Async
Schedulers, queues, and event triggers.
Async is work that happens in the background — not while a user sits waiting for it. Sending a nightly report, processing an upload, reacting to a payment: these don't need anyone watching. Pikku Studio Cloud runs them reliably for you, with no servers to manage.
Labeled diagram of three async trigger types feeding into "Your function": a clock icon then "Scheduler (runs on a timetable)", a stack icon then "Queue (handles work in the background)", a lightning icon then "Trigger (runs when something happens)".
Three ways background work starts
There are three ways to kick off background work, each suited to a different need.
Scheduler — runs on a timetable
A scheduler is an alarm clock for your app. It runs a function on a fixed schedule, whether or not anyone's around. (You may hear this called a "cron job" — same thing.)
Example: every night at 2am, generate yesterday's sales report and email it to you.
Queue — a reliable waiting line for background jobs
A queue is a dependable line that holds jobs until they're handled, one after another. If lots of work arrives at once, nothing is dropped — it waits its turn and gets done.
Example: a hundred people upload photos at the same time; each photo joins the queue and gets resized in turn, with nothing lost.
Event trigger — runs when something happens
An event trigger fires a function in response to an event, the moment that event occurs.
Example: when a payment succeeds, automatically send the receipt and start fulfilling the order.
Did it actually run?
You're never left wondering whether a background job ran or quietly failed. Every run is recorded, so you can see what happened, when, and whether it succeeded.
Background work isn't a black box. Every scheduled run, queued job, and triggered action is logged — so a job that fails surfaces clearly instead of disappearing silently.
See Logs to watch runs and spot failures.
Good to know
- No servers to keep running. Pikku Studio Cloud handles the timing, the waiting line, and the reliability.
- Nothing is dropped. Queues hold work safely until it's done.
- Every run is visible in your logs, success or failure.