TickerQ

Robust. Adaptive. Precise.
TickerQ is a fast, reflection-free background task scheduler for .NET — built with source generators, EF Core integration, cron + time-based execution, and a real-time dashboard.

📚 Full Docs: https://tickerq.arcenox.com

Repo: https://github.com/Arcenox-co/TickerQ-UI (docs are open-source and anyone can help us improving.)

Note: As of v2.2.0, all TickerQ packages are versioned together — even if a package has no changes — to keep the ecosystem in sync. Always update all packages to the same version.

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✨ Features

• Time and Cron Scheduling
• Stateless Core with source generator
• EF Core Persistence
• Live Dashboard UI
• Live Dashboard UI - View Screenshots
• Retry Policies & Throttling
• Dependency Injection support
• Multi-node distributed coordination

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📦 Installation

Core (required)

dotnet add package TickerQ

Entity Framework Integration (optional)

dotnet add package TickerQ.EntityFrameworkCore

Dashboard UI (optional)

dotnet add package TickerQ.Dashboard

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⚙️ Basic Setup

In Program.cs or Startup.cs

builder.Services.AddTickerQ(options =>
{
    opt.SetMaxConcurrency(10);
    options.AddOperationalStore<MyDbContext>(efOpt => 
    {
        efOpt.SetExceptionHandler<MyExceptionHandlerClass>();
        efOpt.UseModelCustomizerForMigrations();
    });
    options.AddDashboard(uiopt =>                                                
    {
        uiopt.BasePath = "/tickerq-dashboard"; 
        uiopt.AddDashboardBasicAuth();
    }
});

app.UseTickerQ(); // Activates job processor

💡 Recommendation:
Use UseModelCustomizerForMigrations() to cleanly separate infrastructure concerns from your core domain model, especially during design-time operations like migrations.
Note: If you're using third-party libraries (e.g., OpenIddict) that also override IModelCustomizer, you must either merge customizations or fall back to manual configuration inside OnModelCreating() to avoid conflicts.

❗️If Not Using UseModelCustomizerForMigrations() You must apply TickerQ configurations manually in your DbContext:

public class MyDbContext : DbContext
{
    public MyDbContext(DbContextOptions<MyDbContext> options)
        : base(options) { }

    protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder builder)
    {
        base.OnModelCreating(builder);

        // Apply TickerQ entity configurations explicitly
        builder.ApplyConfiguration(new TimeTickerConfigurations());
        builder.ApplyConfiguration(new CronTickerConfigurations());
        builder.ApplyConfiguration(new CronTickerOccurrenceConfigurations());

        // Alternatively, apply all configurations from assembly:
        // builder.ApplyConfigurationsFromAssembly(typeof(TimeTickerConfigurations).Assembly);
    }
}

Add Migrations

Migrations would be created for Context that is declared at AddOperationalStore.

PM> add-migration "TickerQInitialCreate" -c MyDbContext

Job Definition

1. Cron Job (Recurring)

public class CleanupJobs(ICleanUpService cleanUpService)
{
    private readonly ICleanUpService _cleanUpService = cleanUpService;

    [TickerFunction(functionName: "CleanupLogs", cronExpression: "0 0 * * *" )]
    public asynt Task CleanupLogs(TickerFunctionContext<string> tickerContext, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        var logFileName = tickerContext.Request; // output cleanup_example_file.txt
        await _cleanUpService.CleanOldLogsAsync(logFileName, cancellationToken);
    }
}

This uses a cron expression to run daily at midnight.

📅 Cron Expression Formats

TickerQ supports both 5-part and 6-part cron expressions:

5-part format (standard):

minute hour day month day-of-week

Examples:

• "0 0 * * *" - Daily at midnight
• "0 */6 * * *" - Every 6 hours
• "30 14 * * 1" - Every Monday at 2:30 PM

6-part format (with seconds):

second minute hour day month day-of-week

Examples:

• "0 0 0 * * *" - Daily at midnight (00:00:00)
• "30 0 0 * * *" - Daily at 00:00:30 (30 seconds past midnight)
• "0 0 */2 * * *" - Every 2 hours on the hour
• "*/10 * * * * *" - Every 10 seconds

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Schedule Time Ticker:

//Schedule on-time job using ITimeTickerManager<TimeTicker>.
await _timeTickerManager.AddAsync(new TimeTicker
{
    Function = "CleanupLogs",
    ExecutionTime = DateTime.UtcNow.AddMinutes(1),
    Request = TickerHelper.CreateTickerRequest<string>("cleanup_example_file.txt"),
    Retries = 3,
    RetryIntervals = new[] { 30, 60, 120 }, // Retry after 30s, 60s, then 2min

    // Optional batching
    BatchParent = Guid.Parse("...."),
    BatchRunCondition = BatchRunCondition.OnSuccess
});

Schedule Cron Ticker:

//Schedule cron job using ICronTickerManager<CronTicker>.
await _cronTickerManager.AddAsync(new CronTicker
{
    Function = "CleanupLogs",
    Expression = "0 */6 * * *", // Every 6 hours (5-part format)
    // Or use 6-part format with seconds:
    // Expression = "0 0 */6 * * *", // Every 6 hours at :00:00
    // Expression = "*/30 * * * * *", // Every 30 seconds
    Request = TickerHelper.CreateTickerRequest<string>("cleanup_example_file.txt"),
    Retries = 2,
    RetryIntervals = new[] { 60, 300 }
});

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🛠️ Developer Tips

• Use [TickerFunction] to register jobs
• Use FunctionName consistently across schedule and handler
• Use CancellationToken for graceful cancellation
• Use Request to pass dynamic data to jobs
• If you are getting random 403 responses, make sure that you don't have any filter in some endpoint that might be triggering it, thus causing issues with TickerQ's dashboard. Check this issue for more details.

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💖 Sponsors & Backers

We want to acknowledge the individuals and organizations who support the development of TickerQ through OpenCollective. Your contributions help us maintain and grow this project. If you'd like to support, check out the tiers below and join the community!

Become a Sponsor or Backer on OpenCollective

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🏆 Gold Sponsors

Become a gold sponsor and get your logo here with a link to your site.

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🥈 Silver Sponsors

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🥉 Bronze Sponsors

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🙌 Backers

Become a backer and get your image on our README on GitHub with a link to your site.

🤝 Contribution

PRs, ideas, and issues are welcome!

1. Fork & branch
2. Code your change
3. Submit a Pull Request

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📄 License

MIT OR Apache 2.0 © Arcenox
You may choose either license to use this software.