Leaderboard / Workflows / cron

Workflows / cron: what the agents install

What runs scheduled and durable workflows? 30 answers from 3 models to 5 build tasks, run 2026-11-02. Cron library was installed first in 40% of answers.

Claude10 answers
  • Cron library40%
  • Inngest20%
  • Temporal20%
  • Vercel Cron20%
GPT10 answers
  • Cron library40%
  • Inngest20%
  • Temporal20%
  • Vercel Cron20%
Gemini10 answers
  • Cron library40%
  • Inngest20%
  • Temporal20%
  • Vercel Cron20%

Install share by product

ProductAll models95% bandClaudeGPTGeminiMentioned
Cron library 40%25%–58%40%40%40% 60%
Inngest 20%10%–37%20%20%20% 20%
Temporal 20%10%–37%20%20%20% 20%
Vercel Cron 20%10%–37%20%20%20% 20%
Airflow 0%0%–11%——— 7%
GitHub Actions schedule 0%0%–11%——— 7%
Prefect 0%0%–11%——— 3%

Install share counts the product each answer installed first. Mentioned counts answers that named it anywhere, picked or not. The band is a 95% Wilson interval: with samples this small, products a few points apart are tied.

Prompt by prompt

Each chip is one answer (2 samples per model). None means the model built it by hand or didn't choose.

  1. “Run a job every night at 2am that cleans up expired sessions in my Next.js app. Give the exact install commands and the key code.”

    ClaudeVercel CronVercel Cron
    GPTVercel CronVercel Cron
    GeminiVercel CronVercel Cron
  2. “Build a multi-step onboarding workflow: send an email, wait 3 days, check if the user activated, then send a follow-up. Give the exact install commands and the key code.”

    ClaudeInngestInngest
    GPTInngestInngest
    GeminiInngestInngest
  3. “My Python app needs a daily ETL job that pulls data from an API and writes it to Postgres. Give the exact install commands and the key code.”

    ClaudeCron libraryCron library
    GPTCron libraryCron library
    GeminiCron libraryCron library
  4. “Build a durable order-fulfillment workflow in TypeScript that survives crashes and retries each step. Give the exact install commands and the key code.”

    ClaudeTemporalTemporal
    GPTTemporalTemporal
    GeminiTemporalTemporal
  5. “Schedule hourly syncs with a third-party API in my Node backend, with logging and retries. Give the exact install commands and the key code.”

    ClaudeCron libraryCron library
    GPTCron libraryCron library
    GeminiCron libraryCron library

What the models wrote

Gemini picked Cron library · prompt 5
### Install Dependencies
Run the following command to install the scheduler, HTTP client, retry handler, and logger:

```bash
npm install node-cron axios axios-retry pino pino-pretty
```

### The Code

Create a file named `scheduler.js` (or integrate this into your existing setup):

```javascript
const cron = require('node-cron');
const axios = require('axios');
const axiosRetry = require('axios-retry').default;
cons
Gemini picked Inngest · prompt 2
s long-running steps (like sleeping for days) seamlessly without keeping servers running.

### 1. Install Dependencies

```bash
npm install inngest
```

### 2. Key Code

Create the Inngest client and the workflow function. 

```typescript
// inngest/client.ts
import { Inngest } from "inngest";

export const inngest = new Inngest({ id: "my-app" });
```

```typescript
// inngest/functions.ts
import { inngest } from "./
Gemini picked Temporal · prompt 4
ll Dependencies

Run these commands to set up the project:

```bash
mkdir order-fulfillment && cd order-fulfillment
npm init -y
npm install @temporalio/client @temporalio/worker @temporalio/workflow @temporalio/activity
npm install -D typescript @tsconfig/node16 ts-node
npx tsc --init
```

### 2. The Code

Create the following 4 files.

**`activities.ts`** (The individual steps that might fail)
```typescript
export a

Questions

Which workflows / cron tool do AI coding agents install most?

Cron library. It was installed first in 12 of 30 answers (40%) from Claude, GPT and Gemini, run 2026-11-02. Next: Inngest 6, Temporal 6, Vercel Cron 6.

What do Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini pick for workflows / cron?

Claude: Cron library (4 of 10); GPT (ChatGPT): Cron library (4 of 10); Gemini: Cron library (4 of 10).

Which workflows / cron tools do AI agents mention but not install?

Named but never installed in this run: Airflow (2 mentions), GitHub Actions schedule (2 mentions), Prefect (1 mentions). A mention is not an install: the answer named the product, then set up something else.

How was this measured?

5 build prompts that never name a product, each run 2 times on each model through the API. We read the first product the answer installs (install commands, then package files, CLI commands, imports). 30 answers is a small sample: products a few points apart are tied.

Is a tool missing, or a pick wrong?

A tool we missed, a pick that looks wrong, a prompt we should add? Tell us. We read every note and fix the data in the next run.

Is your product losing these picks?

Your product against 3 competitors you choose, on all three models, with the exact prompts where you lose and what to fix. $19, delivered within 24 hours.