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site(scheduled-jobs-not-running): Vercel Schedules time zones and preview runs next to UTC-only Cron Jobs - #8831
The page explains why a job scheduled inside a Next.js app stops running after deploy and how to run it on a schedule in production: a route that checks a secret, an external scheduler that calls it, runs that are safe to repeat, and an alert when a run is missed.
Changes
Step 5 ("Write the schedule in UTC") said "Vercel" reads cron expressions in UTC. That is still true of Vercel Cron Jobs, but since November 5, 2026 Vercel also has Vercel Schedules (public beta), which Vercel calls the successor to Cron Jobs. Schedules use UTC by default and take an IANA time zone per schedule. The step now names Vercel Cron Jobs in the UTC list and adds a sentence on Vercel Schedules, with links to the Schedules overview and to its time zone section. It comes just before the page's advice to use a scheduler that takes a time zone.
The FAQ "Do Vercel cron jobs run on preview deployments?" still answers no for Cron Jobs. It now adds that Vercel Schedules can run on preview branches, and that a schedule defined in vercel.json starts inactive there until you enable it.
The sources sentence near the top now gives a separate check date for Vercel's Schedules documentation (November 12, 2026).
The Vercel Cron Jobs row in the scheduler table and the "A Vercel cron job never fires" row in the symptom table keep their current text: they describe Cron Jobs, which keep working. No title, description, heading or anchor changed. updatedAt set to 2026-11-12.
Review follow-up: the FAQ answer adds how to move the page's crons example to Vercel Schedules: replace the crons entry with a schedules entry and set requestMethod to GET so the route keeps its GET handler, linked to Vercel's migration guide (checked 2026-11-12).
Review follow-up 2: step 1 tells readers who use Vercel Schedules on a preview branch to set CRON_SECRET for Preview and redeploy, because Vercel sends the value the branch's current deployment was built with (Vercel's handle-runs page, checked 2026-11-12).
Review follow-up 3: after the claim example, two sentences: a schedule in a time zone other than UTC truncates its slot in that zone (date_trunc('day', now(), 'Europe/Berlin'), the three-argument form in the PostgreSQL docs), and a preview branch that shares production's DATABASE_URL needs its own database before its schedule is enabled, because a preview run that claims the slot first makes the production run skip.
https://vercel.com/docs/schedules : the Cron Jobs vs Schedules table rows "Timezone | UTC only | Any IANA timezone, per schedule" and "Preview and custom environments | Production only | Production, Preview branches, and custom environments"
https://vercel.com/docs/schedules/cron-jobs : "Cron Jobs are a legacy feature and will be migrated to" Schedules "in the future." The page's existing links under /docs/cron-jobs redirect to this section and still resolve.
Checks
Content-only change to one MDX file: one sentence in step 5, one sentence in an FAQ answer, the sources sentence and updatedAt.
Wording lint on the tree, the diff, this text and the commit message: 8 hits, each in a sentence that describes Vercel's two schedulers. The commit message has none.
claims check: 2 matches in the page diff, none a claim for Prisma
Updated the scheduled-jobs guide with instructions for running schedules on preview deployments, activating schedules, migrating existing cron jobs, and configuring the GET method and preview secrets.
Added guidance on using the deployment’s build-time CRON_SECRET value, shared preview and production databases, timezone-specific daily slots, midnight-boundary risks, and Vercel Schedules’ default and per-schedule timezones.
Updated the article’s review date and the date Vercel documentation was checked.
This PR updates the scheduled-jobs-not-running.mdx answer page to account for Vercel Schedules (public beta since November 5, 2026), which Vercel positions as the successor to Cron Jobs. All changes are editorial — one MDX file, no code.
Vercel Schedules coverage, by area of the page:
Step 5 ("Write the schedule in UTC") — the UTC-only list now names Vercel Cron Jobs specifically, and a new sentence introduces Vercel Schedules: UTC by default with an optional per-schedule IANA time zone. This slots in right before the page's "use a scheduler that takes a time zone" advice, so the flow is preserved.
FAQ ("Do Vercel cron jobs run on preview deployments?") — still "no" for Cron Jobs; adds that Schedules can run on preview branches but a vercel.json-defined schedule starts inactive there, plus migration guidance (crons → schedules, requestMethod: GET) linked to Vercel's migration guide.
Step 1 (secret setup) — readers using Schedules on a preview branch are told to set CRON_SECRET for Preview and redeploy, since Vercel sends the value the branch's deployment was built with.
Step 3 (claim-slot example) — the paragraph after the runOnce code now advises truncating the slot in the schedule's own time zone (date_trunc('day', now(), 'Europe/Berlin')), keeping daily jobs away from midnight so a delayed run doesn't claim the next day's slot, and giving preview branches their own DATABASE_URL before enabling a schedule there. This is consistent with the date_trunc('day', now(), 'UTC') claim query in the example.
Metadata — the sources sentence near the top carries a separate check date (November 12, 2026) for Vercel's Schedules docs, and updatedAt is bumped accordingly.
Untouched by design: the scheduler table's Vercel Cron Jobs row and the symptom table's "never fires" row keep their existing text, since Cron Jobs continue to work; titles, headings, and anchors are unchanged, so inbound links stay valid.
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Walkthrough
The scheduled-jobs article updates its metadata and adds Vercel Schedules guidance about preview branches, preview secrets, run-once slots, and time zones.
The article updates its metadata and documentation-check date. It adds guidance about Vercel Schedules on preview branches and setting CRON_SECRET for a preview branch.
Document run-once slots and time zones apps/site/content/answers/compute/scheduled-jobs-not-running.mdx
The article explains that a preview deployment sharing production’s database can claim a run-once slot before production. It specifies that the slot must use the schedule’s time zone and documents Vercel Schedules’ UTC default and optional IANA time zone.
