Scheduled Tasks

LicenseDock's background work runs through Joomla's Task Scheduler, using the LicenseDock - Scheduled Tasks plugin (plg_task_licensedock). The plugin adds three task types. None of them run until you create them.

The Tasks

Task	Execution Rule	Value
LicenseDock - Process Email Queue	Interval, Minutes	5
LicenseDock - Reminders & Expiration	Interval, Hours	1
LicenseDock - Abandoned Checkout Recovery	Interval, Minutes	15

These are the recommended intervals. Store Health warns when the email queue task has not run for 15 minutes, or either of the other two for 120 minutes.

Process Email Queue

Sends queued emails, up to 50 per run. Failed sends are retried on later runs, up to 3 attempts per email. See Emails.

The run is reported as failed in System → Scheduled Tasks when the mailer cannot start (for example Custom SMTP with no host), when every email in the batch fails, or when at least as many fail as succeed.

Reminders & Expiration

Handles everything that depends on dates. Each run works through these steps:

Step	What it does
Renewal reminders	Sends renewal_reminder_1, _2 and _3 on the days set under Settings → Automation. Auto-renewing subscriptions are skipped
Trial ending	Sends trial_ending 3 days before a trial converts
Trial winback	Sends trial_cancellation_reminder the set number of days after a trial is cancelled
Expiry	Marks subscriptions past their end date as expired, then sends expiration_notice (if enabled) and admin_expired
Grace reminders	Sends grace_period_reminder_1 and _2 while an expired subscription can still renew at the renewal discount
Dunning	Cancels past-due subscriptions whose failed payments have outlasted the Dunning grace period, then sends dunning_cancelled and admin_expired
Cancelled trials	Moves cancelled trials whose trial period has ended to expired
Plan change cleanup	Clears PayPal plan changes the customer started but never approved, and settles paid plan-change charges whose webhook never arrived by asking the gateway (after 30 minutes)
Mollie loyalty rate	Re-applies the loyalty price to Mollie subscriptions still billing the first-cycle amount. Sends admin_mollie_loyalty_patch_failed if it cannot
Stripe pricing check	Flags Stripe subscriptions whose gateway price differs from LicenseDock's records. It changes nothing; results appear in Store Health under Gateway pricing matches
Housekeeping	Deletes rejected activation attempts, refused downloads, and sent or failed emails older than 90 days

Each step runs on its own. If one throws an error, the rest still run, the error is written to com_licensedock.php in Joomla's log folder, and the run is reported as failed. Every step is safe to repeat, so the next run picks up whatever was missed.

Abandoned Checkout Recovery

Emails customers who started checkout but did not pay, with a link that restores their checkout. It follows Intervals (hours) and Max Attempts under Settings → Automation, handles up to 100 orders per run, and does nothing while Enabled is set to No.

Creating the Tasks

1. Go to System → Scheduled Tasks → New
2. Pick the task type, for example LicenseDock - Process Email Queue
3. Set the Execution Rule and value from the table above
4. Save, and repeat for the other two

The Automation tab of LicenseDock Settings shows the same table and links to the Scheduled Tasks screen.

Running the Scheduler

Joomla needs something to trigger the scheduler. Pick one.

Web Cron

Works on any host with a cron manager, including cPanel and Plesk.

1. Go to System → Manage → Scheduled Tasks and click Options in the toolbar
2. On the Web Cron tab, set Web Cron to Enabled and save
3. Copy the Webcron Link (Base) URL
4. In your hosting cron manager, add a job that runs every 5 minutes (*/5 * * * *):

curl -s --max-time 60 "PASTE_YOUR_WEB_CRON_URL_HERE" > /dev/null 2>&1

Replace PASTE_YOUR_WEB_CRON_URL_HERE with the URL from step 3.

CLI Cron

For servers with SSH access. Run crontab -e and add, with your site's path:

*/5 * * * * cd /path/to/joomla && php cli/joomla.php scheduler:run > /dev/null 2>&1

The Automation tab shows this line with your site path already filled in.

Lazy Scheduler

Joomla's Lazy Scheduler runs tasks when visitors load pages. It is on by default (check under System → Manage → Scheduled Tasks → Options → Lazy Scheduler). On a quiet site, emails can be delayed by hours, so use web cron or CLI cron in production.

Checking the Tasks

• System → Scheduled Tasks shows each task's last run and whether it succeeded
• Store Health → Scheduled Tasks checks that each task exists, is enabled and has run recently – see Dashboard & Store Health
• Logs → Email shows emails sitting in the Queued state if the queue task is not running