# WP Crontrol

Contributors: johnbillion, scompt  
Tags: cron, wp-cron, crontrol, debug, woocommerce  
Tested up to: 6.5  
Stable tag: 1.16.3  
Donate link: https://github.com/sponsors/johnbillion

WP Crontrol enables you to take control of the cron events on your WordPress website.

## Description

WP Crontrol enables you to take control of the cron events on your WordPress website. From the admin screens you can:

 * View all cron events along with their arguments, recurrence, callback functions, and when they are next due.
 * Edit, delete, pause, resume, and immediately run cron events.
 * Add new cron events.
 * Bulk delete cron events.
 * Add and remove custom cron schedules.
 * Export and download cron event lists as a CSV file.

WP Crontrol is aware of timezones, will alert you to events that have no actions or that have missed their schedule, and will show you a helpful warning message if it detects any problems with your cron system.

### Usage

1. Go to the `Tools → Cron Events` menu to manage cron events.
2. Go to the `Settings → Cron Schedules` menu to manage cron schedules.

### Other Plugins

I maintain several other plugins for developers. Check them out:

* [Query Monitor](https://wordpress.org/plugins/query-monitor/) is the developer tools panel for WordPress.
* [User Switching](https://wordpress.org/plugins/user-switching/) provides instant switching between user accounts in WordPress.

### Privacy Statement

WP Crontrol is private by default and always will be. It does not send data to any third party, nor does it include any third party resources. [WP Crontrol's full privacy statement can be found here](https://wp-crontrol.com/privacy/).

### Accessibility Statement

WP Crontrol aims to be fully accessible to all of its users. [WP Crontrol's full accessibility statement can be found here](https://wp-crontrol.com/accessibility/).

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Does this plugin work with PHP 8?

Yes, it's actively tested and working up to PHP 8.3.

### I get the error "There was a problem spawning a call to the WP-Cron system on your site". How do I fix this?

[You can read all about problems spawning WP-Cron on the WP Crontrol website](https://wp-crontrol.com/help/problems-spawning-wp-cron/).

### Why do some cron events miss their schedule?

[You can read all about cron events that miss their schedule on the WP Crontrol website](https://wp-crontrol.com/help/missed-cron-events/).

### Why do some cron events reappear shortly after I delete them?

If the event is added by a plugin then the plugin most likely rescheduled the event as soon as it saw that the event was missing. To get around this you can instead use the "Pause this hook" action which means it'll remain in place but won't perform any action when it runs.

### Is it safe to delete cron events?

This depends entirely on the event. You can use your favourite search engine to search for the event name in order to find out which plugin it belongs to, and then decide whether or not to delete it.

If the event shows "None" as its action then it's usually safe to delete. Please see the other FAQs for more information about events with no action.

### Why can't I delete some cron events?

The WordPress core software uses cron events for some of its functionality and removing these events is not possible because WordPress would immediately reschedule them if you did delete them. For this reason, WP Crontrol doesn't let you delete these persistent events from WordPress core in the first place.

If you don't want these events to run, you can use the "Pause this hook" action instead.

### What happens when I pause an event?

Pausing an event will disable all actions attached to the event's hook. The event itself will remain in place and will run according to its schedule, but all actions attached to its hook will be disabled. This renders the event inoperative but keeps it scheduled so as to remain fully compatible with events which would otherwise get automatically rescheduled when they're missing.

As pausing an event actually pauses its hook, all events that use the same hook will be paused or resumed when pausing and resuming an event. This is much more useful and reliable than pausing individual events separately.

### What happens when I resume an event?

Resuming an event re-enables all actions attached to the event's hook. All events that use the same hook will be resumed.

### What does it mean when "None" is shown for the Action of a cron event?

This means the cron event is scheduled to run at the specified time but there is no corresponding functionality that will be triggered when the event runs, therefore the event is useless.

This is often caused by plugins that don't clean up their cron events when you deactivate them. You can use your favourite search engine to search for the event name in order to find out which plugin it belongs to, and then decide whether or not to delete it.

