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Jobs and background mode

Jobs run a notebook or a saved query on a schedule: refresh a table every morning, rebuild a summary every hour, and so on. Open the list with Ctrl+6.

Jobs only run while ChakyBricks is running

There is no background service. A job runs only while the ChakyBricks app is running — with its window open, or, if you turn it on, in the system tray (see Background mode). Runs that were due while the app was closed are skipped, not made up later.

Create a job

Click New job, or use Schedule… in a notebook's toolbar or in a saved query's ⋯ menu (the dialog opens pre-filled). Choose:

  • a name,
  • what to run: a notebook or a saved query,
  • a schedule, with a preview of the next run times.
Schedule Meaning
Manual only Runs only when you press Run now
Every few minutes or hours An interval such as every 15 minutes or every 2 hours
Every day At a time you choose
Certain weekdays At a time, on the weekdays you select
Once a month On a day of the month (1–31), at a time you choose
Custom (cron) A five-field cron expression, for example 0 6 * * mon-fri for 06:00 on weekdays

Times use your computer's local time zone. An invalid cron expression shows an error in the dialog.

What a run does

  • Saved query: runs the query with the same engine as the SQL editor, so a job can refresh a table with CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE … AS SELECT …. The log shows the result of the write.
  • Notebook: runs every code cell in order in a private kernel, so a notebook you have open is not disturbed and the .ipynb file is never modified. Python and SQL cells work; Markdown cells are skipped. The log records output, results and errors. If a cell fails, the run is marked Failed with "Cell N failed: …" and the cells after it do not run.

While a job runs, the Jobs list shows it as running; Cancel run on the job's page stops a long query or cell.

Run history

Click a job to see its run history — status, how it was triggered (manual or schedule), start time and duration — and select a run to read its log. The log follows a running job live. The last 200 runs of each job are kept (and very long logs are shortened).

Statuses: Running, Succeeded, Failed, Cancelled and Skipped.

  • A scheduled run that is due while the previous run of the same job is still going is recorded as Skipped.
  • If you close ChakyBricks while a job is running, that run is marked Failed with a note that the app was closed.

Managing jobs

  • The switch on each job pauses (disables) or enables just that job. A paused job keeps its history and does not run on schedule.
  • Run now starts a run immediately, whatever the schedule.
  • Edit… changes the name, target or schedule (the next run time updates); Delete… removes the job and its history, but not the notebook or query it runs.
  • Renaming a notebook updates the jobs that use it. If you delete a notebook or saved query that a job uses, the job's next run fails with a clear message.

Background mode

In Settings → Background there are two options, both off by default:

  • Keep running in the background when the window is closed. Closing the window then hides it instead of quitting, and ChakyBricks stays in the system tray (the notification area), so scheduled jobs keep running.
  • Start with the system, minimized to the tray. ChakyBricks starts when you sign in to Windows, without opening its window. The tray icon is available whenever either option is on.

The first time you turn one on, a notice explains that jobs only run while ChakyBricks is running.

The tray icon has a menu:

Menu item What it does
Open ChakyBricks Shows the window (clicking the icon does the same)
Pause all jobs A check mark toggles it. While paused, no job runs on schedule; Run now still works. The Jobs page shows a banner with Resume all. Pausing is not remembered across restarts.
Quit Exits ChakyBricks completely, stopping the backend and any running jobs

If you start ChakyBricks a second time while it is already running, the existing window is shown instead of opening a second copy. Turn the options off again and the tray icon disappears (and the sign-in entry is removed), with closing the window quitting the app again.