cronphp

CronPHP is a term used for PHP-based task scheduling solutions that implement cron-like expressions to trigger PHP functions or external commands at specified times. It can run as a standalone daemon or be embedded within PHP applications, typically via the CLI.

It typically supports standard cron syntax, timezone handling, and recurring jobs. Jobs can be defined as PHP callables, closures, or command strings. Scheduling data can be stored in memory or backed by persistent storage such as a database, allowing restarts without losing schedule state.

The typical architecture includes a scheduler that evaluates cron expressions against the current time, a runner that executes due jobs, an expression parser for cron syntax, and a storage layer for persistence. Adapters may provide logging, error handling, and concurrency control to avoid overlapping executions.

In practice, CronPHP projects vary in interface; most require registering a set of jobs with their cron expressions and starting a loop or daemon. In some setups, the scheduler runs as a small PHP CLI script triggered by the system cron at regular intervals, while others run continuously to poll for due tasks.

The term CronPHP covers several open-source libraries and tools, each with its own API. See also cron, PHP, task scheduler, Laravel Scheduler, and cron expression.