### How do I change the next run time or the recurrence of a cron event?

You can change the time and recurrence of a cron event by clicking the "Edit" link next to the event.

### How can I create a cron event that requests a URL?

From the Tools → Cron Events → Add New screen, create a PHP cron event that includes PHP that fetches the URL using the WordPress HTTP API. For example:

~~~php
wp_remote_get( 'http://example.com' );
~~~

[You can read all about the features and security of PHP cron events on the WP Crontrol website](https://wp-crontrol.com/docs/php-cron-events/).

### Why do changes that I make to some cron events not get saved?

[You can read all about problems with editing cron events on the WP Crontrol website](https://wp-crontrol.com/help/problems-managing-events/).

### Can I export a list of cron events?

Yes, a CSV file of the event list can be exported and downloaded via the "Export" button on the cron event listing screen. This file can be opened in any spreadsheet application.

### Can I see a historical log of all the cron events that ran on my site?

Not yet, but I hope to add this functionality soon.

### Can I see a historical log of edits, additions, and deletions of cron events and schedules?

Yes. The excellent <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-history/">Simple History plugin</a> has built-in support for logging actions performed via WP Crontrol.

### What's the use of adding new cron schedules?

Cron schedules are used by WordPress and plugins for scheduling events to be executed at regular intervals. Intervals must be provided by the WordPress core or a plugin in order to be used. As an example, many backup plugins provide support for periodic backups. In order to do a weekly backup, a weekly cron schedule must be entered into WP Crontrol first and then a backup plugin can take advantage of it as an interval.

### How do I create a new cron event?

There are two steps to getting a functioning cron event that executes regularly. The first step is telling WordPress about the hook. This is the part that WP Crontrol was created to provide. The second step is calling a function when your hook is executed.

*Step One: Adding the hook*

In the Tools → Cron Events admin panel, click on "Add New" and enter the details of the hook. You're best off using a hook name that conforms to normal PHP variable naming conventions. The event schedule is how often your hook will be executed. If you don't see a good interval, then add one in the Settings → Cron Schedules admin panel.

*Step Two: Writing the function*

This part takes place in PHP code (for example, in the `functions.php` file from your theme). To execute your hook, WordPress runs an action. For this reason, we need to tell WordPress which function to execute when this action is run. The following line accomplishes that:

~~~php
add_action( 'my_hookname', 'my_function' );
~~~

The next step is to write your function. Here's a simple example:

~~~php
function my_function() {
	wp_mail( 'hello@example.com', 'WP Crontrol', 'WP Crontrol rocks!' );
}
~~~

### How do I create a new PHP cron event?

In the Tools → Cron Events admin panel, click on "Add New". In the form that appears, select "PHP Cron Event" and enter the schedule and next run time. The event schedule is how often your event will be executed. If you don't see a good interval, then add one in the Settings → Cron Schedules admin panel. In the "PHP Code" area, enter the PHP code that should be run when your cron event is executed. You don't need to provide the PHP opening tag (`<?php`).

Creating, editing, and running PHP cron events is subject to restrictive security permissions. [You can read all about the features and security of PHP cron events on the WP Crontrol website](https://wp-crontrol.com/docs/php-cron-events/).

### Which users can manage cron events and schedules?

Only users with the `manage_options` capability can manage cron events and schedules. By default, only Administrators have this capability.

### Which users can manage PHP cron events? Is this dangerous?

Only users with the `edit_files` capability can manage PHP cron events. This means if a user cannot edit files via the WordPress admin area (i.e. through the Plugin Editor or Theme Editor) then they also cannot add, edit, or delete a PHP cron event in WP Crontrol. By default only Administrators have this capability, and with Multisite enabled only Super Admins have this capability.

If file editing has been disabled via the `DISALLOW_FILE_MODS` or `DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT` configuration constants then no user will have the `edit_files` capability, which means adding, editing, or deleting a PHP cron event will not be permitted.

