title: Pause Windows

Pause Windows

Pause windows define daily time ranges during which a job is silently skipped, even if its cron expression says it is due. The start time is inclusive and the end time is exclusive.

Defining Pause Windows via Attribute

Use pauseWindows with ['HH:MM', 'HH:MM'] pairs:

use Shapecode\Bundle\CronBundle\Attribute\AsCronJob;

#[AsCronJob(
    schedule: '0 * * * *',
    pauseWindows: [['13:00', '15:00'], ['22:00', '23:30']],
)]
class MyHourlyCommand extends Command
{
    // Runs every hour, except between 13:00–15:00 and 22:00–23:30
}

Defining Pause Windows Programmatically

Call addPauseWindow() on the CronJob entity directly:

$job->clearPauseWindows();
$job->addPauseWindow(new DateTimeImmutable('13:00'), new DateTimeImmutable('15:00'));

Overnight Windows

A window where from > to spans midnight:

#[AsCronJob(
    schedule: '0 * * * *',
    pauseWindows: [['22:00', '06:00']],  // pauses from 22:00 until 06:00 the next day
)]
class NightlyCommand extends Command { }

How Pause Windows Work

1. When shapecode:cron:run executes, each job is checked against its configured pause windows using the current wall-clock time.
2. If the current time falls inside any window, the job is skipped with the notice: "cronjob will not be executed. Currently in a pause window."
3. The next-run time is not recalculated — the job simply skips that occurrence and runs normally at its next scheduled time outside the window.
4. Pause windows are synced from the attribute to the database each time shapecode:cron:scan runs.

Visualizing Pause Windows

Use shapecode:cron:visualize to see paused slots (shown as ░) alongside run times in a full-day timeline.

bin/console shapecode:cron:visualize
bin/console shapecode:cron:visualize --date 2026-03-10