Scheduler

Scheduler is a free feature of the Scraper APIs that lets you automate recurring scraping and parsing jobs by creating schedules.

Check out the video tutorial below to learn more about Scheduler and how it works.

We advise using Scheduler together with the Upload to Cloud Storage feature. This way, you can set up your schedule and receive regular data updates in your storage without trying to fetch results from our system.

IMPORTANT: Scheduler is a powerful tool that can quickly raise your service bill. We advise testing it with a few job items and a limited number of repeats to ensure you get the correct data at the right intervals. Once that's established, you can stop the test schedule and create a new, scaled-up schedule.

Quick Start

When creating a new schedule, follow the simple steps below.

Tell us how often we should repeat the jobs by submitting a cron schedule expression;
Give us a bunch of job parameter sets that we should execute at scheduled times;
Let us know when to stop by submitting an end time.

See here to find a code example for submitting a new schedule.

HINT: Find out how to form job parameter sets by visiting the documentation of the particular Scraper API (SERP / E-Commerce / Web) you want to use.

NOTE: You can also download and import this Postman collection to try out all our Scheduler endpoints. New to Postman? Learn more about this tool here.

Endpoints

Scheduler has several endpoints you can use to control the service:

Create a new schedule

Overview

Use this endpoint to initiate a new schedule.

Endpoint: https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/schedules
Method: POST
Authentication: Basic
Request headers: Content-Type: application/json

Input

Parameter Description Default Value

Parameter	Description	Default Value
`cron`	Cron schedule expression. It determines how often the submitted schedule will run. Read more here and here.	-
`items`	List of Scraper APIs job parameter sets that should be executed as part of the schedule.	-
`end_time`	The time at which the schedule should stop running. NB: the end time is inclusive.	-

cron

Cron schedule expression. It determines how often the submitted schedule will run. Read more here and here.

items

List of Scraper APIs job parameter sets that should be executed as part of the schedule.

end_time

The time at which the schedule should stop running. NB: the end time is inclusive.

- required parameter

NOTE: For guidance on putting together job parameter sets for the items part of your Scheduler payload, refer to the documentation page of the particular scraper you would like to use (e.g. Google, Amazon, etc.).

The payload below will make Scheduler run two jobs schedule at 03:00 on Mondays until end_time (inclusive).

{
  "cron": "0 3 * * 1",
  "items": [
    {"source": "universal", "url": "https://ip.oxylabs.io"},
    {"source": "google_search", "query": "stuff"}
  ],
  "end_time": "2032-12-21 12:34:45"
}

Output

The response below confirms that the schedule was created successfully.

{
    "schedule_id": 4134906379157007223,
    "active": true,
    "items_count": 3,
    "cron": "0 3 * * 1",
    "end_time": "2032-12-21 12:34:45",
    "next_run_at": "2022-06-06 10:15:00"
}

Get all schedules

Overview

Use this endpoint to get the list of all schedules associated with your user account.

Endpoint: https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/schedules
Method: GET
Authentication: Basic

Output

This endpoint returns the list of all schedule IDs associated with the user account making the request.

See the sample response below.

{
    "schedules": [
        1764178033254455101,
        2885262175311057587,
        3251365810325795747,
        4134906379157007223,
        4164931482277157062
    ]
}

Get schedule information

Overview

Use this endpoint to get information about a specific schedule.

Endpoint: https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/schedules/{id}
Method: GET
Authentication: Basic

Output

The payload below contains a sample schedule info response.

{
    "schedule_id": 1764178033254455101,
    "active": true,
    "items_count": 3,
    "cron": "0 3 * * 1",
    "end_time": "2032-12-21 12:34:45",
    "next_run_at": "2022-06-06 10:18:00",
    "stats": {
        "total_job_count": 3,
        "job_create_outcomes": [
            {
                "status_code": 202,
                "job_count": 3,
                "ratio": 1
            }
        ],
        "job_result_outcomes": [
            {
                "status": "done",
                "job_count": 2,
                "ratio": 0.67
            },
            {
                "status": "faulted",
                "job_count": 1,
                "ratio": 0.33
            }
        ]
    }
}

NOTE: Currently,items (i.e., the jobs to be executed as part of a schedule) are missing in the output. We are aware of this and will add them shortly.

Key Description Type

Key	Description	Type
`schedule_id`	The unique ID of the schedule.	Integer
`active`	Is the schedule active right now?	Boolean
`items_count`	The number of items (jobs) in the schedule.	Integer
`cron`	The cron expression associated with the schedule.	String
`end_time`	The time upon which the schedule will stop being repeated.	String
`next_run_at`	The time upon which the schedule will run next.	String
`stats`	Contains stats job creation and job completion statistics.	JSON Object
`stats`:`total_job_count`	The number of items (jobs) in the schedule.	Integer
`stats`:`job_create_outcomes`	Contains job creation statistics.	JSON Array
`stats`:`job_create_outcomes`:`status_code`	The status code received in response to an attempt to execute the schedule (create a scraping/parsing job).	Integer
`stats`:`job_create_outcomes`:`job_count`	The number of job creation attempts that resulted in that particular status code.	Integer
`stats`:`job_create_outcomes`:`ratio`	The ratio between the number of job creation attempts that resulted in that particular attempt and the total number of job creation attempts.	Float
`job_result_outcomes`	Contains the outcome statistics of scraping/parsing jobs executed as part of the schedule.	JSON Array
`status`	The job status. Possible values: `pending` (the job is still being processed), `done` (the job has been completed successfully), `faulted` (the job has failed).	String
`job_count`	The number of jobs that resulted in that particular `status`.	Integer
`ratio`	The ratio between the number of jobs with that particular status and the total number of jobs created.	Float

schedule_id

The unique ID of the schedule.

Integer

active

Is the schedule active right now?

Boolean

items_count

The number of items (jobs) in the schedule.

Integer

cron

The cron expression associated with the schedule.

String

end_time

The time upon which the schedule will stop being repeated.

String

next_run_at

The time upon which the schedule will run next.

String

stats

Contains stats job creation and job completion statistics.

JSON Object

stats:total_job_count

The number of items (jobs) in the schedule.

Integer

stats:job_create_outcomes

Contains job creation statistics.

JSON Array

stats:job_create_outcomes:status_code

The status code received in response to an attempt to execute the schedule (create a scraping/parsing job).

Integer

stats:job_create_outcomes:job_count

The number of job creation attempts that resulted in that particular status code.

Integer

stats:job_create_outcomes:ratio

The ratio between the number of job creation attempts that resulted in that particular attempt and the total number of job creation attempts.

Float

job_result_outcomes

Contains the outcome statistics of scraping/parsing jobs executed as part of the schedule.

JSON Array

status

The job status. Possible values: pending (the job is still being processed), done (the job has been completed successfully), faulted (the job has failed).

String

job_count

The number of jobs that resulted in that particular status.

Integer

ratio

The ratio between the number of jobs with that particular status and the total number of jobs created.

Float

Deactivate or reactivate a schedule

Overview

Use this endpoint to activate or deactivate a particular schedule.

Endpoint: https://data.oxylabs.io/v1/schedules/{id}/state
Method: PUT
Authentication: Basic

Input

Use this endpoint to stop or restart a schedule.

By setting active to false, you can stop the execution of a particular schedule.

If you set active to true, you can reactivate a previously stopped schedule.

{
  "active": false
}

Output

null

The standard response is an empty response body with a 202 status code.

API response codes

For API response codes, refer to API section.

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Last updated 5 months ago