Ofelia - a job scheduler

Ofelia orchestrates container tasks with minimal overhead, offering a sleek alternative to cron.

Label your Docker containers and let this Go-powered daemon handle the schedule.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Using it
• Environment variables
• Configuration precedence
• Configuration
• Development
• License

Features

• Job types for running commands in running containers, new containers, on the host or as one-off swarm services.
• Logging middlewares integrate with systems like Slack or StatsD to report job output and status.
• Dynamic Docker detection polls containers at an interval controlled by --docker-poll-interval or listens for events with --docker-events. The same interval also controls automatic reloads of ofelia.ini when the file changes.
• Config validation via the validate command to check your configuration before running.
• Optional pprof server enabled with --enable-pprof and bound via --pprof-address for profiling and debugging.
• Optional web UI enabled with --enable-web and bound via --web-address to view job status. Static files for the UI are embedded in the binary.
• Removed job history keeps deregistered jobs in memory and shows them in the web UI.
• Enhanced web UI allows editing and deleting jobs, shows job origin and type, displays each job's configuration and renders the scheduler configuration in a table with empty job sections hidden. Action buttons now use clear icons.

This fork is based off of mcuadros/ofelia.

Using it

Docker

The easiest way to deploy Ofelia is using a container runtime like Docker.

docker pull ghcr.io/netresearch/ofelia

The image exposes a Docker health check so you can use depends_on.condition: service_healthy in Docker Compose.

Standalone

If you don't want to run Ofelia using our (Docker) container image, you can download a binary from our releases page.

wget https://github.com/netresearch/ofelia/releases/latest

Alternatively, you can build Ofelia from source:

make packages  # build packages under ./bin
# or
go build .

Commands

Use ofelia daemon to run the scheduler with a configuration file and ofelia validate to check the configuration without starting the daemon. The validate command prints the complete configuration including applied defaults:

ofelia daemon --config=/path/to/config.ini
ofelia validate --config=/path/to/config.ini

The --config flag also supports glob patterns so multiple INI files can be combined:

ofelia daemon --config=/etc/ofelia/conf.d/*.ini

If --config is omitted, Ofelia looks for /etc/ofelia/config.ini.

When --enable-pprof is specified, the daemon starts a Go pprof HTTP server for profiling. Use --pprof-address to set the listening address (default 127.0.0.1:8080). When --enable-web is specified, the daemon serves a small web UI at --web-address (default :8081). Besides inspecting running and removed jobs, the UI allows starting jobs manually, disabling or enabling them and creating, updating or deleting local jobs. A second table lists jobs removed from the configuration via /api/jobs/removed. The endpoint /api/jobs/{name}/history exposes past runs including stdout, stderr and any error messages while /api/config returns the active configuration as JSON.

Environment variables

You can configure the same options with environment variables. When set, they override values from the config file and Docker labels.

Variable	Corresponding flag	Description
OFELIA_CONFIG	--config	Path or glob pattern to the configuration file(s)
OFELIA_DOCKER_FILTER	--docker-filter	Docker container filter (comma separated for multiple)
OFELIA_POLL_INTERVAL	--docker-poll-interval	Interval for Docker polling and config reload
OFELIA_DOCKER_EVENTS	--docker-events	Use Docker events instead of polling
OFELIA_DOCKER_NO_POLL	--docker-no-poll	Disable polling Docker for labels
OFELIA_LOG_LEVEL	--log-level	Set the log level
OFELIA_ENABLE_PPROF	--enable-pprof	Enable the pprof HTTP server
OFELIA_PPROF_ADDRESS	--pprof-address	Address for the pprof server
OFELIA_ENABLE_WEB	--enable-web	Enable the web UI
OFELIA_WEB_ADDRESS	--web-address	Address for the web UI server

Configuration precedence

Ofelia merges options from multiple sources in the following order. Values from later sources override earlier ones:

1. Built-in defaults
2. config.ini
3. Docker labels
4. Command-line flags
5. Environment variables (when implemented)

The daemon watches config.ini and reloads it automatically when the file changes.

Configuration

Jobs

Scheduling format

This application uses the Go implementation of cron with a parser for supporting optional seconds.

