diff --git a/service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/storage/ManagedPeriodicWork.java b/service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/storage/ManagedPeriodicWork.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..af74e8ef2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/storage/ManagedPeriodicWork.java
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2013-2020 Signal Messenger, LLC
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
+ */
+package org.whispersystems.textsecuregcm.storage;
+
+import io.dropwizard.lifecycle.Managed;
+import java.time.Duration;
+import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+import org.whispersystems.textsecuregcm.util.Util;
+
+public abstract class ManagedPeriodicWork implements Managed, Runnable {
+
+  private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ManagedPeriodicWork.class);
+
+  private final ManagedPeriodicWorkCache cache;
+  private final String workerId;
+
+  private final AtomicBoolean running = new AtomicBoolean(false);
+  private boolean finished;
+
+  public ManagedPeriodicWork(final ManagedPeriodicWorkCache cache) {
+    this.cache = cache;
+    this.workerId = UUID.randomUUID().toString();
+  }
+
+  abstract protected Duration getWorkerTtl();
+
+  abstract protected Duration getRunInterval();
+
+  abstract protected void doPeriodicWork() throws Exception;
+
+  @Override
+  public synchronized void start() throws Exception {
+    running.set(true);
+    new Thread(this).start();
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public synchronized void stop() throws Exception {
+
+    running.set(false);
+    notifyAll();
+
+    while (!finished) {
+      Util.wait(this);
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public void run() {
+
+    while(running.get()) {
+      try {
+        execute();
+        sleepWhileRunning(getRunInterval());
+      } catch (final Exception e) {
+        logger.warn("Error in crawl crawl", e);
+
+        // wait a bit, in case the error is caused by external instability
+        Util.sleep(10_000);
+      }
+    }
+
+    synchronized (this) {
+      finished = true;
+      notifyAll();
+    }
+  }
+
+  private void execute() {
+
+    if (cache.claimActiveWork(workerId, getWorkerTtl())) {
+
+      try {
+        final long startTimeMs = System.currentTimeMillis();
+
+        doPeriodicWork();
+
+        final long endTimeMs = System.currentTimeMillis();
+        final Duration sleepInterval = getRunInterval().minusMillis(endTimeMs - startTimeMs);
+        if (sleepInterval.getSeconds() > 0) {
+          sleepWhileRunning(sleepInterval);
+        }
+
+      } catch (final Exception e) {
+        logger.warn("Failed to process chunk", e);
+
+        // wait a full interval for recovery
+        sleepWhileRunning(getRunInterval());
+
+      } finally {
+        cache.releaseActiveWork(workerId);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  private synchronized void sleepWhileRunning(Duration delay) {
+    if (running.get()) Util.wait(this, delay.toMillis());
+  }
+}
diff --git a/service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/storage/ManagedPeriodicWorkCache.java b/service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/storage/ManagedPeriodicWorkCache.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c1fd10ed3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/service/src/main/java/org/whispersystems/textsecuregcm/storage/ManagedPeriodicWorkCache.java
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2013-2021 Signal Messenger, LLC
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
+ */
+package org.whispersystems.textsecuregcm.storage;
+
+import io.lettuce.core.ScriptOutputType;
+import io.lettuce.core.SetArgs;
+import org.whispersystems.textsecuregcm.redis.ClusterLuaScript;
+import org.whispersystems.textsecuregcm.redis.FaultTolerantRedisCluster;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.time.Duration;
+import java.util.List;
+
+public class ManagedPeriodicWorkCache {
+
+  private final String activeWorkerKey;
+
+  private final FaultTolerantRedisCluster cacheCluster;
+  private final ClusterLuaScript unlockClusterScript;
+
+  public ManagedPeriodicWorkCache(final String activeWorkerKey, final FaultTolerantRedisCluster cacheCluster) throws IOException {
+    this.activeWorkerKey = activeWorkerKey;
+    this.cacheCluster = cacheCluster;
+    this.unlockClusterScript = ClusterLuaScript.fromResource(cacheCluster, "lua/periodic_worker/unlock.lua", ScriptOutputType.INTEGER);
+  }
+
+  public boolean claimActiveWork(String workerId, Duration ttl) {
+    return "OK".equals(cacheCluster.withCluster(connection -> connection.sync().set(activeWorkerKey, workerId, SetArgs.Builder.nx().px(ttl.toMillis()))));
+  }
+
+  public void releaseActiveWork(String workerId) {
+    unlockClusterScript.execute(List.of(activeWorkerKey), List.of(workerId));
+  }
+}
diff --git a/service/src/main/resources/lua/periodic_worker/unlock.lua b/service/src/main/resources/lua/periodic_worker/unlock.lua
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b95d15d66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/service/src/main/resources/lua/periodic_worker/unlock.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+-- keys: lock_key
+-- argv: lock_value
+
+if redis.call("GET", KEYS[1]) == ARGV[1] then
+    return redis.call("DEL", KEYS[1])
+else
+    return 0
+end