> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dbdock.xyz/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Schedules

> Automate backups in DBDock Cloud with cron-based schedules that run for you — with retries, per-schedule run history, and skip controls.

A schedule runs a backup automatically on a cron cadence. DBDock Cloud executes it for you — there's no cron daemon to run or server to keep awake.

## Create a schedule

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Schedules → New schedule">
    Choose the [connection](/cloud/connections) and [storage](/cloud/storage) destination.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the cadence">
    Pick a cron expression — for example, `0 2 * * *` for every night at 2 AM.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save and enable">
    DBDock queues the next run and shows when it will happen next on your dashboard's **Up next**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Run history

Each schedule keeps a full history of its runs. Open a schedule to see every backup it produced, with status, timing, and logs — so you can confirm last night's job succeeded at a glance.

## Reliability

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Retries" icon="rotate">
    Transient failures are retried automatically, so a brief network blip doesn't cost you a backup.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Skip next" icon="forward">
    Skip the next scheduled run — handy before planned maintenance — without deleting the schedule.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Note>
  Schedules run in the cloud even when your machine is off. To automate from your own environment instead, use [`dbdock schedule`](/cli/schedule) in the CLI.
</Note>

## Alerts

Pair schedules with [alerts](/alerts/overview) so you hear about failures immediately over email, Slack, or a webhook — instead of discovering them when you need a restore.

## Plan availability

Scheduling is available on paid plans, with per-plan limits on how many schedules you can run. See [Billing](/cloud/billing).

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Backups" icon="shield-check" href="/cloud/backups">
    What each run produces.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Alerts" icon="bell" href="/alerts/overview">
    Get notified on failure.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>