defmodule Periodic do @moduledoc """ Periodic job execution. ## Quick start It is recommended (but not required) to implement the job in a dedicated module. For example: defmodule SomeCleanup do def child_spec(_arg) do Periodic.child_spec( id: __MODULE__, run: &run/0, every: :timer.hours(1) ) end defp run(), do: # ... end With such module implemented, you can place the job somewhere in the supervision tree: Supervisor.start_link( [ SomeCleanup, # ... ], # ... ) You can of course start multiple periodic jobs in the system, and they don't have to be the children of the same supervisor. You're advised to place the job in the proper part of the supervision tree. For example, a database cleanup job should share the ancestor with the repo, while a job working with Phoenix channels should share the ancestor with the endpoint. As mentioned, you don't need to create a dedicated module to run a job. It's also possible to provide `{Periodic, opts}` in the supervisor child list. Finally, if you need more runtime flexibility, you can also start the job with `start_link/1`. ## Process structure The process started with `start_link` is called the _scheduler_. This is the process which regularly "ticks" in the given interval and executes the _job_. The job is executed in a separate one-off process, which is the child of the scheduler. When the job is done, the job process stops. Therefore, each job instance is running in a separate process. Depending on the overlapping mode (see the `:on_overlap` option), it can happen that multiple instances of the same job are running simultaneously. ## Options - `:run` (required) - Zero arity function or MFA invoked to run the job. This function is invoked in a separate one-off process which is a child of the scheduler. - `:every` (required) - Time in milliseconds between two consecutive job executions (see `:delay_mode` option for details). - `:initial_delay` - Time in milliseconds before the first execution of the job. If not provided, the default value of `:every` is used. In other words, the first execution will by default take place after the `:initial_delay` interval has passed. - `:delay_mode` - Controls how the `:every` interval is interpreted. Following options are possible: - `:regular` (default) - `:every` represents the time between two consecutive starts - `:shifted` - `:every` represents the time between the termination of the previous and the start of the next instance. See the "Delay mode" section for more details. - `:when` - Function which acts as an additional runtime guard to decide if the job will be started. This can be useful for implementing fixed scheduled jobs. See the "Fixed scheduling" section for details. - `:on_overlap` - Defines the desired behaviour when the job is about to be started while the previous instance is still running. - `:run` (default) - always start the new job - `:ignore` - don't start the new job if the previous instance is still running - `:stop_previous` - stop the previous instance before starting the new one - `:timeout` - Defines the maximum running time of the job. If the job doesn't finish in the given time, it is forcefully terminated. In this case, the job's shutdown specification is ignored. Defaults to `:infinity` - `:job_shutdown` - Shutdown value of the job process. See the "Shutdown" section for details. - `:id` - Supervisor child id of the scheduler process. Defaults to `Periodic`. If you plan on running multiple periodic jobs under the same supervisor, make sure that they have different id values. - `:name` - Registered name of the scheduler process. If not provided, the process will not be registered. - `:telemetry_id` - Id used in telemetry event names. See the "Telemetry" section for more details. If not provided, telemetry events won't be emitted. - `:mode` - When set to `:manual`, the jobs won't be started automatically. Instead you have to manually send tick signals to the scheduler. This should be used only in `:test` mix env. See the "Testing" section for details. ## Delay mode In the `:regular` mode (which is the default), the interval indicates time between two consecutive starts. This mode is typically useful if you want to maintain a stable execution rate (the number of executions per some time period). It is also a better choice if you're implementing fixed scheduling, as advised in the "Fixed scheduling" section. In the `:shifted` mode the interval represents the pause time between the end of the job and the start of the next one. This mode is likely a better choice if you want to have a fixed "cool off" period between two consecutive executions, to reduce the load on the system. Internally, Periodic relies on Erlang's monotonic time, which improves rate stability regardless of system time changes (see [Time correction](http://erlang.org/doc/apps/erts/time_correction.html#time-correction)). Consider using the "Multi-time warp mode" (see [here](http://erlang.org/doc/apps/erts/time_correction.html#time-warp-modes)) to further improve rate stability in the situations when system time changes. In general, the overhead introduced by Periodic as well as job processing will be compensated, and you can usually expect stable intervals with very small variations (typically in sub milliseconds range), and no steady shift over time. However, in some