apoc.periodic.repeat
Procedure

Details
Syntax	`apoc.periodic.repeat(name, statement, rate [, config ]) :: (name, delay, rate, done, cancelled)`
Description	Runs a repeatedly called background job. To stop this procedure, use `apoc.periodic.cancel`.
Input arguments	Name	Type	Description
	`name`	`STRING`	The name of the job.
	`statement`	`STRING`	The Cypher statement to run.
	`rate`	`INTEGER`	The delay in seconds to wait between each job execution.
	`config`	`MAP`	`{ params = {} :: MAP, cancelOnError = true :: BOOLEAN }` The default is: `{}`. Introduced in APOC 2025.08 Cypher 25
Return arguments	Name	Type	Description
	`name`	`STRING`	The name of the job.
	`delay`	`INTEGER`	The delay on the job.
	`rate`	`INTEGER`	The rate of the job.
	`done`	`BOOLEAN`	If the job has completed.
	`cancelled`	`BOOLEAN`	If the job has been cancelled.

Usage Examples

We can create 10 Person nodes every second by running the following query:

CALL apoc.periodic.repeat(
  "create-people",
  "UNWIND range(1,10) AS id CREATE (:Person {uuid: apoc.create.uuid()})",
   1
);

Results
name	delay	rate	done	cancelled
"create-people"	0	1	FALSE	FALSE

We can check how many nodes have been created by running the following query:

MATCH (:Person)
RETURN count(*) AS count;

Results
count
110

If you want to cancel this job, you can use the apoc.periodic.cancel procedure and specify the name of the job as the argument.

Handling errors
Cypher 25Introduced in 2025.08

By default, if a query run with apoc.periodic.repeat returns an error, the task is canceled and will not be run again. This behavior can be overridden using the config parameter: cancelOnError.

The following query will create a Person node with a random id property. However, when the expression toInteger(3 * rand()) evaluates to 0, a division by zero error is thrown. By setting cancelOnError to false, this error will be ignored, and the task will be retried after one second.

CALL apoc.periodic.repeat(
  "sometimes-create-people",
  "CREATE (:Person {id: 1 / toInteger(3 * rand())})",
   1,
  { cancelOnError: false }
);

Results
name	delay	rate	done	cancelled
"sometimes-create-people"	0	1	FALSE	FALSE