Supported formats:

• @every 10s
• 20 0 1 * * * (every night, 20 seconds after 1 AM - Quartz format
• 0 1 * * * (every night at 1 AM - standard cron format).

You can configure four different kinds of jobs:

• job-exec: this job is executed inside of a running container.
• job-run: runs a command inside of a new container, using a specific image.
• job-local: runs the command inside of the host running ofelia.
• job-service-run: runs the command inside a new "run-once" service, for running inside a swarm
• job-compose: runs a command using docker compose run or docker compose exec based on a compose file

See Jobs reference documentation for all available parameters. See Architecture overview for details about the scheduler, job types and middleware.

Logging

Ofelia comes with three different logging drivers that can be configured in the [global] section or as top-level Docker labels:

• mail to send mails
• save to save structured execution reports to a directory. The destination folder is created automatically if it doesn't exist.
• slack to send messages via a slack webhook

Global Options

• smtp-host - address of the SMTP server.

• smtp-port - port number of the SMTP server.

• smtp-user - user name used to connect to the SMTP server.

• smtp-password - password used to connect to the SMTP server.

• smtp-tls-skip-verify - when true ignores certificate signed by unknown authority error.

• email-to - mail address of the receiver of the mail.

• email-from - mail address of the sender of the mail.

• mail-only-on-error - only send a mail if the execution was not successful.

• save-folder - directory in which the reports shall be written. The folder is created automatically if it doesn't exist using an equivalent of mkdir -p.

• save-only-on-error - only save a report if the execution was not successful.

• slack-webhook - URL of the slack webhook.

• slack-only-on-error - only send a slack message if the execution was not successful.

• log-level - logging level (DEBUG, INFO, NOTICE, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL). When set in the config file this level is applied from startup unless --log-level is provided.

• enable-web - enable the built-in web UI.

• web-address - address for the web UI server (default :8081).

• enable-pprof - enable the pprof debug server.

• pprof-address - address for the pprof server (default 127.0.0.1:8080).

Log output now includes the original file and line of the logging call instead of the adapter location.

INI-style configuration

Run with ofelia daemon --config=/path/to/config.ini or use a glob pattern like /etc/ofelia/conf.d/*.ini to load multiple files

[global]
save-folder = /var/log/ofelia_reports
save-only-on-error = true
log-level = INFO
enable-web = true
web-address = :8081
enable-pprof = true
pprof-address = 127.0.0.1:8080

[job-exec "job-executed-on-running-container"]
schedule = @hourly
container = my-container
command = touch /tmp/example

[job-run "job-executed-on-new-container"]
schedule = @hourly
image = ubuntu:latest
command = touch /tmp/example

[job-local "job-executed-on-current-host"]
schedule = @hourly
command = touch /tmp/example

[job-service-run "service-executed-on-new-container"]
schedule = 0,20,40 * * * *
image = ubuntu
network = swarm_network
command =  touch /tmp/example

Docker label configurations

In order to use this type of configuration, Ofelia needs access to the Docker socket.

⚠ Warning: This command changed! Please remove the --docker flag from your command.

docker run -it --rm \
    -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \
    --label ofelia.save-folder="/var/log/ofelia_reports" \
    --label ofelia.save-only-on-error="true" \
    --label ofelia.log-level="INFO" \
    --label ofelia.enable-web="true" \
    --label ofelia.web-address=":8081" \
    --label ofelia.enable-pprof="true" \
    --label ofelia.pprof-address="127.0.0.1:8080" \
        ghcr.io/netresearch/ofelia:latest daemon

Labels format: ofelia.<JOB_TYPE>.<JOB_NAME>.<JOB_PARAMETER>=<PARAMETER_VALUE>. This type of configuration supports all the capabilities provided by INI files, including the global logging options. For job-exec labels, Ofelia automatically prefixes the container name to the job name to avoid collisions. A label ofelia.job-exec.optimize on a container named gitlab will result in a job called gitlab.optimize.

Also, it is possible to configure job-exec by setting labels configurations on the target container. To do that, additional label ofelia.enabled=true need to be present on the target container.