cases, for example when the system is overloaded, the variations might be more significant. In the `:shifted` mode the job duration will affect the execution of the next job. In addition, Periodic will induce a slight (usually less than 100 microseconds), but a steady skew, due to its own internal processing. ## Shutdown To stop the scheduler, you need to ask its parent supervisor to stop the scheduler using [Supervisor.terminate_child](https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/Supervisor.html#terminate_child/2). The scheduler process acts as a supervisor, and so it has the same shutdown behaviour. When ordered to terminate by its parent, the scheduler will stop currently running job instances according to the `:job_shutdown` configuration. The default behaviour is to wait 5 seconds for the job to finish. However, in order for this waiting to actually happen, you need to invoke `Process.flag(:trap_exit, true)` from the run function. You can change the waiting time with the `:job_shutdown` option, which has the same semantics as in `Supervisor`. See [corresponding Supervisor documentation] (https://hexdocs.pm/elixir/Supervisor.html#module-shutdown-values-shutdown) for details. ## Fixed scheduling Periodic doesn't have explicit support for scheduling jobs at some particular time (e.g. every day at midnight). However, you can implement this on top of the provided functionality using the `:when` option defmodule SomeCleanup do def child_spec(_arg) do Periodic.child_spec( # check every minute if we need to run the cleanup every: :timer.minutes(1), # start the job only if it's midnight when: fn -> match?(%Time{hour: 0, minute: 0}, Time.utc_now()) end, # ... ) end # ... end Note that the execution guarantees here are "at most once". If the system is down at the scheduled time, the job won't be executed. Stronger guarantees can be obtained by basing the conditional logic on some persistence mechanism. Note that the `:when` guard is executed in the scheduler process. If the guard execution time is larger than the ticking period, time drifts will occur. ## Telemetry The scheduler optionally emits telemetry events. To configure telemetry you need to provide the `:telemetry_id` option. For example: Periodic.start_link(telemetry_id: :db_cleanup, ...) This will emit various events in the shape of `[Periodic, telemetry_id, event]`. Currently supported events are: - `:started` - a new job instance is started - `:finished` - job instance has finished or crashed (see related metadata for the reason) - `:skipped` - new instance hasn't been started because the previous one is still running - `:stopped_previous` - previous instance has been stopped because the new one is about to be started To consume the desired events, install the corresponding telemetry handler. ## Logging Basic logger is provided in `Periodic.Logger`. To use it, the scheduler needs to be started with the `:telemetry_id` option. To install logger handlers, you can invoke `Periodic.Logger.install(telemetry_id)`. This function should be invoked only once per each scheduler during the system lifetime, preferably before the scheduler is started. A convenient place to do it is your application start callback. ## Testing The scheduler can be deterministically tested by setting the `:mode` option to `:manual`. In this mode, the scheduler won't tick on its own, and so it won't start any jobs unless instructed to by the client code. The `:mode` should be set to `:manual` only in test mix environment. Here's a simple approach which doesn't require app env and config files: defmodule MyPeriodicJob do @mode if Mix.env() != :test, do: :auto, else: :manual def child_spec(_arg) do Periodic.child_spec( mode: @mode, name: __MODULE__, # ... ) end # ... end Of course, you can alternatively use app env or any other approach you prefer. Just make sure to set the mode to manual only in test env. Notice that we're also setting the registered name and telemetry id. We'll need both to interact with the scheduler With such setup in place, the general shape of the periodic job test would look like this: def MyPeriodicJobTest do use ExUnit.Case, async: true require Periodic.Test test "my periodic job" do bring_the_system_into_the_desired_state() # tick the scheduler assert Periodic.Test.sync_tick(MyPeriodicJob) == {:ok, :normal} verify_side_effect_of_the_job() end end Note that this won't suffice for fixed schedules. Consider again the cleanup job which runs at midnight: defmodule SomeCleanup do def child_spec(_arg) do Periodic.child_spec( every: :timer.minutes(1), when: fn -> match?(%Time{hour: 0, minute: 0}, Time.utc_now()) end, # ... ) end # ... end Manually ticking won't start the job, unless the test is running exactly at midnight. To make this module testable, you need to use a different implementation of `:when` in test environment: defmodule SomeCleanup do def child_spec(_arg) do Periodic.child_spec( every: :timer.minutes(1), when: &should_run?/0 # ... ) end if Mix.env() != :test do defp should_run?(), do: match?(%Time{hour: 0, minute: 0}, Time.utc_now()) else defp should_run?