Therefore, the user access level required to execute arbitrary PHP code does not change with WP Crontrol activated.

[You can read all about the features and security of PHP cron events on the WP Crontrol website](https://wp-crontrol.com/docs/php-cron-events/).

### Are any WP-CLI commands available?

The cron commands which were previously included in WP Crontrol are now part of WP-CLI itself. See `wp help cron` for more info.

### What happens when I deactivate the WP Crontrol plugin?

[You can read all about what happens when you deactivate the plugin on the WP Crontrol website](https://wp-crontrol.com/docs/deactivation/).

### How can I report a security bug?

You can report security bugs through the Patchstack Vulnerability Disclosure Program. The Patchstack team helps validate, triage, and handle any security vulnerabilities. [Report a security vulnerability here](https://patchstack.com/database/vdp/wp-crontrol).

### Who took the photo in the plugin header image?

The photo was taken by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelpardo/21453119315">Michael Pardo</a> and is in the public domain.

## Screenshots

1. Cron events can be modified, deleted, and executed<br>![](.wordpress-org/screenshot-1.png)

2. New cron events can be added<br>![](.wordpress-org/screenshot-2.png)

3. New cron schedules can be added, giving plugin developers more options when scheduling events<br>![](.wordpress-org/screenshot-3.png)

## Changelog ##

### 1.16.3 ###

* Corrects the displayed PHP cron event name if one is provided

### 1.16.2 ###

* Security hardening: [An anti-tampering mechanism has been introduced for PHP cron events](https://wp-crontrol.com/help/check-php-cron-events/)
* Improvements to accessibility and internationalisation
* Removes the dependency on jQuery
* Confirms support for WordPress 6.5


### 1.16.1 ###

* Confirms support for WordPress 6.4

### 1.16.0 ###

* Allow persistent WordPress core hooks to be cleared if there's more than one event with that hook
* Add the number of matching events to the hook deletion link text
* Scrap the Ajax request that checks if the current page of cron events has changed since loading
* Make some improvements to sorting the cron event list table columns
* Increase the minimum supported PHP version to 7.4


### 1.15.3 ###

* Pass the `$doing_wp_cron` value to the `cron_request` filter so it matches WordPress core
* Miscellaneous code quality improvements

### 1.15.2 ###

* Improves the terminology around pausing and deleting hooks and events
* Improves accessibility of the event listing table for keyboard users
* Removes an unnecessary SQL query when fetching the list of paused events
* Adds an FAQ about deactivating the plugin

### 1.15.1 ###

* Confirms the plugin is compatible with PHP 8.2
* Increases compatibility with other plugins that include very old Composer autoloader implementations

### 1.15.0 ###

* Introduces the ability to pause and resume cron events from the event listing screen; see the FAQ for full details
* Adds the site time to the cron event editing screen
* Implements an autoloader to reduce memory usage
* Bumps the minimum supported version of PHP to 5.6

### 1.14.0 ###

* Reverts the changes introduced in version 1.13 while I look into the problem with the deployment process for wordpress.org

### 1.13.2 ###

* Fixes another issue with missing files in the release

### 1.13.1 ###

* Fixes an issue with missing files in the 1.13.0 release

### 1.13.0 ###

* Introduces the ability to pause and resume cron events from the event listing screen; see the FAQ for full details
* Implements an autoloader to reduce memory usage
* Bumps the minimum supported version of PHP to 5.6

### 1.12.1 ###

* Corrects an issue where an invalid hook callback isn't always identified
* Various code quality improvements

### 1.12.0 ###

* Fix the PHP cron event management.
* More "namespacing" of query variables to avoid conflicts with other cron management plugins.

### 1.11.0 ###

* Introduced an `Export` feature to the event listing screen for exporting the list of events as a CSV file.
* Added the timezone offset to the date displayed for events that are due to run after the next DST change, for extra clarity.
* Introduced the `crontrol/filter-types` and `crontrol/filtered-events` filters for adjusting the available event filters on the event listing screen.
* Lots of code quality improvements (thanks, PHPStan!).


