--- title: "Spread scheduled work across the hour ยท Agent Wranglers" url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/scaling/background-jobs-and-queues/spread-scheduled-jobs updated: 2026-10-21 licence: "CC BY 4.0" licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ --- # Spread scheduled work across the hour For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [Background jobs and queues](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/scaling/background-jobs-and-queues.md). By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers). Updated 2026-10-21. - ID: SCL-22 - Level: Recommended - Chapter: [Background jobs and queues](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/scaling/background-jobs-and-queues) - Rule: Give each scheduled job its own start minute instead of the full hour. Split jobs that touch every customer into batches with gaps between them. - How: Jobs set to `0 * * * *` all start together and make a load peak every hour. Many teams pick midnight, so outside services are busy then too. Pick an odd minute per job, such as 17 or 43. A job over all customers works in batches, as [Change large tables in small batches](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/scaling/growing-the-database/small-batches) shows. Run each once, as [Run each scheduled job once at a time](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/scaling/background-jobs-and-queues/single-job-runs) says, and report a [heartbeat](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/operations/alerts-and-on-call/job-heartbeats). - Check: No two jobs that run longer than 1 minute share a start minute in the schedule. Over the last 7 days, database CPU at minute 0 of each hour is under 1.5 times the hourly average. ## Examples **Using these examples:** they show one way to follow this rule. Keep the behaviour and the check, not the syntax. Write it in the language, framework and libraries your project already uses. ### Plain text example ```text # crontab for a made-up shop: one minute per job 17 * * * * /srv/shop/bin/run-job sync-stock 43 * * * * /srv/shop/bin/run-job expire-carts 11 3 * * * /srv/shop/bin/run-job nightly-invoices ``` ## Related rules - [Change large tables in small batches](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/scaling/growing-the-database/small-batches) in Scaling - [Run each scheduled job once at a time](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/scaling/background-jobs-and-queues/single-job-runs) in Scaling - [Alert when a scheduled job stops running](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/operations/alerts-and-on-call/job-heartbeats) in Operations **For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `Agent Wranglers scaling playbook`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link. - Previous: [Put record IDs in jobs instead of copies](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/scaling/background-jobs-and-queues/ids-in-jobs) - Next: [Set aside messages that keep failing](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/scaling/background-jobs-and-queues/dead-letter-queue) - [Background jobs and queues](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/scaling/background-jobs-and-queues)