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Automate Your Game Server with Schedules

Nobody wants to wake up at 4 AM to restart their Minecraft server or manually trigger a backup every single day. That is where schedules come in. The FREAKHOSTING Game Panel lets you create automated tasks that run on a timer — restart your server every 6 hours, back up your world at dawn, or broadcast a warning message to players before maintenance kicks in. You will find schedules under Configuration > Schedules in your server’s sidebar. When you first arrive, the page shows a clean table with columns for Name, Last run at, Status, and Notifications, along with a “0 of 0 Selected” counter with a checkbox at the top. Two buttons sit at the top-right: a dark Use Premade button and a green Create schedule button. If you have not created any schedules yet, the table simply reads: “There are no schedules configured for this server.”

Difficulty

Beginner

Time

5 Minutes

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Creating a New Schedule

Setting up a schedule takes less than a minute once you understand the timing fields.
1

Open the Schedules Page

In your server’s sidebar, navigate to Configuration > Schedules. You will land on the schedules overview table.
2

Click Create Schedule

Hit the green Create schedule button in the top-right corner. A form will appear asking you to define when the schedule should run.
3

Name Your Schedule

Give it a clear, descriptive name — something like “6-Hour Restart” or “Daily 4am Backup.” This name shows up in the schedules table so you can tell them apart at a glance.
4

Set the Cron Timing

The schedule uses cron syntax to define exactly when it fires. You will see five fields:
  • Minute — Which minute of the hour (0-59)
  • Hour — Which hour of the day (0-23, using 24-hour time)
  • Day of Month — Which day of the month (1-31)
  • Month — Which month (1-12)
  • Day of Week — Which day of the week (0-7, where 0 and 7 are both Sunday)
Use * to mean “every” — so * in the Month field means “every month.”
You do not need to memorize cron syntax. A quick cheat sheet: 0 */6 * * * means “every 6 hours on the hour.” 0 4 * * * means “every day at 4:00 AM.” */30 * * * * means “every 30 minutes.”
5

Enable or Disable the Schedule

A toggle lets you set whether the schedule is active right away. You can always come back and flip this on or off later without deleting the schedule.
6

Save the Schedule

Click the save or create button to finalize. Your new schedule now appears in the table — but it does not do anything yet. You need to add tasks to it, which we will cover next.

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Using Premade Schedules

Not sure how to set up cron timing? The Use Premade button (the dark button next to “Create schedule”) offers pre-configured schedule templates for common scenarios. Click it, pick a premade option, and the timing fields are filled in automatically. You can still customize the name and tweak the timing after selecting a premade template.
Premade schedules are perfect for beginners. Start with one, see how it works, and then build your own custom schedules once you are comfortable with the cron fields.

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Adding Tasks to a Schedule

A schedule without tasks is like an alarm clock with no alarm — it fires on time but nothing happens. Here is how to attach tasks that actually do something.
1

Open Your Schedule

Click on the schedule name in the table to open its detail view.
2

Click New Task

Inside the schedule detail view, you will see a section for tasks. Click the button to add a new task.
3

Choose a Task Type

The panel gives you three types of tasks:
  • Send command — Executes a console command on your server (like say Server restarting in 5 minutes! for Minecraft or any other game-specific command).
  • Send power action — Triggers a power state change: start, stop, restart, or kill the server.
  • Create backup — Initiates an automatic backup of your server files.
4

Configure the Task

Depending on the task type, you will fill in different details:
  • For Send command, type the exact command you want executed in the console.
  • For Send power action, select the power action from the dropdown.
  • For Create backup, the panel will create a backup using your server’s backup settings.
5

Set a Time Offset (Optional)

Each task can have a time offset in seconds. This lets you chain tasks together with delays. For example, you might send a warning message at 0 seconds, then restart the server at 300 seconds (5 minutes later). This gives players time to save their progress.
6

Save the Task

Click save, and the task is now attached to your schedule. You can add multiple tasks to a single schedule — they run in order based on their time offsets.