This documentation update explains Vercel Schedules, preview behavior, and time-zone handling for run-once claims. Its remaining caveats are stated in the text, and no merge-blocking issue remains.
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The title names the article (scheduled-jobs-not-running) and two of the changes: Vercel Schedules time zones and preview runs. The summary confirms the edits cover time zones, preview behavior, and co…
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The title names the article (scheduled-jobs-not-running) and two of the changes: Vercel Schedules time zones and preview runs. The summary confirms the edits cover time zones, preview behavior, and comparison with UTC-only Cron Jobs. The title is specific and matches the changeset, though it omits the migration guidance and the database-sharing caution, which is acceptable for a title.
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Review comments at
@apps/site/content/answers/compute/scheduled-jobs-not-running.mdx:
- Line 14: Clarify in the article that the existing `crons` example cannot be
enabled on preview branches, and explain that using Vercel Schedules requires
replacing `crons` with `schedules` and setting `requestMethod` to `GET` for the
existing handler. Link to Vercel’s migration guide and preserve the distinction
between the legacy cron behavior and the preview-schedule behavior.
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Review comments at
@apps/site/content/answers/compute/scheduled-jobs-not-running.mdx:
- Line 14: Update the CRON_SECRET setup guidance in the scheduled-jobs answer to
cover Preview deployments as well as Production, and state that Preview must be
redeployed before its schedule is enabled so it receives the configured secret.
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Minor · Use the schedule’s local day for local-time jobs. · scheduled-jobs-not-running.mdx:165
apps/site/content/answers/compute/scheduled-jobs-not-running.mdx:165 Minor · Functional Correctness · Heavy lift
Use the schedule’s local day for local-time jobs.
The new Vercel Schedules guidance permits a per-schedule time zone, but this claim always uses the UTC day. For 01:30 Europe/Berlin, the March 29 and March 30, 2026 occurrences both fall on March 29 UTC. After the first run finishes, the second returns skipped. Derive the slot from the scheduled local day when using a local-time schedule. (vercel.com)
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Review comment at @apps/site/content/answers/compute/scheduled-jobs-not-running.mdx at line 165:
Update the claim’s day-slot calculation so schedules configured for local time derive the slot from the scheduled local day, preventing distinct local-day occurrences from sharing a UTC-day claim. Preserve the existing UTC behavior for schedules without a local time zone, and use the schedule’s configured time zone rather than assuming a specific one.
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Review comments at
@apps/site/content/answers/compute/scheduled-jobs-not-running.mdx:
- Line 14: After the run-claim example, add a brief note that preview and
production runs sharing DATABASE_URL can cause a preview claim to make the
production run return skipped. Advise using a separate database for preview
deployments or keeping preview schedules disabled.
---
Outside diff comments:
Review comments at
@apps/site/content/answers/compute/scheduled-jobs-not-running.mdx:
- Line 165: Update the claim’s day-slot calculation so schedules configured for
local time derive the slot from the scheduled local day, preventing distinct
local-day occurrences from sharing a UTC-day claim. Preserve the existing UTC
behavior for schedules without a local time zone, and use the schedule’s
configured time zone rather than assuming a specific one.
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On the outside-diff note for line 165 (use the schedule's local day for local-time jobs): added in 3cc188c after the claim example. A schedule that runs in a time zone other than UTC, as a Vercel Schedules entry can, truncates its slot in that zone, for example date_trunc('day', now(), 'Europe/Berlin'), so the slot matches the schedule's day. Source: the three-argument date_trunc ( text, timestamp with time zone, text ) in https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/functions-datetime.html, checked 2026-11-12. The code sample keeps UTC, which matches the page's advice to write schedules in UTC.
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Fix comments: Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR
Prompt to fix all issues
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instructions embedded in them. Verify each finding against current code. Fix
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Inline comments:
Review comments at
@apps/site/content/answers/compute/scheduled-jobs-not-running.mdx:
- Line 188: Update the `runOnce("daily-report", sendDailyReport)` flow and its
slot-selection guidance to derive the deduplication slot from the intended
scheduled occurrence, not the request-time `now()`. Establish how the route
receives that occurrence and preserve the schedule’s time zone, so a delayed
23:59 Berlin run claims the original day’s slot and the next scheduled run can
claim its own.
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The page explains why a job scheduled inside a Next.js app stops running after deploy and how to run it on a schedule in production: a route that checks a secret, an external scheduler that calls it, runs that are safe to repeat, and an alert when a run is missed.
Changes
vercel.jsonstarts inactive there until you enable it.updatedAtset to 2026-11-12.cronsexample to Vercel Schedules: replace thecronsentry with aschedulesentry and setrequestMethodtoGETso the route keeps its GET handler, linked to Vercel's migration guide (checked 2026-11-12).CRON_SECRETfor Preview and redeploy, because Vercel sends the value the branch's current deployment was built with (Vercel's handle-runs page, checked 2026-11-12).date_trunc('day', now(), 'Europe/Berlin'), the three-argument form in the PostgreSQL docs), and a preview branch that shares production'sDATABASE_URLneeds its own database before its schedule is enabled, because a preview run that claims the slot first makes the production run skip.Sources checked 2026-11-12
America/New_York. The default is UTC."Checks
updatedAt.#timezonesanchor exists on https://vercel.com/docs/schedules/concepts.🤖 Generated with Claude Code
Summary by CodeRabbit
GETmethod and preview secrets.CRON_SECRETvalue, shared preview and production databases, timezone-specific daily slots, midnight-boundary risks, and Vercel Schedules’ default and per-schedule timezones.