON without cron (required):

{
  "name": "nightly-review",
  "worker": "agent-main",
  "type": "AGENT_RUN",
  "behavior": "CRON",
  "inputs": [
    "ready"
  ],
  "outputs": [
    "accepted"
  ]
}

cron is required under behavior CRON. Omitting it leaves the schedule undefined. Set cron when the step must run on a schedule.