Scheduling Flows

This guide explains how to schedule flows to run automatically at defined intervals—daily, weekly, or at custom times.

Prerequisites

Before scheduling a flow:

• You must have a saved flow ready to schedule
• An admin must have enabled scheduling for your tenant (one-time setup)
• You need to complete a one-time authorization (see below)

Why is setup required?

Scheduled flows run when you’re not logged in—maybe at 3 AM on a Monday. To make this work, the system needs permission to act on your behalf while you’re away.

This happens in two steps:

1. Admin setup — An admin creates a secure “handshake” between Agent Studio and Alation. This is done once for the entire organization.
2. User authorization — Each user grants their personal permission to use that handshake. This lets the system run flows as you, with your access rights.

Think of it like a building’s key card system: the admin installs the card reader (one-time), then each employee gets their own card (individual setup).

Admin setup (one-time)

Admin required

This section is for Server Admins only. If you’re a regular user, ask your admin to complete this setup first. Once done, you can skip to Authorization.

1. Generate a JWT access token

   Follow the Machine-to-Machine OAuth guide to:

   • Create an OAuth Client Application in Alation (requires Server Admin role)
   • Generate a JWT access token using client_id and client_secret

2. Register the OAuth app for scheduling

   Call the registration endpoint with your admin JWT token:

   curl -X POST "https://your-alation-instance.alationcloud.com/ai/api/v1/oauth_app/register" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer <admin_jwt_token>" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json"

   A successful response confirms scheduling is enabled:

   {
     "success": true,
     "message": "OAuth app registered successfully"
   }

3. Verify scheduling is available

   Users should now see the Authorize button in the Schedule tab instead of a disabled state.

Note

This registration only needs to be done once per Alation instance. All users on the tenant can then authorize themselves individually.

Authorization

Scheduled flows run without you being logged in, so the system needs permission to act on your behalf. This is a one-time setup.

Authorizing for the first time

1. Open a flow and navigate to the Schedule tab

2. You’ll see an “Authorization required” message

   

3. Click Authorize

   

4. Complete the authorization in the popup window

5. You’ll see a success confirmation

   

Note

Authorization is valid for 60-90 days. If it expires, scheduled flows will stop running and you’ll need to re-authorize.

Creating a schedule

Once authorized, you can create schedules for your flow.

1. Open your flow and go to the Schedule tab

2. Click + New schedule

3. Configure the schedule settings:

   

4. Click Save

Schedule options

Setting	Description
Frequency	How often to run (Daily, Weekly, Monthly)
Days of week	For weekly schedules, which days to run
Time	What time to run (in your local timezone)
Runtime parameters	Values to pass to the flow’s inputs
Enable	Toggle to activate or pause the schedule

The dialog shows a preview of when the flow will next run.

Managing schedules

After creating a schedule, it appears in the Schedule tab:

The schedule list shows:

• Summary — Human-readable description (e.g., “Weekly on Monday at 9:00 AM PST”)
• Run count — How many times the schedule has triggered
• Last run — When it last executed and whether it succeeded
• Enable toggle — Quickly enable or disable without deleting

Editing a schedule

Click on a schedule to edit its settings. You can change the frequency, time, or runtime parameters.

Disabling a schedule

Toggle the Enable switch to pause a schedule without deleting it. The schedule retains its configuration and can be re-enabled at any time.

Deleting a schedule

Click the actions menu (three dots) and select Delete to remove a schedule permanently.

Viewing scheduled runs

Scheduled runs appear in the flow’s Runs tab alongside manual runs. Each run shows:

• When it executed
• Whether it was triggered by a schedule or manually
• Status (Completed, Failed, Running)

Click any run to see detailed step-by-step execution logs.

Troubleshooting

Schedule not running

Issue	Solution
Authorization expired	Re-authorize in the Schedule tab
Schedule disabled	Check the Enable toggle
Flow has validation errors	Fix errors and save the flow
Scheduling not available	Ask your admin to complete the admin setup

Authorization errors

If you see “Authorization failed” in run history:

1. Go to the Schedule tab
2. Click Authorize to refresh your credentials
3. Complete the authorization flow

Schema drift errors

If a scheduled run fails with a “schema mismatch” or similar error, it means an agent or tool used in your flow was modified after the flow was created.

What causes this:

• An agent’s output fields were renamed or removed
• A tool’s required inputs changed
• The agent or tool was deleted entirely

How to fix it:

1. Open the flow in the editor
2. Check each step for validation errors (usually highlighted)
3. Update the variable mappings to match the new inputs/outputs
4. Save the flow and re-run

Tip

Flows validate agent and tool schemas at runtime, not when saved. This means a flow can save successfully but fail later if a referenced agent or tool changes. Test your flow manually after making changes to upstream agents or tools.

Next steps

• Variables and Context — Learn how data flows between steps
• Flows overview — Return to the main flows introduction