Platform Support

native-scheduler supports four backends. The auto backend (default) selects the appropriate one based on the current OS.

launchd (macOS)

The primary backend. Jobs are registered as user-level LaunchAgents (~/Library/LaunchAgents/).

Features supported:

• startIntervalSeconds → StartInterval
• calendar → StartCalendarInterval (array of entries)
• runAtLoad → RunAtLoad
• stdoutPath / stderrPath → StandardOutPath / StandardErrorPath
• enable / disable via launchctl bootout / launchctl bootstrap

Notes:

• Jobs use the com.<namespace>.<jobId> naming convention for plist labels
• The wrapper runner is materialized as a standalone script alongside the plist

systemd (Linux)

Jobs are registered as user-level systemd service + timer units.

Features supported:

• startIntervalSeconds → OnUnitActiveSec timer
• workingDirectory → WorkingDirectory
• environment → Environment directives
• enable / disable via systemctl --user enable/disable

Notes:

• Requires loginctl enable-linger for the user to allow timers to run without an active session
• calendar entries are not directly mapped — use startIntervalSeconds for simple intervals
• runAtLoad is not supported; use OnBootSec=0 in the timer if needed

cron

Fallback backend using the user's crontab.

Features supported:

• startIntervalSeconds → best-effort cron expression (rounds to nearest minute)
• environment → crontab KEY=VALUE lines
• enable / disable by commenting/uncommenting the crontab entry

Limitations:

• Minimum interval is 60 seconds (cron granularity)
• calendar, runAtLoad, stdoutPath, stderrPath, workingDirectory are not supported
• Job identification uses comment markers in the crontab

Windows Task Scheduler

Jobs are registered via schtasks.exe.

Features supported:

• startIntervalSeconds → /SC schedule with /RI repetition interval
• environment → set via wrapper script
• enable / disable via /ENABLE / /DISABLE flags

Limitations:

• calendar, runAtLoad, stdoutPath, stderrPath are not directly mapped
• Minimum interval granularity is 1 minute

Backend auto-detection

Platform	Backend
macOS (darwin)	launchd
Linux	systemd (falls back to cron if systemd is unavailable)
Windows	windows-task-scheduler