Cron & Background Processes
Status: 🟢 Production · Last validated: 2026-09-06
Non-user-triggered work. 117 scripts in cron/. They are plain PHP run headless (php cron/x.php) — which means they boot via the local/CLI branch of coredb.php (see ../00-architecture/bootstrap-and-config.md) and get a KVGuardedPDO (DDL still blocked). Validated by listing cron/ + reading names.
Scheduling lives on the server, not in git — there is no crontab file in the repo. The actual schedule (which script runs how often) must be read from the server crontab; document it there and mirror the cadence here as it's confirmed. Treat cadence below as category, not confirmed timing.
Categories (representative — not exhaustive)
Money / settlement (highest care)
commerce_settlements.php, kv_settlement_run.php, fitness_settlements.php, vehicle-wallet-settlement.php, freelance_escrow_settlement.php, services_escrow_settlement.php, legal_escrow_settlement.php, truck_escrow_settlement.php, events_crm_escrow_settlement.php. These move real money (escrow → provider, platform settlement). Read ../40-financial/commission.md before touching any.
Wallet integrity
wallet_deleted_sweep.php (orphaned balances → holding user), wallet_earned_expiry_sweep.php (expire earned credit), wallet_ledger_drift_alert.php (reconciliation alarm).
Membership / billing
kv_membership_cycle_rollover.php, send_membership_renewal_reminders.php, send-renewal-reminders.php.
Notifications / marketing delivery
email_queue_processor.php (drains email_queue), daily_summary_emails.php, marketing_drip_worker.php, marketing_scheduled_campaigns.php, social_media_publisher.php, send_delayed_otp.php, wa_template_sync.php, send_contact_invites.php.
Order/ops reminders
commerce_order_ready_reminders.php, classified_escrow_ready_reminders.php, food_order_status_reminders.php, commerce_vendor_acceptance.php, commerce_escalations.php, smanager_dues_reminders.php, truck_document_expiry.php.
Moderation / risk / security
moderation_worker.php, moderation_review_scan.php, moderation_case_window.php, ai_risk_worker.php, security_watch.php, revoke_zero_doc_kyc.php.
Cleanup / maintenance
cleanup_auth_logs.php, cleanup_auth_sessions.php, cleanup_logs.php, session_maintenance.php, user_activity_cleanup.php, analytics_retention_cleanup.php, privacy_data_retention_cleanup.php, website_cache_gc.php, account_identity_purge.php.
External sync / ingest
hotel_*_sync.php (Agoda, Brevistay, EMT, Ixigo), property_magicbricks_sync.php, dmart_price_sync.php, croma_enrich.php, ecommerce_platform_sync.php, courier_tracking_sync.php, compare_price_alerts.php, search_reindex.php, sync_google_contacts.php.
Async workers (queues)
video_worker.php, translation_worker.php, process-media-queue.php, sftp_worker.php, courier_booking_processor.php, website_export_queue.php, website_sitemap_generator.php.
Scheduler engine
scheduler_reminders_run.php, scheduler_webhooks_run.php, global_schedule_reminders.php.
Health / ops
db_health_check.php, uptime_monitor.php, probe_timezone_drift.php, koovira_server_restart_worker.php.
Privacy / reporting
privacy_data_export_worker.php, monthly_credit_report.php, golive_progress_email.php.
⚠️ Test / smoke scripts — must NOT be in the prod crontab
test_.php (test_food_delivery_otp, test_freelance_hold, test_multivendor_cart, test_quick_commerce_gate, test_fitness_settlement, test-cab-radius, test-hotel-wallet-flow, test_address_gate…), smoke_.php (smoke_run_all, smoke_actions, smoke_case…), uat_drive_.php, refund_order_153.php, refund_multivendor_test_orders.php, seed_faq_multivendor_.php, set_classifieds_commission_default.php. These are dev/QA/one-shot scripts; several move money or seed data — verify none are scheduled on prod.
Per-cron documentation template (fill as confirmed)
Trigger → Frequency (from server crontab) → Script → Tables read → Tables updated → Failure handling → Retry. Two known money crons to expand first: commerce_settlements.php, kv_settlement_run.php.
Change-impact
Cron changes are invisible until they run and often touch money. Re-test any settlement/sweep on a copy; confirm the schedule on the server; never let a test_/smoke_ script into the prod crontab.