Cron Setup

On shared hosting, Threadline has no persistent background process — a single cron entry that runs every minute takes its place. This single entry does two jobs: sends/receives queued messages, and processes uploaded documents.

This step is not optional. Without it, uploaded documents will sit at "Processing" forever and customers won't receive AI replies — messages will be received and stored, but never answered.

The cron entry

The install wizard's final screen shows this command, already filled in with your install's actual path:

* * * * * cd /home/youraccount/public_html && php artisan schedule:run >> /dev/null 2>&1

It must be schedule:run. A cron that runs artisan queue:work only handles the queue. The scheduler never starts, so campaigns, renewals and reminders do not run and Cron & Health keeps warning that the scheduler has never run. Threadline starts the queue worker by itself from schedule:run.

Use your host's command-line PHP (a path ending in /php, such as /opt/alt/php83/usr/bin/php on CloudLinux hosts), not lsphp or php-fpm, which cannot run artisan.

Adding it on cPanel

Log in to cPanel and open Advanced → Cron Jobs.
Under "Add New Cron Job", choose Common Settings: Once Per Minute (* * * * *), or set each field to *.
Paste the full command from your install's finish screen into the Command field.
Click Add New Cron Job.

Other control panels (Plesk, DirectAdmin) have an equivalent "Cron Jobs" or "Scheduled Tasks" screen — the command is the same either way.

Confirming it's working

Go to System → Cron & Health once you're logged in. It shows when the scheduler last ran:

Green — ran within the last 3 minutes. You're set.
Amber — missing or stale. Cron either isn't configured, is pointed at the wrong path, or your host's cron isn't running that minute yet (some budget hosts run cron every 5 minutes regardless of what you set — give it a few minutes after adding the entry).

If it stays amber for more than 10–15 minutes, double-check the path in the command matches where you actually uploaded Threadline, and that the php in the command resolves to PHP 8.3+ on your host (some hosts need a full path like /usr/local/bin/php83 instead of plain php — check your host's cron documentation for the correct PHP binary path).

Amber while the cron entry is correct usually means PHP's proc_open function is switched off in the disable_functions list. The cron job then runs and reports success, but no scheduled task actually starts. The requirements list further down System → Cron & Health shows whether proc_open is enabled.

VPS with a control panel, or set up by hand

The cron entry is needed here too. Two details matter on a server:

Run it as the website's user (for example www on aaPanel), never as root. Files the scheduler creates as root cannot be written by the website afterwards.
Use the full path of your site's PHP, for example /www/server/php/84/bin/php on aaPanel. A server can have several PHP versions, and a bare php may be a different one.

The exact screens are in Install: VPS (aaPanel) and Install: VPS (Control Panel).

Docker and Dokploy

Not needed — the scheduler runs as a persistent process inside the container instead of via cron. System → Cron & Health still shows when it last ran, if you want to confirm it.

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