---
title: "Deploy CronLite"
description: "Deploy cron and scheduler"
category: "Automation"
url: https://railway.com/deploy/cronlite
---

# Deploy CronLite

Deploy cron and scheduler

**[Deploy CronLite on Railway](https://railway.com/template/cronlite)**

Machine-readable deploy manifest (JSON, validated by TemplateCI): https://railway.com/deploy/cronlite/manifest.json

- **Creator:** Jessee Lord Dushime's Projects
- **Category:** Automation

## Template content

### djlord-it/cronlite:v1.7.0

- **Image:** ghcr.io/djlord-it/cronlite:v1.7.0
- **Health check:** /health
- **Public domain:** Yes

### Postgres https://devicons.railway.app/i/postgresql.svg

- **Image:** ghcr.io/railwayapp-templates/postgres-ssl:18

## Documentation

# Deploy and Host CronLite on Railway

CronLite is a lightweight, self-hosted cron service for HTTP webhooks. Create a job with a cron expression and a URL, and CronLite calls it on schedule with HMAC-signed payloads, automatic retries and full execution history. It includes a REST API, an admin UI and a built-in MCP server, so AI agents can create and manage schedules.

## About Hosting CronLite

This template deploys two services: CronLite, a small Go binary that typically uses 10–20 MiB of memory, and a Railway PostgreSQL database that stores jobs and execution history. On first boot CronLite creates its own schema, so there are no manual migration steps. After deploying, open `/admin/setup` on your service's domain, paste the generated `ADMIN_BOOTSTRAP_TOKEN` from the Variables tab, and create your first API key. Then delete the token variable and redeploy. Jobs can call public URLs or other services in the same project over Railway's private network. You can add replicas later: instances share the database, elect a leader and fail over automatically.

## Common Use Cases

- Per-minute schedules in any IANA timezone, beyond the 5-minute, UTC-only limits of built-in cron
- Triggering internal services over the private network (cleanups, reports, syncs) with retries and signed requests
- Letting AI agents create, pause and inspect scheduled jobs over MCP

## Dependencies for CronLite Hosting

- PostgreSQL (included in this template)
- A public domain for the API, admin UI and MCP endpoint (generated by Railway)

### Implementation Details

Create a job from any HTTP client using an API key from the admin UI:

```bash
curl -X POST https:///jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer " \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name":"nightly-report","cron_expression":"0 2 * * *","timezone":"America/Toronto","webhook_url":"http://reports.railway.internal:8080/run","webhook_secret":"change-me"}'
```

AI agents connect to the MCP endpoint at `https:///mcp` with the same Bearer key. Full documentation: https://github.com/djlord-it/cronlite/blob/main/OPERATORS.md#deploying-on-railway

## Why Deploy CronLite on Railway?


Railway is a singular platform to deploy your infrastructure stack. Railway will host your infrastructure so you don't have to deal with configuration, while allowing you to vertically and horizontally scale it.

By deploying CronLite on Railway, you are one step closer to supporting a complete full-stack application with minimal burden. Host your servers, databases, AI agents, and more on Railway.


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- [Postgres Backup](https://railway.com/deploy/postgres-s3-backups) — Cron-based PostgreSQL backup to bucket storage

Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/cronlite