---
title: Power your Instance on and off with Serverless Jobs and the Scaleway CLI
description: This step-by-step tutorial will help you automate the startup and shutdown of your Instance using Serverless Jobs and the Scaleway CLI
tags: serverless cli
products:
  - instances
  - jobs
dates:
  validation: 2025-06-23
  posted: 2025-06-09
  validation_frequency: 12
difficulty: beginner
usecase:
  - resource-management
ecosystem:
  - scaleway-only
---
import Requirements from '@macros/iam/requirements.mdx'


[Scaleway Serverless Jobs](/serverless-jobs/quickstart/) allows you to create and automate recurring tasks. This tutorial will guide you through the process of powering a [Scaleway Instance](/instances/quickstart/) on and off, on a recurring schedule using a Serverless Job.

Serverless Jobs are perfectly adapted for these autonomous tasks, as we do not need autoscaling or exposure via a web server. Refer to the [documentation on differences between jobs, containers, and functions](/serverless-jobs/reference-content/difference-jobs-functions-containers/) for more information.

<Requirements />

- A Scaleway account logged into the [console](https://console.scaleway.com).
- [Owner](/iam/concepts/#owner) status or [IAM permissions](/iam/concepts/#permission) allowing you to perform actions in the intended Organization.
- Created an [Instance](/instances/how-to/create-an-instance/).

## Creating the job definitions

### Serverless Job to power on the Instance

1. In the [Scaleway console](https://console.scaleway.com), click **Jobs** in the **Serverless** section of the side menu. The jobs page displays.

2. Click **Create job**. The job creation wizard displays.

3. For **Container Image**, select **External**, and in **Image URL**, set: `scaleway/cli:latest`.

4. Enter a name or use the automatically generated one.

5. Select the region in which your job will be created.

6. Keep the default **resources** values, as this job requires little compute capability.

7. Set **cron schedule** to `0 9 * * 1-5` and select the relevant time zone to run the job every morning at 9:00 a.m (09:00) from Monday through Friday. Refer to the [cron schedules documentation](/serverless-jobs/reference-content/cron-schedules/) for more information.

8. Define the following environment variables:
    - `SCW_ACCESS_KEY`: your API access key.
    - `SCW_SECRET_KEY`: your API secret key.
    - `SCW_DEFAULT_PROJECT_ID`: your Project ID.
    - `SCW_DEFAULT_ORGANIZATION_ID`: your Organization ID.
    - `SCW_DEFAULT_REGION`: the desired region.
    - `SCW_DEFAULT_ZONE`: the desired availability zone.

    <Message type="note">
        We recommend using [Secret Manager](/secret-manager/) to store the `SCW_ACCESS_KEY` and `SCW_SECRET_KEY`.
    </Message>

    For more details about variables used by `cli`, refer to the [CLI config documentation](https://cli.scaleway.com/instance/#power-on-server).

9. In the **Execution** tab, define the command below, and replace the placeholder with the ID of your Instance:

    ```
    /scw instance server start 11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111
    ```

10. Click **Create job**.

### Serverless Job to power off the Instance

1. In the [Scaleway console](https://console.scaleway.com), click **Jobs** in the **Serverless** section of the side menu. The jobs page displays.

2. Click **Create job**. The job creation wizard displays.

3. For **Container Image**, select **External**, and in **Image URL**, set: `scaleway/cli:latest`.

4. Enter a name or use the automatically generated one.

5. Select the region in which your job will be created.

6. Keep the default **resources** values, as this job requires little compute capability.

7. Set **cron schedule** to `0 18 * * 1-5` and select the relevant time zone to run the job every evening at 6:00 p.m (18:00) from Monday through Friday. Refer to the [cron schedules documentation](/serverless-jobs/reference-content/cron-schedules/) for more information.

8. Define the following environment variables:
    - `SCW_ACCESS_KEY`: your API access key.
    - `SCW_SECRET_KEY`: your API secret key.
    - `SCW_DEFAULT_PROJECT_ID`: your Project ID.
    - `SCW_DEFAULT_ORGANIZATION_ID`: your Organization ID.
    - `SCW_DEFAULT_REGION`: the preferred region.

    <Message type="note">
        We recommend using Secret Manager to store the `SCW_ACCESS_KEY` and `SCW_SECRET_KEY`.
    </Message>

        For more details about variables used by `cli`, refer to the [CLI config documentation](https://cli.scaleway.com/instance/#power-on-server).

9. In the **Execution** tab, define the command below, and replace the placeholder with the ID of your Instance:

    ```bash
    /scw instance server stop 11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111
    ```

10. Click **Create job**.

## Testing the jobs

According to the current state of your Instance, run either the **Power on** or **Power off** job first.

From the **Overview** tab of each Serverless job you just created, click **Actions**, then select **Run job** from the contextual menu.

The execution appears in the **Job runs** section. You can access the logs of your jobs by clicking <Icon name="more" /> next to the job run ID, and selecting **See on Cockpit**.

## Possible improvements

This tutorial is a lightweight example of how to manage the power cycle of an Instance. You can go further by:
- Using it to manage all your Instances' power cycles
- Using Jobs to create [snapshots of your Instances](/tutorials/snapshot-instances-jobs/)
- Setting up an alerting system in case of unexpected behavior
- Exploring [scaleway/serverless-examples repository](https://github.com/scaleway/serverless-examples) for advanced automation examples

## Additional resources

- [Serverless Jobs Documentation](/serverless-jobs/how-to/create-job/)
- [Other methods to deploy Jobs](/serverless-jobs/reference-content/deploy-job/)
- [API keys documentation](/iam/how-to/create-api-keys/)
- [CRON schedule reference](/serverless-jobs/reference-content/cron-schedules/)