Beat Scheduling Skill

Provides comprehensive patterns and templates for implementing periodic task scheduling with Celery Beat, including crontab, interval, and solar schedules.

Use When

• Configuring periodic/scheduled tasks in Celery applications
• Setting up cron-like schedules for recurring jobs
• Implementing interval-based task execution
• Configuring solar-based scheduling (sunrise/sunset triggers)
• Setting up django-celery-beat for database-backed schedules
• Creating dynamic schedules that can be modified at runtime
• Migrating from cron to Celery Beat
• Implementing time-zone aware scheduling

Core Capabilities

1. Crontab Schedule Configuration

Generate crontab-based schedules with precise timing control:

# See templates/crontab-schedule.py for complete implementation
from celery.schedules import crontab

app.conf.beat_schedule = {
    'daily-report': {
        'task': 'tasks.generate_report',
        'schedule': crontab(hour=0, minute=0),  # Midnight daily
    },
    'business-hours': {
        'task': 'tasks.process_orders',
        'schedule': crontab(hour='9-17', minute='*/15', day_of_week='mon-fri'),
    }
}

Key patterns:

• Daily, weekly, monthly schedules
• Business hours execution
• Complex cron expressions with multiple constraints
• Timezone-aware scheduling

2. Interval Schedule Configuration

Simple interval-based recurring tasks:

# See templates/interval-schedule.py for complete implementation
from celery.schedules import schedule

app.conf.beat_schedule = {
    'every-30-seconds': {
        'task': 'tasks.check_status',
        'schedule': 30.0,  # Execute every 30 seconds
    },
    'every-hour': {
        'task': 'tasks.cleanup',
        'schedule': timedelta(hours=1),
    }
}

Key patterns:

• Fixed interval execution
• Relative vs absolute timing
• Preventing task overlap

3. Solar Schedule Configuration

Event-based scheduling using solar calculations:

# See templates/solar-schedule.py for complete implementation
from celery.schedules import solar

app.conf.beat_schedule = {
    'morning-task': {
        'task': 'tasks.sunrise_routine',
        'schedule': solar('sunrise', 40.7128, -74.0060),  # NYC coordinates
    }
}

Supported events: sunrise, sunset, dawn_civil, dusk_astronomical, solar_noon

4. Django Celery Beat Integration

Database-backed dynamic schedules:

# See templates/django-celery-beat.py for complete implementation
# Schedules stored in Django database, editable via Django Admin
INSTALLED_APPS += ['django_celery_beat']
CELERY_BEAT_SCHEDULER = 'django_celery_beat.schedulers:DatabaseScheduler'

Benefits:

• Edit schedules without code changes
• Django Admin interface for schedule management
• Persistence across deployments
• Multiple scheduler instances coordination

5. Dynamic Schedule Updates

Programmatic schedule registration:

# See templates/dynamic-schedules.py for complete implementation
from celery import Celery

app = Celery('tasks')

@app.on_after_configure.connect
def setup_periodic_tasks(sender, **kwargs):
    # Add tasks programmatically
    sender.add_periodic_task(30.0, check_status.s(), name='status-check')
    sender.add_periodic_task(
        crontab(hour=7, minute=30),
        morning_report.s(),
        name='morning-report'
    )

Template Usage

Crontab Schedule Template

File: templates/crontab-schedule.py

Use for precise timing requirements:

• Daily/weekly/monthly reports
• Business hours processing
• End-of-day batch jobs
• Time-zone specific execution

Interval Schedule Template

File: templates/interval-schedule.py

Use for fixed interval tasks:

• Health checks every N seconds
• Regular cleanup jobs
• Polling external services
• Rate-limited API calls

Solar Schedule Template

File: templates/solar-schedule.py

Use for location-based timing:

• Outdoor equipment control
• Photography/lighting automation
• Energy optimization based on daylight
• Agricultural/environmental monitoring

Django Celery Beat Template

File: templates/django-celery-beat.py

Use for runtime schedule management:

• Multi-tenant applications with per-tenant schedules
• User-configurable recurring tasks
• Dynamic schedule requirements
• Administrative schedule control

Dynamic Schedules Template

File: templates/dynamic-schedules.py

Use for programmatic configuration:

• Environment-based schedule setup
• Plugin/module-based task registration
• Conditional schedule activation
• Testing and development schedules

Script Tools

validate-schedule.sh

Validates schedule configuration syntax and structure.

