Schedule a transcoder with the Wowza Streaming Cloud REST API

Learn how to use the REST API to schedule a transcoder in the Wowza Streaming Cloud™ service to start and stop once, or on a repeating schedule.

Before you start

You should complete the following tasks:

• Create a live stream or a transcoder. You'll need the resulting live_stream_id or transcoder_id to schedule a broadcast. View our Connect a source topics to learn how to create a live stream or transcoder for RTMP, RTSP, IP camera, SRT encoder, UDP encoder, WebRTC, and Wowza Streaming Engine.
  
  

Create a schedule

Create a schedule to start and stop the live stream or transcoder.

When specifying the start time, allow a few minutes for Wowza Streaming Cloud to launch the stream or transcoder. If your event begins at 9:00, for example, set the start time for 8:55. The minimum run time for a scheduled live stream or transcoder is 5 minutes, but we recommend scheduling at least 10 minutes between start and stop.

You can use the following sample request, making sure to:

• Set action_type to start_stop. You can also use the action types start or stop if you only want to set either a start or stop time. 
• Set recurrence_type to once.
• Set start_transcoder to the time and date you would like your transcoder to start. The example below starts the transcoder at 1PM UTC (13:00) on February 10, 2022.
• Set stop_transcoder to the time and date you would like your transcoder to stop. The example below stops the transcoder at 3PM UTC (16:00) on February 10, 2022.
• Set transcoder_id to the id that identifies the transcoder or live stream being scheduled.
• Change any values unique to your broadcast, using the API reference documentation as a resource. See the Endpoint Reference button below.

Sample request

Endpoint Reference

curl -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
-d '{
   "schedule": {
     "action_type": "start_stop",
     "name": "ThreeHourTour",
     "recurrence_type": "once",
     "start_transcoder": "2022-02-10 13:00:00",
     "stop_transcoder": "2022-02-10 16:00:00",
     "transcoder_id": "1234abcd"
   }
 }' "${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules"

Sample response

The response includes:

• An id for the schedule that you can use to make changes.

{
  "schedule": {
    "id": "5678efgh",
    "state": "enabled",
    "name": "StartOneTimeSchedule",
    "transcoder_id": "1234abcd",
    "transcoder_name": "MyTranscoder",
    "recurrence_type": "once",
    "action_type": "start_stop",
    "start_transcoder": "2022-02-10T13:00:00.000Z",
    "stop_transcoder": "2022-02-10T16:00:00.000Z",
    "created_at": "2021-11-25T11:53:28.508",
    "updated_at": "2021-11-25T11:53:28.508"
  }
}

Reoccurring schedules

Schedule to start a transcoder on Tuesdays and Thursdays for two weeks

The following request generates schedule that starts transcoder 1234abcd at 1pm UTC (13:00) every Tuesday and Thursday for the first two weeks of January 2016.

You can use the following sample request, making sure to:

• Set action_type to start. 
• Set end_repeat to the date the recurring schedule should stop running.
• Set recurrence_data to the day(s) of the week the recurring schedule should run. Separate each day with a comma.
• Set recurrence_type to recur.
• Set start_repeat to the date the recurring schedule should start running.
• Set start_transcoder to the time and date you would like your transcoder to start. The example below starts the transcoder at 1PM UTC (13:00) on February 10, 2016.
• Set transcoder_id to the id that identifies the transcoder or live stream being scheduled.
• Change any values unique to your broadcast, using the API reference documentation as a resource. See the Endpoint Reference button below.

Sample request

Endpoint Reference

curl -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
-d '{
   "schedule": {
     "action_type": "start",
     "end_repeat": "2016-01-14",
     "name": "tuesday-thursday",
     "recurrence_data": "tuesday,thursday",
     "recurrence_type": "recur",
     "start_repeat": "2016-01-01",
     "start_transcoder": "2016-01-05 13:00:00",
     "transcoder_id": "1234abcd"
   }
 }' "${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules"

Schedule to stop a transcoder every day for a week

The following request generates schedule that stops transcoder 1234abcd at 2pm UTC (14:00) every day for seven days starting on February 10, 2016.

You can use the following sample request, making sure to:

• Set action_type to stop. 
• Set end_repeat to the date the recurring schedule should stop running.
• Set recurrence_data to the day(s) of the week the recurring schedule should run. Separate each day with a comma.
• Set recurrence_type to recur.
• Set start_repeat to the date the recurring schedule should start running.
• Set stop_transcoder to the time and date you would like your transcoder to stop. 
• Set transcoder_id to the id that identifies the transcoder or live stream being scheduled.
• Change any values unique to your broadcast, using the API reference documentation as a resource. See the Endpoint Reference button below.

Sample request

Endpoint Reference

curl -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
-d '{
   "schedule": {
     "action_type": "stop",
     "end_repeat": "2016-02-17",
     "name": "OneWeekInFeb",
     "recurrence_data": "wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday,monday,tuesday",
     "recurrence_type": "recur",
     "start_repeat": "2016-02-10",
     "stop_transcoder": "2016-02-10 14:00:00",
     "transcoder_id": "1234abcd"
   }
 }' "${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules"

Enable or disable a schedule

By default, the state of every new schedule is enabled, which means the schedule will run automatically at the date and time specified. You can, however, disable and enable any schedule at any time.

Disable a schedule:

Endpoint Reference

curl -X PUT \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
"${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules/[schedule_id]/disable"

Enable a schedule:

Endpoint Reference

curl -X PUT \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
"${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules/[schedule_id]/enable"

Related API requests

• GET/schedules/{id}/state — View a schedule's state.
• GET/schedules/{id} — View the details of a schedule.
• PATCH/schedules/{id} — Update a schedule's configuration.
• DELETE/schedules/{id} — Delete a schedule.