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Run Once Scheduling
Learn how to use Foreman’s Run Once feature to schedule a one-time job for immediate or delayed execution without setting up a recurring schedule.
Sometimes you need to run a job just once rather than on a recurring schedule. Foreman's Run Once feature lets you trigger a one-off execution immediately or after a short delay, without committing to a recurring schedule upfront.
How It Works
When you select Run Once in the schedule picker, Foreman creates a scheduled job and sets its NextRunAtUtc to the current time plus your chosen delay. The background scheduler picks it up on its next 30-second tick and executes it.
The job is created with a daily recurring schedule by default, but the first run happens at the time you specified. After the initial run completes, the job remains in your scheduled jobs list with its recurring schedule active. You can disable or delete it if you only needed the single execution, or leave it running if you decide recurring execution is useful.
Run Once creates a real scheduled job entry — it appears in your jobs list and its execution is recorded in history, giving you a full audit trail even for one-off runs.
Delay Options
The Run Once tab in the schedule picker offers the following delay options:
| Option | When it runs |
|---|---|
| Now | Immediate — picked up on the next scheduler tick (within 30 seconds) |
| In 5 min | 5 minutes from now |
| In 15 min | 15 minutes from now |
| In 30 min | 30 minutes from now |
| In 1 hour | 1 hour from now |
| In 2 hours | 2 hours from now |
Where Run Once Is Available
Scheduled Jobs page
Click Create Job, configure the job type and target project, then select the Run Once tab in the schedule picker.
Create Project Folders
Click the Schedule button on the Create Project Folders page. In the scheduling dialog, select Run Once to trigger an immediate or delayed folder validation or folder creation without setting up a recurring schedule.
Attribute Extracts
Click Schedule on a saved extract definition in the Attribute Extracts page. Choose Run Once to execute the extract immediately or after a delay. This is useful for generating a one-off export without committing to recurring extractions.
Confirmation Step
Before the job is created, a confirmation dialog shows:
- The job type and target project
- The scheduled execution time (e.g. "Will run at 14:35 UTC" or "Will run immediately")
- A reminder that the job will appear in your scheduled jobs list
Click Confirm to create the job or Cancel to go back and adjust settings.
If you only need a single execution, disable or delete the job after it completes. Otherwise, the daily recurring schedule will continue running the job every day at the same time.
Monitoring Run Once Jobs
After creation, the job appears in your scheduled jobs list like any other job. The live countdown timer shows the time until execution, and the execution result appears in the recent executions table once it completes.
If the job fails, you can use the Run Now button on the job detail page to retry immediately. See Monitoring Execution History for more on tracking results and investigating failures.