### 1.10.0 ###

* Support for more granular cron-related error messages in WordPress 5.7
* Several accessibility improvements
* Warning for events that are attached to [a schedule that is too frequent](https://github.com/johnbillion/wp-crontrol/wiki/This-interval-is-less-than-the-WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT-constant)
* More clarity around events and schedules that are built in to WordPress core
* Add a Help tab with links to the wiki and FAQs


### 1.9.1 ###

* Fix the adding of new cron events when `DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT` is true.

### 1.9.0 ###

* Add filters and sorting to the event listing screen. Props @yuriipavlov.
* Replace the "Add New" tabs with a more standard "Add New" button on the cron event listing page.
* Switch back to using browser-native controls for the date and time inputs.
* Add an error message when trying to edit a non-existent event.
* Introduce an informational message which appears when there are events that have missed their schedule.
* Fire actions when cron events and schedules are added, updated, and deleted.


### 1.8.5 ###

* Fix an issue with the tabs in 1.8.4.

### 1.8.4 ###

* Add a warning message if the default timezone has been changed. <a href="https://github.com/johnbillion/wp-crontrol/wiki/PHP-default-timezone-is-not-set-to-UTC">More information</a>.
* Fixed string being passed to `strtotime()` function when the `Now` option is chosen when adding or editing an event.

### 1.8.3 ###

* Fix the editing of events that aren't currently listed on the first page of results.

### 1.8.2 ###

* Bypass the duplicate event check when manually running an event. This allows an event to manually run even if it's due within ten minutes or if it's overdue.
* Force only one event to fire when manually running a cron event.
* Introduce polling of the events list in order to show a warning when the event listing screen is out of date.
* Add a warning for cron schedules which are shorter than `WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT`.
* Add the Site Health check event to the list of persistent core hooks.


### 1.8.1 ###

* Fix the bottom bulk action menu on the event listing screen.
* Make the timezone more prominent when adding or editing a cron event.

### 1.8.0 ###

* Searching and pagination for cron events
* Ability to delete all cron events with a given hook
* More accurate response messages when managing events (in WordPress 5.1+)
* Visual warnings for events without actions, and PHP events with syntax errors
* Timezone-related clarifications and fixes
* A more unified UI
* Modernised codebase


### 1.7.1 ###

* Correct the PHP.net URL for the `strtotime()` reference.

### 1.7.0 ###

* Remove the `date` and `time` inputs and replace with a couple of preset options and a plain text field. Fixes #24 .
* Ensure the schedule name is always correct when multiple schedules exist with the same interval. Add error handling. Fixes #25.
* Re-introduce the display of the current site time.
* Use a more appropriate HTTP response code for unauthorised request errors.


### 1.6.2 ###

* Remove the ability to delete a PHP cron event if the user cannot edit files.
* Remove the `Edit` link for PHP cron events when the user cannot edit the event.
* Avoid a PHP notice due to an undefined variable when adding a new cron event.

### 1.6.1 ###

* Fix a potential fatal error on the cron events listing screen.

### 1.6 ###

* Introduce bulk deletion of cron events. Yay!
* Show the schedule name instead of the schedule interval next to each event.
* Add core's new `delete_expired_transients` event to the list of core events.
* Don't allow custom cron schedules to be deleted if they're in use.
* Add links between the Events and Schedules admin screens.
* Add syntax highlighting to the PHP code editor for a PHP cron event.
* Styling fixes for events with many arguments or long arguments.
* Improvements to help text.
* Remove usage of `create_function()`.
* Fix some translator comments, improve i18n, improve coding standards.

### 1.5.0 ###

* Show the hooked actions for each cron event.
* Don't show the `Delete` link for core's built-in cron events, as they get re-populated immediately.
* Correct the success message after adding or editing PHP cron events.
* Correct the translations directory name.