(), do: true end # ... end ## Comparison to other schedulers There are various other abstractions for running periodic jobs in BEAM, such as: - the built-in [:timer](https://erlang.org/doc/man/timer.html) module from Erlang stdlib - [erlcron](https://github.com/erlware/erlcron) - [quantum](https://hexdocs.pm/quantum/readme.html) - [Oban](https://hexdocs.pm/oban/Oban.html#module-periodic-cron-jobs) Compared to `:timer`, Periodic offers some additional features, such as overlap handling, distributed scheduling, and telemetry support. Compared to most other third party libraries, Periodic will likely provide much less features out of the box. So in some situations, such as database persistence or back-pressure, you might need to invest more effort with Periodic. On the plus side Periodic should be simpler to use in typical scenarios, and much easier to reason about, while still providing enough flexibility to handle arbitrarily complex scenarios. For a more detailed discussion, see [this blog post](https://www.theerlangelist.com/article/periodic). """ use Parent.GenServer require Logger @type opts :: [ id: term, name: GenServer.name(), telemetry_id: term, mode: :auto | :manual, every: pos_integer, initial_delay: non_neg_integer, delay_mode: :regular | :shifted, run: (() -> term) | {module, atom, [term]}, when: (() -> boolean) | {module, atom, [term]}, on_overlap: :run | :ignore | :stop_previous, timeout: pos_integer | :infinity, job_shutdown: :brutal_kill | :infinity | non_neg_integer() ] @doc "Starts the periodic executor." @spec start_link(opts) :: GenServer.on_start() def start_link(opts) do gen_server_opts = Keyword.take(opts, [:name]) Parent.GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, Map.new(opts), gen_server_opts) end @doc "Builds a child specification for starting the periodic executor." @spec child_spec(opts) :: Supervisor.child_spec() def child_spec(opts) do opts |> super() |> Supervisor.child_spec(id: Keyword.get(opts, :id, __MODULE__)) end @impl GenServer def init(opts) do state = Map.merge(defaults(), opts) {initial_delay, state} = Map.pop(state, :initial_delay, state.every) enqueue_next_tick(state, initial_delay) {:ok, state} end @impl GenServer def handle_info({:tick, expected_now}, state) do handle_tick(state, now: expected_now) {:noreply, state} end @impl GenServer def handle_call({:tick, opts}, from, %{mode: :manual} = state) do caller = if Keyword.get(opts, :await_job?), do: from, else: nil response = handle_tick(state, caller: caller) cond do is_nil(caller) -> {:reply, :ok, state} match?({:ok, _pid}, response) -> {:noreply, state} true -> {:reply, {:error, :job_not_started}, state} end end @impl Parent.GenServer def handle_stopped_children(info, state) do [info] = Map.values(info) with from when not is_nil(from) <- info.meta.caller, do: GenServer.reply(from, {:ok, info.exit_reason}) if state.delay_mode == :shifted, do: enqueue_next_tick(state, state.every) duration = :erlang.convert_time_unit( :erlang.monotonic_time() - info.meta.started_at, :native, :microsecond ) telemetry(state, :finished, %{job: info.pid, reason: info.exit_reason}, %{time: duration}) {:noreply, state} end defp defaults() do %{ telemetry_id: nil, mode: :auto, delay_mode: :regular, on_overlap: :run, timeout: :infinity, job_shutdown: :timer.seconds(5), when: nil } end defp handle_tick(state, opts) do if state.delay_mode == :regular, do: enqueue_next_tick(state, state.every, opts) if job_guard_satisfied?(state), do: start_job(state, opts) end defp job_guard_satisfied?(%{when: nil}), do: true defp job_guard_satisfied?(%{when: {m, f, a}}), do: apply(m, f, a) defp job_guard_satisfied?(%{when: fun}) when is_function(fun), do: fun.() defp start_job(%{on_overlap: :run} = state, opts), do: start_job_process(state, opts) defp start_job(%{on_overlap: :ignore} = state, opts) do case previous_instance() do {:ok, pid} -> telemetry(state, :skipped, %{still_running: pid}) nil :error -> start_job_process(state, opts) end end defp start_job(%{on_overlap: :stop_previous} = state, opts) do with {:ok, pid} <- previous_instance() do Parent.shutdown_all(:kill) telemetry(state, :stopped_previous, %{pid: pid}) end start_job_process(state, opts) end defp start_job_process(state, opts) do job = state.run {:ok, pid} = Parent.start_child(%{ id: make_ref(), start: {Task, :start_link, [fn -> invoke_job(job) end]}, timeout: state.timeout, shutdown: state.job_shutdown, restart: :temporary, meta: %{started_at: :erlang.monotonic_time(), caller: Keyword.get(opts, :caller)}, ephemeral?: true }) telemetry(state, :started, %{job: pid}) {:ok, pid} end defp invoke_job({mod, fun, args}), do: apply(mod, fun, args) defp invoke_job(fun) when is_function(fun, 0), do: fun.() defp previous_instance() do case Parent.children() do [child] -> {:ok, child.pid} [] -> :error end end defp enqueue_next_tick(state, delay, opts \\ []) do telemetry(state, :next_tick, %{in: delay}) if state.mode == :auto do now = Keyword.get_lazy(opts, :now, fn -> :erlang.monotonic_time(:millisecond) end) next_tick_abs_time = now + delay Process.send_after(self(), {:tick, next_tick_abs_time}, next_tick_abs_time, abs: true) end end defp telemetry(state, event, data, measurements \\ %{}) if Mix.env() != :test do defp telemetry(_state, :next_tick, _data, _measurements), do: :ok end defp telemetry(%{telemetry_id: nil}, _event, _data, _measurements), do: :ok defp telemetry(state, event, data, measurements) do :telemetry.execute( [__MODULE__, state.telemetry_id, event], measurements, Map.merge(data, %{scheduler: self()}) ) end end