How to Create and Configure Automated Tasks | Control Panel

Automated tasks run routine server jobs for you. A task can run on a schedule, on a repeating timer, or when something happens on your server. Common uses include:

Backing up your server on a regular schedule
Stopping the server before a backup and starting it again afterwards
Restarting the server every night, with warnings for players first
Starting the server again if it stops unexpectedly
Broadcasting messages to players (the game needs a console for this)
Sending a webhook or a Discord message when the server starts, stops, or a player joins

Creating Automated Tasks

In NodePanel, open your server, expand Administration in the sidebar, and click Automated Tasks.

NodePanel sidebar with the Administration group expanded and Automated Tasks highlighted

If you don't have any tasks yet, click Create Your First Task. Otherwise, click Create New Task in the top right.

Automated Tasks page with no tasks yet, with the Create New Task and Create Your First Task buttons highlighted Every task has three parts:

Name, so you can tell your tasks apart
Trigger, which decides when the task runs
Jobs, the steps the task carries out, in order

Name your Automated Task

The name is just to remind yourself what the task does. You also won't be able to save the task unless you give it a name too!

New task form with Weekly Backups typed in the highlighted Name field, above the Schedule Task, Task Timer and Event Hook Task trigger cards

Set a Trigger for the Task

The "Triggers" control when your automated task happens, and how frequently. There are three main groups of triggers, which are explained below.

Task type	When it runs	Examples
Schedule Task	On the days of the week you pick, at set times	Backups, nightly restarts
Task Timer	Every few minutes or hours, up to 12 hours apart	Autosaves, regular broadcasts
Event Hook Task	When something happens on your server	Recovering from a crash, Discord notifications

"Schedule Task" Trigger

This trigger is for when you want an automated task to run on a particular day (every Tuesday, every Wednesday, etc.) at a particular time. You can select each day of the week a task will run on, including all seven days of the week if you wish.

Selecting this trigger will cause a smaller panel to appear, like below:

Schedule Task trigger set to run on Tuesday and Friday at 3:00 am in the America/Chicago timezone, with an Add Time button below the time
Under Days of the Week, pick each day the task should run. Pick all seven for a daily task.

Under Time, set the hour and minute. The 12 Hour Format toggle switches between 12 and 24 hour clocks.
To run more than once on those days, click Add Time and set another time.
Under Timezone, pick the timezone your days and times are in. It starts as your browser's timezone, and you can type part of a name to filter the list.

A schedule runs at the time you set in the timezone saved on the task, and daylight saving changes are handled for you. Everyone who manages the server sees the same time and timezone. The task list shows the timezone next to each schedule, such as "runs tuesday, friday at 03:00 am (America/Chicago)".

"Task Timer" Trigger

This trigger is used to repeatedly run a task a certain number of minutes or hours apart, up to a maximum of 12 hours apart. This trigger is good for automatic saves, broadcasting messages to players, and any other actions that you might want run several times a day.

If you only plan to have an action performed once a day, it might be better to use the "Schedule Task", and set the action to happen at a specific time on each day just for clarity.

Selecting this trigger will cause the sub-panel to open, like below:

Task Timer trigger set to 2 hours and 0 minutes, with a note that the task repeats every 2 hours starting at 12:00 AM

Set Hour and Min to how often the task should repeat. The shortest gap is 1 minute and the longest is 12 hours.

The timer counts from midnight UTC each day. A task set to every 2 hours runs at 00:00, 02:00, 04:00 UTC and so on. If the gap doesn't divide evenly into 24 hours, the count starts over at midnight UTC, so the last gap of the day is shorter.

If you only want something to happen once a day, use Schedule Task instead so you can pick the exact time.

"Event" Trigger

This trigger will set a task to run only when something happens, like the server stopping for an unknown reason, or sending greeting messages when players join a server.

Like the other options shown above, this also also opens a sub-panel when selected. There are five choices available.

Event Hook Task trigger with the Events list open, showing Server Started, Server Online, Server Stopped, Player Joined, Player Left and All Players Left (Server Empty)

Do note that some events may not work on all games. This is especially true for any "player" events.

Jobs

Jobs are the steps your task runs, from top to bottom. Pick a job in the first row, then click Add Job for each extra step.

Job	What it does
Start server	Starts the server.
Stop server	Stops the server. Gracefully stop process lets the game shut down cleanly. Kill Server process ends it straight away and can lose unsaved progress.
Restart server	Restarts the server.
Run command	Sends a command to the server console. Type it exactly as you would on the Console page.
Create Backup	Takes a backup of your server.
Pause/wait timer	Waits 1 to 60 minutes before the next job.
Webhook	Sends a POST request to a URL you choose.
Discord Webhook	Posts a message to a Discord channel.

Three jobs in order, Stop server set to Gracefully stop process, Create Backup and Start server, with a backup space notice below and the Add Job button highlighted This backup task stops the server cleanly, takes a backup, and starts it again. When a task includes Create Backup, the form shows how much backup space you have left. Once it's full, the oldest backups are deleted to make room, so lock any backup you want to keep.

To change the order, drag a job by the handle on its left. To remove a job, click the X on its right.

Job limitations with some games

Every game shows the same list of jobs, but not every job works on every game.

Run command needs a server console that accepts commands. If you can't type commands on your server's Console page, this job can't send them either.

Commands are different for each game. For example, say broadcasts a message on Minecraft, but other games use their own commands.

Player events only work on games that report players joining and leaving.

If you're not sure what works on your game, contact our support team and we'll help.

Example: restart with warnings

This task warns players 10 minutes and 5 minutes before it restarts the server. Pair it with a Schedule Task trigger, such as every day at 5:00 AM.

Run command: say Server will restart in 10 minutes!
Pause/wait timer: 5
Run command: say Server will restart in 5 minutes!
Pause/wait timer: 5
Restart server

Five jobs in order, a say command warning of a restart in 10 minutes, a 5 minute wait, a say command warning of a restart in 5 minutes, another 5 minute wait, and Restart server You can also add a "countdown" at the end such as:

say "Restarting in 5 minutes!"
wait 1 minute
say "Restarting in 4 minutes!"
wait 1 minute
say "Restarting in 3 minutes!"
...and so on, and so on

Save the task

Click Save Task at the bottom of the form. Cancel throws away your changes, and Back to Tasks at the top returns to the list.

The task syncs to your server within a few seconds, and there's nothing else to do before it starts working.

Manage your tasks

The task list shows each task's name, when it runs, and when it last ran.
Turn a task on or off with its toggle. A disabled task stays in the list but doesn't run.

Click a task to edit it.
Open the ... menu to Edit, Copy to other instances, or Delete the task.

Copy to other instances adds the same task to other deployed servers you own. A server that already has a task with the same name can't be picked.

When you edit a task, the form also has an Enabled toggle. Click Save Changes to keep your edits. It stays greyed out until you change something. To remove the task, click Delete.

Need Help?

If you have questions or run into any issues, our support team is here to help! Reach out using the support widget on our website or visit our support center for further assistance.