Scheduling and the posting cron

How Aimogen Pro schedules rule execution, the master cron event, per-rule intervals, run locking, and how to run a rule on demand.

Aimogen Pro runs bulk rules through WP-Cron. Understanding the two-level model explains most scheduling questions.

The two levels#

Level 1: the master cron event. A single WordPress cron event, aiomaticaction, wakes the plugin up. By default it is scheduled on the aiomatic_cron_sfert interval — every 15 minutes.

Level 2: per-rule intervals. When the master event fires, the plugin walks every active rule and asks: has enough time passed since this rule last ran? The rule Schedule value is a number of hours, defaulting to 24. If the interval has elapsed, the rule runs.

So a rule with Schedule = 6 runs roughly every six hours, checked every fifteen minutes.

Custom cron intervals#

The plugin registers these WordPress schedules:

See Cron events for every event the plugin registers.

Minute-level scheduling#

Rule intervals are hours by default. Minute-level scheduling is unlocked by the separate CodeRevolution Schedule Minute/Hour Switcher plugin.

When it is active, the aiomatic_minute_running_unlocked option is set and two things change together:

• The master event is rescheduled to minutely.
• Every rule Schedule value is interpreted as minutes rather than hours.

Minute scheduling also needs a real cron job firing at least every minute. WP-Cron on a low-traffic site will not deliver it.

Run locking#

Concurrent runs of the same rule would produce duplicates and waste API calls, so the plugin maintains a aiomatic_running_list option recording which rules are executing.

A rule that is already in the list is skipped when the master event fires again. The entry is cleared when the run finishes.

If a run dies — PHP fatal, timeout, host process kill — the entry can be left behind and the rule will be skipped forever after. The symptom is a rule that simply stops producing, with nothing in the error log.

The fix: System & Logs › Maintenance › Rules Currently Running › Clear Running Rules List. The screen labels it as a debugging tool, and that is the right framing — use it when a rule is stuck, not routinely.

Running a rule on demand#

Every rule list has a Run Now action. It ignores the schedule and the last-run timestamp, but still respects the running lock.

Use it for:

• Testing a new rule before enabling it
• Producing content immediately
• Reproducing a failure while watching Live AI Activity

Rules can also be run from WP-CLI, the REST API, the Abilities API, an agent tool or a chatbot extension.

Days of the week#

Do Not Run This Rule On The Following Days Of The Week skips selected days. Useful for keeping a publishing rhythm that looks human, or for pausing over weekends.

Post-level scheduling#

Separately from rule scheduling, individual posts can be scheduled:

• Set a Custom Post Publish Date Range gives each post a random date in a range.
• With Post Status set to future and a future date, WordPress publishes the post on schedule without the rule needing to run at that moment.

That combination is the cleanest way to generate a month of content in one run and have it appear gradually. See Publishing options.

Other scheduled work#

Making WP-Cron reliable#

WP-Cron only fires on a page load. On a low-traffic site, scheduled work runs late or not at all.

// wp-config.php
define( 'DISABLE_WP_CRON', true );

# Every five minutes is enough for hour-level rules
*/5 * * * * curl -s "https://example.com/wp-cron.php?doing_wp_cron" > /dev/null 2>&1

For minute-level scheduling, run it every minute.

Verify under System & Logs › System Info, which reports whether WP-Cron is disabled and lists the plugin scheduled events with their next run times.

Asynchronous processing#

Two settings affect how work is spread across requests:

Async processing keeps individual requests short, which matters on hosts with strict execution limits.

Common problems#

A rule never runs Work through Scheduled tasks do not run. The usual causes are no real cron trigger, the rule being inactive, or a stale entry in the running list.

A rule runs but produces nothing Different problem. See No posts are being created.

Runs happen at unpredictable times Expected. WP-Cron fires on page loads, and the master event is a 15-minute interval, so a rule set to "every hour" can drift.

Suddenly far more posts than expected The minute/hour switcher was activated and existing intervals are now minutes.

Related#

• Cron events
• Scheduled tasks do not run
• Cron and background processing