--- title: How to Schedule (Cron) Jobs with Cloud Functions for... description: An update notice explains that Cloud Functions for Firebase now has native scheduling support via functions.pubsub.schedule(), making the legacy App Engine... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-schedule-cron-jobs-with-cloud-functions-for-firebase-iwcheccbs twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: How to Schedule (Cron) Jobs with Cloud Functions for Firebase | daily.dev og:description: An update notice explains that Cloud Functions for Firebase now has native scheduling support via functions.pubsub.schedule(), making the legacy App Engine... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-schedule-cron-jobs-with-cloud-functions-for-firebase-iwcheccbs og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/iWchEccBs.png og:image:alt: How to Schedule (Cron) Jobs with Cloud Functions for Firebase og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How to Schedule (Cron) Jobs with Cloud Functions for Firebase **[Firebase](https://daily.dev/sources/firebase-blog)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An update notice explains that Cloud Functions for Firebase now has native scheduling support via functions.pubsub.schedule(), making the legacy App Engine Cron workaround described below unnecessary for most use cases. The rest of the post is the original tutorial showing how to schedule Cloud Functions using an App Engine cron shim that publishes to Cloud Pub/Sub topics, including step-by-step instructions for deploying the App Engine app and Cloud Functions, and verifying scheduled jobs via the Task Queue console. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I schedule a Cloud Function for Firebase to run on a time interval, like every 5 minutes? Cloud Functions for Firebase supports native scheduling through functions.pubsub.schedule(), which replaces the older App Engine Cron workaround. For example, functions.pubsub.schedule('every 5 minutes').onRun(context => {...}) runs the given callback on that interval without needing a separate App Engine shim or Cloud Pub/Sub topic setup. _daily.dev helps developers track updates like Firebase's native scheduled functions before building around workarounds._ ### How did people schedule cron jobs with Cloud Functions for Firebase before native scheduling existed? Developers deployed a small App Engine app configured with cron.yaml that triggered hourly, daily, and weekly ticks, publishing messages to Cloud Pub/Sub topics. A Cloud Function was then configured to handle incoming Pub/Sub messages on those topics, effectively simulating a cron trigger since Cloud Functions had no built-in scheduling support at the time. _developers weighing legacy workarounds against newer platform features often check daily.dev for context on Firebase changes._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How I auto-publish scheduled posts with a Cloudflare Worker cron](https://daily.dev/posts/how-i-auto-publish-scheduled-posts-with-a-cloudflare-worker-cron-0tvkhx5nx) · Flavio Copes · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Drain Payload’s Schedule Queue on Serverless, End to End](https://daily.dev/posts/drain-payload-s-schedule-queue-on-serverless-end-to-end-fvn0xqsmt) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Use Dart Cloud Functions and the Firebase Admin SDK: A Handbook for Developers](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-dart-cloud-functions-and-the-firebase-admin-sdk-a-handbook-for-developers-ailkvowjb) · freeCodeCamp · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [n8n replaced my cron job chaos, and now I actually know when things break](https://daily.dev/posts/n8n-replaced-my-cron-job-chaos-and-now-i-actually-know-when-things-break-jl2wb9ekt) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#general-programming](https://daily.dev/tags/general-programming), [#gcp](https://daily.dev/tags/gcp), [#firebase](https://daily.dev/tags/firebase), [#gcp-cloud-functions](https://daily.dev/tags/gcp-cloud-functions) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-schedule-cron-jobs-with-cloud-functions-for-firebase-iwcheccbs) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"How to Schedule (Cron) Jobs with Cloud Functions for Firebase","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-schedule-cron-jobs-with-cloud-functions-for-firebase-iwcheccbs","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-schedule-cron-jobs-with-cloud-functions-for-firebase-iwcheccbs"},"datePublished":"2026-08-23T12:21:37.107Z","dateModified":"2026-08-24T06:50:34.135Z","description":"An update notice explains that Cloud Functions for Firebase now has native scheduling support via functions.pubsub.schedule(), making the legacy App Engine...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7ed721de96163685d26ab7e314be3ebc?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7ed721de96163685d26ab7e314be3ebc?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Firebase","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Firebase","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--i395oqZH--/f_auto,q_auto/v1787487448/logos/firebase-blog?_a=BAMAMicg0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/firebase-blog"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-schedule-cron-jobs-with-cloud-functions-for-firebase-iwcheccbs","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"general-programming,gcp,firebase,gcp-cloud-functions","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Firebase","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/firebase-blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How to Schedule (Cron) Jobs with Cloud Functions for Firebase"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-schedule-cron-jobs-with-cloud-functions-for-firebase-iwcheccbs#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I schedule a Cloud Function for Firebase to run on a time interval, like every 5 minutes?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Cloud Functions for Firebase supports native scheduling through functions.pubsub.schedule(), which replaces the older App Engine Cron workaround. 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