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Recurring Tasks

A recurring task runs a Command Preset, or any single FPP Command, over and over on a fixed interval — no schedule entry or playlist required. This page appears once your UI Level is Advanced or higher (see FPP Settings → UI), alongside the related Variables page.

Open Content Setup → Recurring Tasks.

The Recurring Tasks page.

The point is to fetch data ahead of time, so it is already sitting in a variable when something time‑critical needs it. A slow URL fetch or script run performed in the middle of a playlist or from a GPIO event would add a delay at exactly the wrong moment; a recurring task does that work in the background, and an If command elsewhere reads the resulting variable instantly. The classic example is a URL command polling a weather API or a sensor's web endpoint every few minutes.

Each row in the table has:

  • Enabled – run this task, or leave it defined but idle.
  • Name – a label for the task.
  • Interval (sec) – how often to run it.
  • Type – run a saved Command Preset, or an FPP Command chosen directly.
  • Preset / Command – which preset or command to run, and its arguments.
  • Status – the outcome of the last run, so you can see at a glance whether the task is working.

Use Add to create a row, Delete to remove selected rows, and Save to store your changes — as elsewhere in FPP, nothing takes effect until you save.

Capturing the result into a variable

An FPP Command task can store what its command returns into a variable, using the Result Variable / Filter fields:

  • Result Variable – the variable name to store the result under, and a Persist option that behaves exactly as it does for Set Variable (saved to disk and reloaded at startup, versus memory‑only).
  • Filter – how to extract the value you want from the raw result:
    • None (use raw result) – store the whole response.
    • JSON Field – pull a single named field out of a JSON response.
    • Between Markers – keep the text between two marker strings, which is a simple way to scrape a value out of plain text or HTML. Leave the first marker blank to start at the beginning, or the second blank to keep everything to the end.
    • Regex (advanced) – extract the value with a regular expression.

Tip

A short interval on a task that calls out to the internet will hammer the remote service and can slow FPP down. Poll no faster than you actually need — for most data (weather, sunset, a thermostat) minutes are plenty, not seconds.

Note

Recurring tasks run continuously while FPPD is running, whether or not a show is playing. If a task's command depends on a playlist being active, guard it with an If command that checks fpp_is_playing.