Seeding

TickerQ supports multiple seeding strategies for initializing jobs when the application starts. Seeding is a core feature of TickerQ; it works whether you use the in-memory provider only or plug in Entity Framework Core.

Seeding Strategies

TickerQ provides three seeding mechanisms:

1. Automatic Cron Seeding

Automatic seeding of cron jobs from [TickerFunction] attributes with cron expressions.

2. Custom Seeding

Programmatic seeding using custom logic for TimeTicker and CronTicker jobs.

3. Disabling Seeding

How to prevent automatic seeding when you manage jobs manually.

Seeding Order

Regardless of the persistence provider (in-memory or EF Core), seeding follows the same logical order:

1. Dead node resource cleanup (when EF Core persistence is used) – releases resources from dead nodes.
2. Automatic cron seeding (if enabled) – seeds cron jobs from [TickerFunction] attributes.
3. Custom time ticker seeding (if configured) – executes UseTickerSeeder time ticker function.
4. Custom cron ticker seeding (if configured) – executes UseTickerSeeder cron ticker function.

Seeding Lifecycle

Seeding is orchestrated by the TickerQ core and executed in one of two ways:

• Core-only / In-memory path

  • You call builder.Services.AddTickerQ(...) and app.UseTickerQ(...) without AddOperationalStore.
  • During UseTickerQ, the core runs automatic cron seeding and any custom seeders configured via TickerOptionsBuilder (unless you disable them).

• Entity Framework Core path

  • You call AddTickerQ(...).AddOperationalStore(...) to configure EF persistence.
  • The EF provider hooks into IHostApplicationLifetime.ApplicationStarted, performs dead node cleanup plus the same automatic + custom seeding, then restarts the scheduler.

In both cases:

• Auto seeding is controlled by core configuration (for example, IgnoreSeedDefinedCronTickers()).
• Custom seeders are registered via UseTickerSeeder(...) and executed using manager APIs (ITimeTickerManager / ICronTickerManager).
• All seeding operations are logged through the instrumentation system, allowing you to track seeding progress.

See Also

• Automatic Cron Seeding - Learn about attribute-based seeding
• Custom Seeding - Implement your own seeding logic
• Disable Seeding - Prevent automatic seeding
• Entity Framework Configuration - Complete EF Core setup