Hi all, We had previously restricted scheduled API workflows from scheduling themselves (or scheduling another workflow that then scheduled itself). This restriction is now removed. Recursive scheduled workflows can be useful in situations where you are processing an unknown quantity of data that might be quite large. For instance, the following workflow will make sure every Thing in your database has been processed within 7 days: [39%20PM] [45%20PM] Processing data this way is generally a better approach for large quantities of data than using the “Schedule API Workflow on a list” action. A brief comparison: Scheduling on a list Scheduling recursively Workflows may overlap Workflows run one at a time No way of knowing when all workflows are done Workflow can check if there is more data to process, and do something else if there isn’t Limited by the time / capacity it takes to search for the list and schedule all the items (max 5 minutes) Can continue indefinitely Faster and simpler for short lists (< 50 - 100 items) More reliable for long lists Can burn through a lot of capacity if workflows run in parallel Capacity usage is limited to one workflow at a time A couple notes: In order to avoid maxing out your app’s capacity, I recommend starting with a 5 second gap before scheduling the next item in the list. You can then shorten this gap once you see what the capacity impact is. If you make a mistake and create an infinite loop that does not look like it will ever end, you can end it by manually deleting the next scheduled run in the Logs → Scheduler tag. You can also modify or delete the API workflow itself: deleting or changing the workflow won’t remove a scheduled item from the list of scheduled tasks, but when it comes time to run that item, Bubble will use the updated workflow or do nothing if it has been deleted. If things get really bad, you can pause and resume all scheduled workflows for your app using the new “Pause tasks” button: [12%20PM]

So Thing A can call Thing A. That’s about it. It’s helpful.

This is great stuff, thank you Josh + team!

It is a “Do … While” loop. Where the “While” is able to be dynamic i.e. you don’t need to know the answer before you start. Example : Update all the users who have not been active for 7 days … Previously you would have to generate the “list of users” in advance. Now you can loop the API workflow while there are still users to process. Although it may be that this is still better done by “schedule on a list”. Example : Create a thing for each month in a year. Previously you would have to generate a list of 12 numbers or months, and do a workflow on this list. Now you can “Do … while there are less than 12 months created”. A more complex use case is one where you are doing some processing within the loop that might be difficult to work out in advance. So say you want to add up invoice items until the total is > £500 and then create something. Now you can loop while the total is < £500. Obviously this allows you to … “Do … While black = white” so loop forever.

Thanks @NigelG just needed an old school explanation :smiley: Now I know what it is this is awesome!

Hi @josh, nice explanation. [image] josh: Capacity usage is limited to one workflow at a time Can you clarify, does the scheduled workflow wait for all remaining steps of the current workflow to complete, as well as its scheduled date? Is this only for recursive workflows?

Definitely one of the best updates recently!

Awesome - Big addition - Thanks to the development team!

[New Feature] Scheduling API workflows can now be done recursively

Announcements New features

lottemint.md September 6, 2018, 8:36am 17

Thank you very much for that awesome update!

How to restart API workflow when error occurs?

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[New Feature] Scheduling API workflows can now be done recursively

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