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Real-World Schedule Examples

Here are two practical schedules you can set up right now:
This keeps your server fresh and clears memory leaks that build up over long sessions.
  1. Create a schedule named “6-Hour Restart” with cron timing 0 */6 * * * (fires at midnight, 6 AM, noon, and 6 PM).
  2. Add Task 1: Send command — say Server restarting in 5 minutes! Save your progress. with a time offset of 0 seconds.
  3. Add Task 2: Send command — say Server restarting in 1 minute! with a time offset of 240 seconds (4 minutes later).
  4. Add Task 3: Send power action — Restart with a time offset of 300 seconds (5 minutes after the first warning).
Players get two warnings, and the server gracefully restarts on schedule.
Protect your world data without lifting a finger.
  1. Create a schedule named “Daily 4am Backup” with cron timing 0 4 * * * (fires every day at 4:00 AM).
  2. Add Task 1: Send command — say Backup starting in 1 minute... with a time offset of 0 seconds.
  3. Add Task 2: Create backup — with a time offset of 60 seconds (1 minute after the warning).
Your server creates a fresh backup every morning while most players are offline.
If your server only gets heavy traffic on weekends, schedule restarts for Saturday and Sunday mornings.
  1. Create a schedule named “Weekend Morning Restart” with cron timing 0 8 * * 6,0 (fires at 8:00 AM on Saturday and Sunday).
  2. Add Task 1: Send power action — Restart with a time offset of 0 seconds.

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Managing Existing Schedules

Once you have schedules running, here is how to keep them organized:

Enable or Disable

Click into any schedule and toggle it on or off. Disabling a schedule keeps all its tasks intact but stops it from firing. Useful when you are doing manual maintenance and do not want an auto-restart interrupting you.

Edit Timing or Tasks

Open a schedule to change its cron timing, rename it, or add, edit, and remove individual tasks. Changes take effect immediately — the next run will use the updated configuration.

Notifications

The Notifications column in the schedule table tells you whether you will receive alerts when a schedule runs. Enable notifications to stay informed about automated actions, especially for backup schedules where you want confirmation that the backup completed.

Delete a Schedule

If you no longer need a schedule, open it and delete it. This removes the schedule and all its tasks permanently. If you think you might need it again, consider disabling it instead.
Be careful with power action tasks — especially Kill. Unlike Stop or Restart, the kill action does not give your server a chance to save data or shut down gracefully. Only use kill as a last resort for unresponsive servers, and never put it on a regular schedule.

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Quick Cron Reference

Here is a handy reference for common cron expressions you can use:
Cron ExpressionWhat It Does
*/30 * * * *Every 30 minutes
0 */6 * * *Every 6 hours
0 4 * * *Every day at 4:00 AM
0 0 * * 1Every Monday at midnight
0 8 * * 6,0Every Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 AM
0 */12 * * *Every 12 hours
0 3 1 * *First day of every month at 3:00 AM
All schedule times use the timezone configured on the server. If your restarts seem to fire at the wrong time, double-check what timezone your Game Panel server is set to.
Yes. A single schedule can contain as many tasks as you need. They execute in order based on their time offsets. This is how you chain warnings before a restart — set the warning at 0 seconds, another warning at 240 seconds, and the restart at 300 seconds.
If the server is offline and the schedule tries to run a console command, the task will fail because there is no running server to receive it. Power actions like Start will work as expected since they do not require the server to already be running.
Yes. Open any schedule and look for the option to trigger it immediately. This is useful for testing your task chain before relying on the automated timing.
The number of schedules you can create depends on your server’s configuration and plan. Most FREAKHOSTING game server plans allow multiple schedules, which is more than enough for restarts, backups, and custom commands.

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Need Extra Help?

If you encounter any issues, our support team is ready to assist:

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Last Updated: March 2026 | Game Panel Support: Schedules and automation made simple.