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Timer Start Event node icon: a circle with a clock
A swimlane can hold only one start node of any kind (Start Event, Message Start Event, or Timer Start Event). A process with several swimlanes can therefore have several Timer Start Events, one per swimlane, and each appears as its own row on the Schedules page.

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Configuration

The Timer Start Event supports two timer types:
The Start Timer Event supports either ISO 8601 formats or Spring cron expressions for defining timer values. The value must be static: the Process variable mode (reading the value from the process data) is not available on this node, because no process instance exists yet when the timer fires.
Starting a process via registered timers requires sending a process start message to Kafka, necessitating a service account and authentication. For detailed guidance, refer to:Service Accounts

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Timer type details

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Date

Specifies an exact date and time for triggering the event. You can use ISO 8601 date format for accurate date-time representation. Pick the date and time in the Fire at field (yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm, 24-hour clock). The time you pick is in your local time. The Designer converts it to UTC when it saves: 15:30 picked in a UTC+2 time zone is stored as 2025-03-12T13:30:00Z.
Timer Start Event configuration with the Date timer type, a UTC ISO definition, and the date and time pickers of the definition editor

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Cycle

Specifies a repeating interval for triggering the event. Select ISO or Cron under Format to choose the format. For the Cycle timer definition, you can use either:

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ISO 8601 repeating intervals

For standardized time intervals (e.g., “R5/PT10M” for repeating 5 times with 10 minutes between each). Build the value with Guided fields, or switch to Expression and type it.
Timer Start Event configuration with the Cycle timer type, an R5/PT10M definition, and the Repeat Every, number of repeats, Infinite, and Start Time controls of the definition editor
When configuring a Cycle timer (ISO 8601 repeating intervals) you can set:
  • Repeat Every: The interval between triggers, in plain words (e.g., “2 hours”)
  • # of repeats: How many times the timer should trigger (e.g., “3”)
  • Infinite: Option to make the timer repeat indefinitely
  • Start Time: When the timer should begin (yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm, your local time). It must be in the future.

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Cron expressions

For more complex scheduling patterns (e.g., “0 0 12 * * MON-FRI” for 12:00 UTC every weekday). Type the Spring cron expression in the Definition field. Cron expressions are read in UTC. Under Active window, set a Start and an End date and time. The timer fires only between them. Both are required, and both are in your local time.
Timer Start Event configuration with the Cycle timer type, the Cron format selected, and a weekday noon cron expression as the definition

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Cron editor with required schedule window

The cron expression uses the six-field Spring format (second, minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week), for example 0 */5 * * * ? for every five minutes. The Start and End of the active window are required on Timer Start Events. Once both are set, the preview under the definition shows the window in your local time zone, for example Active window: 2026-11-02 09:00 – 2026-12-31 18:00 EET, and the next three fire times. Next fires are counted from when you activate the schedule on the Schedules page.
Cron definition editor of a Timer Start Event with the Cron expression field set to 0 0 2 * * MON-FRI and the Start Date, Start Time, End Date, and End Time fields filled in
Timer Start Event configuration panel with the Cycle timer type, the Cron format selected, a weekday cron definition, and the Active window summary line under the definition
The expression is validated before saving: exactly six fields, with support for lists, ranges, steps, ?, L, W, #, month and weekday names, and the @hourly, @daily, @midnight, @weekly, @monthly, @yearly, and @annually macros. A seventh field is rejected with Invalid cron expression.

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Activate/deactivate start timer events

All timers can be activated/deactivated in Runtime → Runtime Settings → Schedules:
Runtime Scheduled processes list with the activate and suspend controls for each timer start event
If a project contains multiple versions with Start Timer Event nodes, a scheduler will be generated only for the ones included in the version set in the active policy.
Active policy dialog selecting the build whose timer start events are scheduled

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Usage examples

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Date timer example: Employee Onboarding Reminder

In this scenario, the Timer Start Event triggers an employee onboarding process at a specific date and time.
Process canvas of the employee onboarding scenario: Timer Start Event, Employee Onboarding Notification task, and Complete Onboarding end
  • Start Event (Timer Start Event) - New Hire Start Date
    • Timer Definition: 2023-09-01T09:00:00Z (ISO 8601 format) → This means the process will initiate automatically at the specified date and time.
    • This event serves as the trigger for the entire process.
    • Transition → Employee Onboarding Notification
Timer Start Event configuration for the onboarding scenario with a Date definition of 2023-09-01T09:00:00Z
  • Employee Onboarding Notification
    • Notify new employee about onboarding requirements by sending an email notification with a template called “Important Onboarding Information”
    • Actions: The HR team or automated system sends out necessary email information/documents, and instructions to the new employee.
    • After the notification is sent, the process transitions to the Complete Onboarding node.
Send notification action configured with the Important Onboarding Information template
  • Complete Onboarding
    • Employee onboarding completed
    • At this point, the employee’s onboarding process is considered complete.
    • Actions: The employee may have completed required tasks, paperwork, or orientation sessions.

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General rules

  • Schedulers are generated only for builds that are part of the active policy.
  • If you change the active policy, processes with Timer Start Event nodes might appear or disappear from the Schedules list if they aren’t part of the active build.
  • You can view scheduled timers in Runtime → Runtime Settings → Schedules.
  • When a build in the active policy is updated with new Timer Start Event settings:
    • The scheduler is updated based on the new settings.
    • The scheduler state (active or suspended) remains the same as before.

Timer expressions

ISO 8601 and cron syntax for timer definitions

Schedules

Activate, suspend, and review Timer Start Events at runtime

Timer intermediate event

Pause a running process for a duration or until a date

Starting a process

All the ways a process instance can start
Last modified on October 30, 2026