For example, we want ofelia to execute uname -a command in the existing container called nginx. To do that, we need to start the nginx container with the following configurations:

docker run -it --rm \
    --label ofelia.enabled=true \
    --label ofelia.job-exec.test-exec-job.schedule="@every 5s" \
    --label ofelia.job-exec.test-exec-job.command="uname -a" \
        nginx

Example Compose setup

See the example directory for a ready-made compose.yml that demonstrates the different job types. It starts an nginx container with an exec job label and configures additional run, local, service-run and compose jobs via ofelia.ini.

Compose jobs help address feature requests such as #359, #358, #333, #318, #290 and #247.

The Docker image expects a configuration file at /etc/ofelia/config.ini and runs daemon --config /etc/ofelia/config.ini by default. You can also mount a directory and use a glob pattern such as /etc/ofelia/conf.d/*.ini. Mount your file at the chosen location so no command: override is required:

services:
  ofelia:
    image: ghcr.io/netresearch/ofelia:latest
    volumes:
      - ./ofelia.ini:/etc/ofelia/config.ini:ro
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro

If you choose a different path, update both the volume mount and the --config flag.

Ofelia reads labels of all Docker containers for configuration by default. To apply on a subset of containers only, use the flag --docker-filter (or -f) similar to the filtering for docker ps. E.g. to apply only to the current Docker Compose project using a label filter:

You can also configure how often Ofelia polls Docker for label changes and reloads the INI configuration when the file has changed. The default interval is 10s. Override it with --docker-poll-interval or the poll-interval option in the [docker] section of the config file. Set it to 0 to disable both polling and automatic reloads. Command-line values only override the configuration when the flags are explicitly provided.

Because the Docker image defines an ENTRYPOINT, pass the scheduler arguments as a list in command: so Compose does not treat them as a single string.

version: "3"
services:
  ofelia:
    image: ghcr.io/netresearch/ofelia:latest
    depends_on:
      - nginx
    command: ["daemon", "-f", "label=com.docker.compose.project=${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME}"]
    volumes:
      - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro
    labels:
      ofelia.job-local.my-test-job.schedule: "@every 5s"
      ofelia.job-local.my-test-job.command: "date"
  nginx:
    image: nginx
    labels:
      ofelia.enabled: "true"
      ofelia.job-exec.datecron.schedule: "@every 5s"
      ofelia.job-exec.datecron.command: "uname -a"

Ofelia polls Docker every 10 seconds to detect label changes and reload the INI file only when it has changed. The interval can be adjusted using --docker-poll-interval. Event-based updates can be enabled with --docker-events; when enabled, polling can be disabled entirely with --docker-no-poll. Setting the interval to 0 also disables both label polling and INI reloads. Polling can also be disabled in ofelia.ini by adding no-poll = true under the [docker] section:

[docker]
no-poll = true

Dynamic Docker configuration

You can start Ofelia in its own container or on the host itself, and it will dynamically pick up any container that starts, stops or is modified on the fly. In order to achieve this, you simply have to use Docker containers with the labels described above and let Ofelia take care of the rest.

Hybrid configuration (INI files + Docker)

You can specify part of the configuration on the INI files, such as globals for the middlewares or even declare tasks in there but also merge them with Docker. The Docker labels will be parsed, added and removed on the fly but the config file can also be used. Run and exec jobs defined in the INI file remain active even when no labeled containers are found. Jobs detected via Docker labels are managed separately and can disappear when the corresponding container is removed.

Use the INI file to:

• Configure any middleware
• Configure any global setting
• Create a run jobs, so they executes in a new container each time

[global]
slack-webhook = https://myhook.com/auth

[job-run "job-executed-on-new-container"]
schedule = @hourly
image = ubuntu:latest
command = touch /tmp/example

Use docker to:

• Create exec jobs

docker run -it --rm \
    --label ofelia.enabled=true \
    --label ofelia.job-exec.test-exec-job.schedule="@every 5s" \
    --label ofelia.job-exec.test-exec-job.command="uname -a" \
        nginx

Development

Linting

The CI workflow runs go vet and checks code formatting with gofmt. Run these checks locally with:

go vet ./...
gofmt -l $(git ls-files '*.go')

The pipeline fails if any file is not properly formatted or if go vet reports issues.

Testing

See running tests for Docker requirements and how to run go test.

License

This project is released under the MIT License.