Schedule Database Backups

Trigger automated database backups on a cron schedule using TrigRun. Copy-paste API examples for PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MongoDB backup endpoints.

Trigger your database backup endpoint every night without managing crontab or servers. TrigRun calls your backup URL on schedule, retries on failure, and alerts you if anything goes wrong.

The problem

You have a backup endpoint (or a serverless function that runs pg_dump) and need it called reliably at 2 AM every night. Running a cron daemon means maintaining a server just for scheduling. If the server goes down, backups stop silently.

The TrigRun solution

Setting	Value
Schedule	`0 2 * * *` (daily at 2:00 AM)
Method	`POST`
Timeout	300 seconds (backups can be slow)
Retries	3 attempts with exponential backoff

Create via API

curl -X POST https://api.trigrun.com/v1/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Nightly database backup",
    "kind": "cron",
    "schedule": {
      "cron": "0 2 * * *"
    },
    "request": {
      "url": "https://api.yourapp.com/admin/backup",
      "method": "POST",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "secret://backup-api-key",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
      },
      "body": {
        "type": "full",
        "compress": true
      },
      "timeout_seconds": 300
    },
    "retry_policy": {
      "max_attempts": 3,
      "retry_on_statuses": [500, 502, 503, 504]
    }
  }'

Create via CLI

trigrun jobs create \
  --name "Nightly database backup" \
  --kind cron \
  --cron "0 2 * * *" \
  --url "https://api.yourapp.com/admin/backup" \
  --method POST \
  --header "Authorization: secret://backup-api-key" \
  --timeout 300 \
  --retries 3

Why TrigRun over crontab

No server to maintain — no VM running just to trigger a backup
Automatic retries — if your DB server is temporarily unreachable, TrigRun retries with backoff
Failure alerts — get notified via Slack, Discord, or email if the backup fails after all retries
Encrypted secrets — API keys stored in TrigRun's vault, never exposed in logs
Execution history — see every backup run with status, duration, and response for 30 days

Common variations

Variation	Schedule	Expression
Nightly at 2 AM	Every day	`0 2 * * *`
Every 6 hours	Four times daily	`0 /6 * *`
Weekly Sunday night	Once per week	`0 3 * * 0`
First of every month	Monthly	`0 2 1 * *`