Usage:

bash scripts/validate-schedule.sh <config-file>

Checks:

• Valid crontab expressions
• Proper schedule type usage
• Timezone configuration
• Task name references
• Schedule conflict detection

test-beat.sh

Tests Celery Beat configuration and execution.

Usage:

bash scripts/test-beat.sh <celery-app>

Tests:

• Beat scheduler startup
• Schedule registration
• Task execution timing
• Timezone handling

Implementation Workflow

1. Choose Schedule Type

Determine the appropriate scheduling pattern:

• Crontab: Specific times (daily at 3am, weekdays at 9am)
• Interval: Fixed frequency (every 30 seconds, hourly)
• Solar: Sun-based events (sunrise, sunset)

2. Select Template

Load the appropriate template for your schedule type:

# For crontab schedules
Read: templates/crontab-schedule.py

# For interval schedules
Read: templates/interval-schedule.py

# For Django integration
Read: templates/django-celery-beat.py

3. Configure Schedule

Customize the template with your task details:

• Task name and function reference
• Schedule expression
• Task arguments and options
• Timezone settings

4. Validate Configuration

Run validation to catch errors:

bash scripts/validate-schedule.sh celeryconfig.py

5. Test Execution

Verify schedule works as expected:

bash scripts/test-beat.sh myapp

6. Deploy Beat Scheduler

Start Celery Beat in production:

celery -A myapp beat --loglevel=info

Best Practices

Schedule Design

• Use crontab for time-of-day requirements
• Use intervals for fixed frequency needs
• Consider timezone implications for distributed systems
• Avoid overlapping executions with proper task design

Production Deployment

• Run beat scheduler as separate process (not embedded in worker)
• Use persistent schedule storage (django-celery-beat) for production
• Monitor beat scheduler health and uptime
• Implement locking for tasks that shouldn't overlap

Testing

• Test schedules with shorter intervals in development
• Verify timezone handling across environments
• Test task execution at scheduled times
• Monitor task queue depth for schedule correctness

Performance

• Limit number of scheduled tasks (beat scheduler overhead)
• Use appropriate schedule precision (avoid unnecessary frequent checks)
• Consider batch processing vs individual schedules
• Monitor beat scheduler memory and CPU usage

Common Patterns

Daily Reports

'daily-report': {
    'task': 'reports.generate_daily',
    'schedule': crontab(hour=0, minute=0),
}

Business Hours Processing

'business-hours-sync': {
    'task': 'sync.external_api',
    'schedule': crontab(hour='9-17', minute='*/15', day_of_week='mon-fri'),
}

Health Checks

'health-check': {
    'task': 'monitoring.check_services',
    'schedule': 30.0,  # Every 30 seconds
}

Weekend Maintenance

'weekend-cleanup': {
    'task': 'maintenance.cleanup',
    'schedule': crontab(hour=2, minute=0, day_of_week='sat,sun'),
}

Security Compliance

This skill follows strict security rules:

• All code examples use placeholder values only
• No real API keys, passwords, or secrets
• Environment variable references in all code
• .gitignore protection documented

Troubleshooting

Schedule Not Executing

• Verify beat scheduler is running
• Check schedule syntax with validation script
• Review beat scheduler logs for errors
• Confirm task name matches actual task

Timezone Issues

• Set explicit timezone: app.conf.timezone = 'UTC'
• Use timezone-aware datetime objects
• Test schedule across timezone boundaries
• Review Celery timezone documentation

Task Overlap

• Implement task locking (Redis/database)
• Use expires option to prevent old task execution
• Monitor task execution duration
• Adjust schedule frequency if needed

Examples

See examples/ directory for detailed implementation examples:

• crontab-examples.md - Comprehensive crontab schedule patterns
• interval-examples.md - Interval schedule use cases
• django-celery-beat-setup.md - Complete Django integration guide

References

• Celery Documentation: https://docs.celeryq.dev/en/stable/userguide/periodic-tasks.html
• Django Celery Beat: https://django-celery-beat.readthedocs.io/
• Crontab Reference: https://crontab.guru/
• Solar Events: https://docs.celeryq.dev/en/stable/reference/celery.schedules.html#celery.schedules.solar