Create, list, modify, and remove scheduled cron jobs to automate system tasks using simplified cron syntax and manage output logging.
Real data. Real impact.
Emerging
Developers
Per week
Open source
Skills give you superpowers. Install in 30 seconds.
Manage scheduled tasks and automation on your system using cron.
Category: automation, productivity API Key Required: No
Create, manage, and monitor scheduled tasks (cron jobs) on your machine. Automate backups, health checks, cleanup scripts, API calls, notifications — anything that should run on a schedule. Your agent handles the cron syntax so you don't have to.
echo "=== User crontab ===" crontab -l 2>/dev/null || echo "(empty)" echo "" echo "=== System cron ===" ls /etc/cron.d/ 2>/dev/null echo "" echo "=== Cron directories ===" echo "Hourly: $(ls /etc/cron.hourly/ 2>/dev/null | wc -l) jobs" echo "Daily: $(ls /etc/cron.daily/ 2>/dev/null | wc -l) jobs" echo "Weekly: $(ls /etc/cron.weekly/ 2>/dev/null | wc -l) jobs" echo "Monthly: $(ls /etc/cron.monthly/ 2>/dev/null | wc -l) jobs"
# Add to user crontab (crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "SCHEDULE COMMAND") | crontab -Common schedules:
Every minute: * * * * *
Every 5 minutes: */5 * * * *
Every hour: 0 * * * *
Every day at 2am: 0 2 * * *
Every Monday 9am: 0 9 * * 1
Every 1st of month: 0 0 1 * *
Weekdays at 8am: 0 8 * * 1-5
# Edit crontab interactively crontab -eOr remove a specific line
crontab -l | grep -v "PATTERN_TO_REMOVE" | crontab -
# Recent cron activity grep CRON /var/log/syslog | tail -20Or on systems using journald
journalctl -u cron --since "1 hour ago" --no-pager | tail -20
# Run the command manually first to make sure it works COMMAND_HERECheck it produces expected output
echo "Exit code: $?"
┌───────────── minute (0-59) │ ┌───────────── hour (0-23) │ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1-31) │ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1-12) │ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0-7, 0 and 7 = Sunday) │ │ │ │ │ * * * * * command
# Disk space alert daily at 8am 0 8 * * * df -h / | awk 'NR==2 && $5+0 > 80 {print "Disk alert: " $5 " used"}' | mail -s "Disk Warning" you@email.comClean /tmp weekly
0 3 * * 0 find /tmp -type f -mtime +7 -delete
Backup database nightly
0 2 * * * pg_dump mydb > /backups/db_$(date +%Y%m%d).sql
Restart a service if it crashes (every 5 min check)
*/5 * * * * systemctl is-active myservice || systemctl restart myservice
Log system stats every 15 minutes
*/15 * * * * echo "$(date): $(uptime)" >> /var/log/system-stats.log
# Cron runs with minimal environment. Set what you need: (crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "PATH=/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin SHELL=/bin/bash 0 2 * * * /home/user/backup.sh >> /var/log/backup.log 2>&1") | crontab -
# Log output * * * * * command >> /var/log/myjob.log 2>&1Discard output
- command > /dev/null 2>&1
Email output (if mail is configured)
MAILTO=you@email.com 0 8 * * * command
User: "Run my backup script every night at 2am" →
(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "0 2 * * * /home/user/backup.sh >> /var/log/backup.log 2>&1") | crontab -User: "Check disk space every hour and alert me if it's over 80%" → Create a check script + cron job
User: "What scheduled tasks are running?" → List all crontabs and system cron directories
User: "Stop the daily cleanup job" → Find and remove the specific cron entry
timedatectlNo automatic installation available. Please visit the source repository for installation instructions.
View Installation Instructions
1,500+ AI skills, agents & workflows. Install in 30 seconds. Part of the Torly.ai family.
© 2026 Torly.ai. All rights reserved.