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Setting up a Dolibarr cronjob: running scheduled jobs

Dolibarr ships a module for scheduled jobs but no timer of its own. It waits for somebody to call a particular address. This guide shows which one, and how to have it triggered every five minutes.

Why at all

The module plans, but it does not start

Under Home → Setup → Modules → Scheduled jobs Dolibarr creates jobs with a time and a repetition. What is listed there looks like a working schedule – but Dolibarr executes none of it as long as no trigger arrives from outside.

So everything meant to happen in the background stalls: fetching emails into tickets, recurring invoices, due-date reminders, stock reconciliation, and whatever tasks add-on modules register.

This often surfaces late, because the job list merely shows an empty "last run" field – and nobody looks there as long as nothing is missing.

URL to call
https://ihre-domain.de/public/cron/cron_run_jobs.php?securitykey=...&userlogin=admin
Recommended interval
every 5 minutes
Tested with
Dolibarr 16 bis 21
Sufficient plan
The free plan is enough.

Setup

Step by step

The AI does it faster

You do not have to transfer any of this by hand. Paste this guide – or the one for your own system – into the assistant, and Cronjob.de fills in address, method, schedule and headers. Where something is unclear it asks instead of guessing. At the end you see what was entered and create the job with one click.

Included in the free plan at no extra cost. You will find it after signing in under "Cronjobs" → "Create with AI".

  1. Enable the module and get the key

    Under Home → Setup → Modules enable "Scheduled jobs" and open the cog next to it. The security key is there – and below it Dolibarr already shows the complete address. You can copy it from there.

    https://your-domain.com/public/cron/cron_run_jobs.php?securitykey=YOURKEY&userlogin=admin

  2. Check the address once in a browser

    Open the address yourself once. A short text output ending in "Result: 0" is correct. "Bad value for security key" means the key is wrong; a blank page means the path is wrong – in some installations Dolibarr sits in a /htdocs/ subfolder.

  3. Create an account at Cronjob.de

    Registration takes a minute and is free. Three cronjobs stay free forever, the first 14 days run on the Unlimited plan.

  4. Create a cronjob with that address

    Enter the address and choose a five-minute interval. That is exactly what the Dolibarr documentation recommends.

    */5 * * * *

  5. Switch on error notifications

    Enter an email address in the folder settings. If recurring invoices quietly stall, you only notice when a customer asks.

Verification

Is it actually running?

In Dolibarr open Home → Setup → Scheduled jobs. Every job shows "last run" and "next run" – both should move within a few minutes. The Cronjob.de call log additionally shows the output of each run with the number of jobs executed.

FAQ

Common questions about Dolibarr

The key sits in the address. Is that a problem?
It is as worth protecting as a password – anyone who knows it can trigger your scheduled jobs. Dolibarr does not offer an alternative, the address is designed this way. Two things help: set the key in the module to a long random value, and renew it there if you suspect it leaked. At Cronjob.de the address is only stored in your account.
What is the userlogin parameter for?
Dolibarr runs the jobs with the permissions of that user. Use a user who holds the necessary rights – usually admin. Jobs the user lacks a permission for are skipped.
I get "Bad value for security key".
The key in the address does not match the one in the module. The most common cause is a truncated value when copying, or an extra parameter breaking the address apart. Copy the address again in full from the module settings.
Do I have to call every five minutes even if my jobs run daily?
The call only checks whether something is due and otherwise does nothing. The five-minute interval makes sure a job scheduled for 8:00 actually runs shortly after 8 and not the next day. The load involved is negligible.
Can I trigger a single job on purpose?
Yes, append &id= with the job number to the address. That is handy when one job needs a different interval than the rest – create a second cronjob for it.

Create your cronjob now

Create an account, enter the address, click the schedule. Three cronjobs are free forever, the first 14 days run on the Unlimited plan.

Start for free See pricing

More guides

Official documentation of Dolibarr

The details about Dolibarr come from their own documentation, as of September 2026. Please check there whether anything has changed since.