How to Setup Magento Cron Job

Magento is one of the most powerful ecommerce platforms. For example, an option in the platform allows you to set a time scheduler to run multiple activities/tasks automatically. Magento does this through Cron Job, and it also helps in increasing the performance of the Magento store. Automating tasks in Magento involves caching, indexing, generating a sitemap, auto update currency rates, and much more. So in this tutorial, I am going to teach you how to setup cron job in Magento. If you are using Magento 2, then you can check this guide: How to Setup Cron Job in Magento 2. Steps required to configure a cron job in Magento:

• Create and Activate Custom Module
• Setup Magento Cron Job

Create and Activate Custom Module

Go to the Admin Panel of your store and disable the cache by navigating to System → Cache Management. Go to app/code/local and create directories as shown below: Now you need to configure your custom module so create config.xml in app/code/local/Magenticians/Mymodule/etc and paste the following code in it:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
<modules>
<Magenticians_Mymodule>
<version>0.0.1</version>
</Magenticians_Mymodule>
</modules>
</config>

Now that the configuration of module is done, just activate it. Create Magenticians_Mymodule in app/etc/modules and paste the following code in it:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
<modules>
<Magenticians_Mymodule>
<active>true</active>
<codePool>local</codePool>
</Magenticians_Mymodule>
</modules>
</config>

Now, to check if the module is activated, go to System → Configuration → Advanced → Advanced, and check the list of disabled module output.

Setup Magento Cron Job

Go to app/code/local/Magenticians/Mymodule/etc and open the config.xml file. Simply update the code. The final code of config.xml will be:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
<modules>
<Magenticians_Mymodule>
<version>0.0.1</version>
</Magenticians_Mymodule>
</modules>

<crontab>
   <jobs>
     <custom_cron_task>
       <schedule>
         <cron_expr>*/5 * * * *</cron_expr>
       </schedule>
       <run>
         <model>cron/cron::customtask</model>
       </run>
     </custom_cron_task>
   </jobs>
 </crontab>

 <global>
   <models>
     <cron>
      <class>Magenticians_Mymodule_Model</class>
     </cron>
   </models>
 </global>
</config>

In the code above, we have scheduled a cron job to run every five minutes. In <run>, I have defined a function customtask. Now create Cron.php in app/code/local/Magenticians/Mymodule/Model and paste the following code in it:

<?php

class Magenticians_Mymodule_Model_Cron
{
 public function customtask()
 {
   // send email
   $mail = Mage::getModel('core/email')
    ->setToEmail('user@email.com')
    ->setBody('Body of the Automated Cron Email Goes Here')
    ->setSubject('Subject: Cron Task (every 5 minutes) '.date("Y-m-d H:i:s"))
    ->setFromEmail('admin@example.com')
    ->setFromName('Your Store Name')
    ->setType('html');
   $mail->send();
 }
}

And you’re all done! Just add this line in your crontab file: */5 * * * * sh /path/to/your/magento/store/cron.sh Note: Don’t forget to replace /path/to/your/magento/store with the actual path of your Magento installation.

Final Words:

Magento cron job is a great way to automate multiple tasks. After following this tutorial you should be able to setup a cron job in Magento. If you have any confusion or facing any issues about setting up Magento cron job, drop your comment below!