Timer component

Q: How do I run a route only once at startup?

Use timer:once?repeatCount=1&delay=0.

Q: How do I run a route every day at a fixed time?

The timer only knows intervals. Use cron (schedule=0 0 2 * * ?) or quartz.

Q: What time zone does the time option use?

The process default zone, which is UTC unless TZ is set. Add Z, an offset or [Zone/Id] to choose another one.

The timer component starts a route at a fixed interval, for example every 5 seconds, a set number of times or forever.

Scheme: timer: · Crate: cameleer-core · Cargo feature: none, always included (build features) · Consumer: yes · Producer: no · Apache Camel: Timer

When to use it

Send a heartbeat or health status from an edge device every few seconds.
Poll an HTTP API or a database at a fixed rate.
Trigger an AI agent loop at a regular interval ("check the inbox every minute").
Fire once at startup (repeatCount=1) or once at a given time (time=...).

For calendar schedules ("every night at 02:00") use cron or quartz.

URI format

text

timer:name[?options]

Example

yaml example: timer-heartbeat

- route:
    id: heartbeat
    from:
      uri: timer:heartbeat
      parameters:
        period: 5000
        delay: 0
        includeMetadata: true
      steps:
        - setBody:
            simple: "edge-gw-1 alive #${exchangeProperty.CamelTimerCounter}"
        - to: log:heartbeat

The first message fires right away (delay: 0), then every 5 seconds: edge-gw-1 alive #1, edge-gw-1 alive #2, ...

Rust DSL

rust

use cameleer_core::prelude::*;

pub fn routes(ctx: &CamelContext) -> Result<()> {
    ctx.add_routes(|b| {
        b.from("timer:heartbeat?period=5000&delay=0&includeMetadata=true")
            .route_id("heartbeat")
            .set_body(simple("edge-gw-1 alive #${exchangeProperty.CamelTimerCounter}"))
            .to("log:heartbeat");
    })
}

Options

option	default	description
`period`	`1000`	Interval between fires, in ms or with a unit (`5s`, `1m`).
`delay`	`1000`	Wait before the first fire, in ms or with a unit.
`repeatCount`	`0`	Stop after this many fires. `0` fires forever.
`fixedRate`	`false`	Schedule at a fixed rate (catch up after a slow exchange) instead of a fixed delay between fires.
`includeMetadata`	`false`	Also set the metadata properties and headers listed below.
`time`		First fire at this local time: `yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss` or `yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss`. A trailing `Z`, an offset (`+02:00`) or a zone in brackets (`[Europe/Paris]`) selects another zone.
`pattern`		Accepted; the two formats above are always recognised.
`exchangePattern`	`InOnly`	`InOnly` or `InOut`.
`synchronous`, `daemon`, `runLoggingLevel`, `timer`, `bridgeErrorHandler`, `exceptionHandler`		Accepted and ignored.

Message headers

Each fired exchange has a null body and the exchange property CamelTimerCounter (1, 2, 3, ...).

name	kind	description
`CamelTimerCounter`	property (always), header (with `includeMetadata`)	Fire count, starting at 1.
`CamelTimerName`	property (with `includeMetadata`)	The timer name from the URI.
`CamelTimerPeriod`	property (with `includeMetadata`)	The period in ms.
`CamelTimerFiredTime`	property and header (with `includeMetadata`)	When the timer fired.
`CamelMessageTimestamp`	header (with `includeMetadata`)	The fire time in epoch ms.

Run it with Docker

docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/routes:ro" pmsudhi/cameleer run /routes/heartbeat.camel.yaml

Common questions

How do I run a route only once at startup?

Use timer:once?repeatCount=1&delay=0.

How do I run a route every day at a fixed time?

The timer only knows intervals. Use cron (schedule=0 0 2 * * ?) or quartz.

Do timer routes run on their own threads?

As in Camel, all routes that use the same timer name share one thread (Camel keeps one java.util.Timer per name): their fires run one after the other, so a slow route delays the others of that name. Give routes different names (timer:a, timer:b) to run them independently. The thread starts with the first route of a name and exits when the last one stops or finishes its repeatCount.

What time zone does the `time` option use?

The process default zone, which is UTC unless TZ is set. Add Z, an offset or [Zone/Id] to choose another one.

Found a problem?

If something on this page doesn't match what Cameleer does, or you hit a bug while building with it, please help fix it, whether you are a person or a coding agent: open an issue that describes what you saw, then fork the repository, fix it, add or update a test, run cargo test --workspace, and open a pull request. CONTRIBUTING.md explains the ground rules.