solar/docs/CRON.md

Cron jobs for Degelas data updates

The backend already runs an in-app scheduler (every 6 hours) for prices and metrics. Host cron adds a second trigger so data stays up to date even after restarts and keeps electricity forecasts ahead.

What gets updated

Job	Effect
prices	Full electricity price refresh (21-day window from spot API) + baseline price predictions. Run after day-ahead publication (~12–13 CET).
metrics	Solar/weather metrics for all locations (Open-Meteo). Run every 6 h.

Setup

1. Make the script executable:

   chmod +x /root/solar_trading_engine/scripts/cron-refresh.sh
   

2. Install cron entries (choose one):

   Option A – user crontab

   crontab -e
   

   Paste the lines from scripts/crontab.example (adjust paths if needed).

   Option B – system cron file

   sudo cp /root/solar_trading_engine/scripts/crontab.example /etc/cron.d/degelas-refresh
   sudo chmod 644 /etc/cron.d/degelas-refresh
   

   Edit /etc/cron.d/degelas-refresh and fix the path to cron-refresh.sh and the log file path. Ensure the file ends with a newline.

3. (Optional) Create log file and allow cron to write to it:

   sudo touch /var/log/degelas-cron.log
   sudo chown $(whoami) /var/log/degelas-cron.log
   

Suggested schedule

• Prices: 12:05 and 18:05 UTC (13:05 and 19:05 CET in winter) so runs are after day-ahead publication.
• Metrics: Every 6 hours (0 */6 * * *).

Times in crontab.example are in UTC. To use local time (e.g. CET), set TZ=Europe/Brussels at the top of the crontab or in the cron.d file.

Manual run

# Prices only (full 21-day + baseline)
/root/solar_trading_engine/scripts/cron-refresh.sh prices

# Metrics only (all locations)
/root/solar_trading_engine/scripts/cron-refresh.sh metrics

# Both
/root/solar_trading_engine/scripts/cron-refresh.sh all

Requires the degelas-backend container to be running (docker compose up -d from the project root).