Scheduled Nightly CI/CD Builds

Trigger nightly CI/CD pipeline builds with TrigRun. Automate test suites, dependency updates, and deployment verification on a cron schedule.

Trigger your CI/CD pipeline every night at midnight on weekdays. TrigRun calls your build API — GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or a custom endpoint — so your nightly builds run reliably without maintaining a dedicated scheduling server.

The problem

You want a nightly build that runs the full test suite, checks for dependency vulnerabilities, and deploys to staging. CI platforms have built-in cron triggers, but they are often unreliable (GitHub Actions cron is best-effort and can be delayed by 15+ minutes) or don't support webhook-triggered flows.

The TrigRun solution

Setting	Value
Schedule	`0 0 * * 1-5` (midnight, weekdays)
Method	`POST`
Timeout	30 seconds (trigger only, not the build itself)
Retries	3 attempts

Trigger a GitHub Actions workflow

curl -X POST https://api.trigrun.com/v1/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Nightly CI - full test suite",
    "kind": "cron",
    "schedule": {
      "cron": "0 0 * * 1-5"
    },
    "request": {
      "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/your-org/your-repo/actions/workflows/nightly.yml/dispatches",
      "method": "POST",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "secret://github-pat",
        "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json",
        "X-GitHub-Api-Version": "2022-11-28"
      },
      "body": {
        "ref": "main",
        "inputs": {
          "run_type": "nightly",
          "deploy_staging": "true"
        }
      },
      "timeout_seconds": 30
    },
    "retry_policy": {
      "max_attempts": 3,
      "retry_on_statuses": [500, 502, 503]
    }
  }'

Expected results

Successful trigger:

Field	Example value
Status	`204 No Content`
Duration	`340 ms`
Result	`succeeded` — GitHub Actions workflow dispatched

GitHub API rate-limited:

Field	Example value
Status	`429 Too Many Requests`
Attempts	Retry after backoff
Result	`succeeded` on attempt 2

Other CI platforms

GitLab CI trigger

{
  "request": {
    "url": "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/projects/PROJECT_ID/trigger/pipeline",
    "method": "POST",
    "headers": { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
    "body": {
      "token": "TRIGGER_TOKEN",
      "ref": "main",
      "variables": { "NIGHTLY": "true" }
    }
  }
}

Custom build server

{
  "request": {
    "url": "https://build.yourcompany.com/api/trigger",
    "method": "POST",
    "headers": { "Authorization": "secret://build-server-token" },
    "body": { "project": "backend", "suite": "full", "deploy": "staging" }
  }
}

Common schedules

Pattern	Expression	Use case
Weeknight midnight	`0 0 * * 1-5`	Standard nightly build
Every 6 hours	`0 /6 * *`	Continuous integration
Weekend regression	`0 2 * * 6`	Full regression suite Saturday night
Weekly dependency audit	`0 3 * * 1`	Security scanning Monday 3 AM

Scheduled Nightly CI/CD Builds

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