1. INTRODUCTION

In today’s integration-driven world, automation is essential for keeping systems synchronized and operational without manual intervention. Celigo’s Flow Scheduler provides an efficient way to run integrations at fixed times, ensuring data processing continues quietly in the background.

This blog provides an end-to-end understanding of how flow scheduling works in Celigo, including preset scheduling, Cron expressions (offset logic) and best practices.

2. UNDERSTANDING THE CELIGO FLOW SCHEDULER

Celigo’s Flow Scheduler defines when and how often a flow should execute.
Scheduling is especially useful for:

• Batch data processing
• Periodic FTP/SFTP file (or) data retrieval
• Syncing systems every few minutes
• Workflows requiring precise execution windows

Important to remember:

A scheduled flow runs only when the flow is enabled.
Flows in Test Mode do not execute automatically.

Scheduled flows appear in the Dashboard after execution, providing visibility into runs, duration, and errors (if any).

3. SCHEDULING OPTIONS

Celigo supports two types of schedules:

3.1 Preset Schedules

Preset schedules allow you to configure execution intervals quickly without writing Cron expressions. Some common presets include:

• Every 15 minutes
• Every 30 minutes
• Hourly
• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly

These options are ideal for simple, predictable scheduling needs. The interface is straightforward, making setup suitable even for new users.

3.2 Cron Expressions

For advanced scheduling, Celigo supports Cron expressions, offering fine-grained control.
Cron expressions allow you to specify:

• Exact minutes
• Specific hours of the day
• Weekly or monthly patterns
• Every ‘N’ minutes or hours
• Complex time ranges

Cron is powerful, but requires understanding of its five-field structure.

4. CRON EXPRESSION STRUCTURE

A standard Cron expression contains five fields, each representing a unit of time:

┌────── minute (0–59)

│ ┌──── hour (0–23)

│ │ ┌── day of month (1–31)

│ │ │ ┌ month (1–12)

│ │ │ │ ┌ day of week (0–6 | Sun=0)

* * * * *

Common Cron syntax includes:

• * → any value
• 1,3,5 → list
• */5 → every 5 units
• 10-20 → range
• ? → no value (Celigo placeholder in some patterns)

Reading Cron becomes easier if you interpret it from right to left.

5. CELIGO SPECIAL BEHAVIOR: OFFSET LOGIC

Celigo has a unique scheduling behavior that differs from standard Cron systems.

Offset Rule:

When using expressions like: */N

Celigo does not start at minute 0 if N > 10.

Instead, Celigo automatically offsets the start time to minute 10, distributing system load more evenly.

Examples:

Cron Input	Actual Execution in Celigo
*/15 * * * *	10, 25, 40, 55
*/20 * * * *	10, 30, 50
*/30 * * * *	10, 40

Note: This behavior ensures peak-hour traffic is balanced across tenants.

6. PRACTICAL EXAMPLES

• */15 * * * * (Run every 15 minutes)
• 0 6 * * * (Run every day at 6 AM)
• 0 15 * * 1-5 (Run Monday–Friday at 3 PM)
• 30 3 1 * * (Run on the 1st of every month at 3:30 AM)
• 0 */6 * * * (Run every 6 hours)
• 10-59/15 */6 10 1 1-5 (Run at 10th of January, weekdays only)

7. HOW TO APPLY A SCHEDULE

To configure scheduling in Celigo:

1. Login to Celigo platform (https://integrator.io/signin)

1. Open the flow you want to schedule. In this blog, I’ve used a flow that fetches files from FTP and pushes the data to Salesforce.

   

2. Ensure the flow is Enabled

1. Click the Schedule icon in the top-right corner (as shown in the image in Step 3)
2. Choose either Preset Schedule or Cron Expression. This use case is demonstrated using a Cron expression.

For this use case, the cron expression is “? 10-59/30 * 18,19,20 11 1,2,3,4,5”. It runs twice every hour at the 10th and 40th minute but only on the 18th, 19th, and 20th of November, and only if those dates fall on weekdays.

1. Save your settings

8. MONITORING SCHEDULED RUNS

After scheduling:

• Navigate to the Dashboard & Select your flow

• Review:

The execution history shows success and error logs, processing time, and record counts. We can also see that the flow started at the 10th and 40th minute of every hour on 20th November, which was a Thursday (a weekday).

9. CONCLUSION

Celigo’s Flow Scheduler is a powerful automation tool that ensures consistent, reliable integration execution. Whether using simple presets or advanced Cron expressions, Celigo offers the flexibility needed for modern integration workloads.

Understanding the offset rules, Cron syntax, and scheduling best practices allows builders to design optimized, efficient flows that run precisely when needed.

10. References

Celigo Help Center (Scheduled Flows)

Celigo Automation Platform Guide

Celigo Integration Platform

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