Introduction#

TimeTriggers is a service that schedules HTTP requests to fire later. Think of it as a time-delayed HTTP proxy: you send us a request, we hold it, and we send it to your target at the time you specify — once, or on a recurring cron schedule.

The problem it solves#

Scheduling tasks in a distributed system is hard. You need persistent storage, a reliable scheduler, retry logic, and a way to see what happened. TimeTriggers gives you:

• Scheduling in one API call. We store your request and fire it when it's due.
• A record of every attempt. We store each attempt's response status and the first 10 KB of the response body (or the error), and you can inspect them in the dashboard.
• Retries when you want them. Automatic retries with fixed or exponential backoff are opt-in: tag the trigger and give that tag a tag policy with retries, via the API or the dashboard. Without one, a failed attempt is final and is marked as a dead letter.

Use cases#

• Sending a reminder email 24 hours before an appointment
• Triggering a webhook at a specific business hour
• Scheduling follow-up actions after a grace period
• Delaying notifications to optimal delivery times
• Running a recurring job on a cron schedule (e.g. weekday morning digest, hourly health pings) — see Recurring triggers

How it works#

1. Send an HTTP request to https://api.timetriggers.io/schedule with the method, headers and body you want your target to receive.
2. Add ttr- headers to say where and when: ttr-urlheader is the full target URL (query string included), and ttr-scheduled-atheader is an ISO 8601 date, an expression like now | add 1h, or a cron(...) schedule. Leave ttr-scheduled-atheader out to fire right away. Authenticate with ttr-api-keyheader.
3. We store your request and answer with a triggerId.
4. When the time comes, we send the request to your target.

The method you call /schedule with is the method we fire: send a PUT and we fire a PUT; a POST with a JSON body is fired with the same body and Content-Type. Your headers are forwarded too, except ttr- headers and connection-level headers such as Host and Connection. See Schedule a trigger for the details.

Quickstart#

1. Get an API key#

API keys are created in the dashboard:

1. Sign in with your email address. We email you a 6-digit code — there's no password, and your first sign-in creates your account.
2. You land on the API Keys page. Click Create key, optionally give the key a name, then click Create.
3. Click Copy next to the new key. Keys start with ttr_.

New accounts start on the Free plan, with 500 /schedule calls per month (see Quota). More in Dashboard → API keys.

2. Schedule a request#

Replace the API key placeholder with your key and run:

curl https://api.timetriggers.io/schedule \
  -X POST \
  -H "ttr-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "ttr-url: https://httpbin.org/post" \
  -H "ttr-scheduled-at: now | add 1m" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"hello":"world"}'

You get back JSON like this:

{
  "triggerId": "3f2b8c1e-7d4a-4e5b-9c2f-1a2b3c4d5e6f",
  "scheduledAt": "2030-01-01T09:00:00.000Z",
  "operation": "schedule",
  "kind": "job",
  "monthQuotaRemaining": 499
}

Your scheduledAt will differ: it's the resolved fire time, which for this example is one minute after your request, in whole seconds. See Response for every field.

Keep the triggerId, or set your own key with ttr-custom-keyheader: that's how you edit or cancel the trigger later.

3. Check the result#

The request fires at its scheduled time, usually within a couple of seconds of it (How triggers fire). Open Triggers in the dashboard to see the trigger's status and, once it has fired, the status code and body your target returned.

Next steps#

• Schedule a trigger — every header, date expressions, custom keys, tags and titles
• Recurring triggers — cron schedules and time zones
• Tag policies — retries, throughput, concurrency and timeouts
• How triggers fire — statuses, success and failure, delivery guarantees
• Dashboard — API keys, trigger history and replays