Patterns

Patterns

Coravel invocable — skip if already running

The most common pattern: use TryRunAsync so that if the previous execution is still in progress, the new invocation is silently skipped.

public class ImportInvocable(ITaskStateManager manager) : IInvocable
{
    public async Task Invoke()
    {
        await manager.TryRunAsync("import", async ct =>
        {
            await DoImportAsync(ct);
        });
    }
}

---

BackgroundService — wait for previous run to finish

Use RunAsync when you want each iteration to run to completion before starting the next, even if the scheduled interval has already passed.

protected override async Task ExecuteAsync(CancellationToken stoppingToken)
{
    while (!stoppingToken.IsCancellationRequested)
    {
        await manager.RunAsync("sync", async ct =>
        {
            await DoSyncAsync(ct);
        }, cancellationToken: stoppingToken);

        await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5), stoppingToken);
    }
}

---

Manual start/stop

Use StartAsync / TryStopAsync when you need fine-grained control — for example, when work spans multiple methods or is managed outside a single async scope.

if (!await manager.StartAsync("import-job"))
    return; // already running

try
{
    await DoImportAsync(cancellationToken);
}
finally
{
    await manager.TryStopAsync("import-job");
}

---

Returning a value from TryRunAsync

var result = await manager.TryRunAsync("report-job", async ct =>
{
    return await GenerateReportAsync(ct);
});

if (result.Started)
    await SendReportAsync(result.Value);
else
    logger.LogInformation("Report job already running — skipped.");