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Time-Triggered Pipelines

The time resource produces a new version for the time interval declared in its definition, and can be used to trigger a job on that schedule.

The two most common configurations are triggering on a fixed interval:

resources:
  - name: trigger-every-3-minutes
    type: time
    source:
      interval: 3m

or triggering once within a time window:

resources:
  - name: trigger-daily-between-1am-and-2am
    type: time
    source:
      start: 1:00 AM
      stop: 2:00 AM
      location: America/Toronto

Check the README of the time resource for the full set of options.

See it running:

Minimal Time-Triggered Pipeline

The simplest possible version: one time resource on an interval, and one job that triggers off it. This is the exact pipeline deployed above:

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---
resources:
- name: every-30s
  type: time
  icon: clock-outline
  source:
    interval: 30s

jobs:
- name: job
  public: true
  build_log_retention:
    builds: 50
  plan:
  - get: every-30s
    trigger: true
  - task: simple-task
    config:
      platform: linux
      image_resource:
        type: registry-image
        source: { repository: busybox }
      run:
        path: echo
        args: ["Hello, world!"]

Chaining Jobs off a Shared Trigger

A common next step is having a second job run after the first, using the same time resource as its trigger and a passed constraint to enforce ordering:

resources:
  - name: trigger-every-3-minutes
    type: time
    source:
      interval: 3m

jobs:
  - name: run-forrest-run
    plan:
      - get: trigger-every-3-minutes
        trigger: true
    # can add other steps to run in this job

  - name: run-bubba-run
    plan:
      - get: trigger-every-3-minutes
        trigger: true
        passed:
          - run-forrest-run
    # can add other steps to run in this job

Multiple Time Triggers

As an enhancement to the job-chaining pattern above, this example implements two time resource triggers plus the ability to manually kick off the pipeline outside the time resources' schedules.

The first time you set up a pipeline like this, you'll need to manually trigger it in order to satisfy the passed constraint of the manual-trigger resource. Once one version is available that satisfies the constraint, all future triggers by the other resources will work as expected.

resources:
  - name: trigger-every-4-minutes
    type: time
    source:
      interval: 4m
  - name: trigger-every-10-minutes
    type: time
    source:
      interval: 10m
  - name: manual-trigger
    type: time
    source:
      interval: 1m

jobs:
  - name: manual-trigger
    plan:
      - put: manual-trigger

  - name: run-forrest-run
    plan:
      - get: trigger-every-4-minutes
        trigger: true
      - get: trigger-every-10-minutes
        trigger: true
      - get: manual-trigger
        trigger: true
        passed:
          - manual-trigger
    # can add other steps to run in this job

  - name: run-bubba-run
    plan:
      - get: trigger-every-4-minutes
        trigger: true
        passed:
          - run-forrest-run
      - get: trigger-every-10-minutes
        trigger: true
        passed:
          - run-forrest-run
      - get: manual-trigger
        trigger: true
        passed:
          - run-forrest-run
    # can add other steps to run in this job

References