Cron job

Cron is optional. You need it only if you set TIDEMARK_INGEST=queue or TIDEMARK_RETENTION_DAYS above zero. (Update checks don’t need it: they also run while an administrator is using the app.)

In cPanel, open Cron Jobs and add a job that runs every minute:

* * * * * php /home/you/tidemark/artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

What the scheduler runs

Task	When	Condition
Drain the ingest queue (queue:work --stop-when-empty --max-time=50)	Every minute	TIDEMARK_INGEST=queue
tidemark:prune	Daily at 03:15	TIDEMARK_RETENTION_DAYS is above 0
tidemark:check-updates	Daily, at a minute chosen per installation	TIDEMARK_UPDATE_CHECK is on (the default). Also runs without cron while an administrator uses the app
cache:prune-stale-tags	Hourly	Cache store is Redis

The queue job does not overlap itself, so a slow run never stacks.

Check the PHP binary

Some hosts have several PHP versions. If the job fails, use the full path to a PHP 8.3 binary, for example /usr/local/bin/ea-php83.