SCRON

A lightweight, efficient cron-like scheduler written in Go that executes shell commands at specified intervals with precise timing and comprehensive logging.

Features

• Flexible Scheduling: Schedule jobs using minute and hour patterns with wildcard support
• Configuration Reloading: Monitors config file changes for dynamic job updates
• Comprehensive Logging: Detailed execution logs using zerolog with configurable levels
• Error Handling: Robust error handling with exit code tracking and output capture
• Shell Command Support: Execute any shell command via bash
• Notifications: Send job status notifications via Gotify and SMTP

Installation

Recommended: Debian Package (.deb)

Download the latest .deb package from the releases page and install:

Install package

sudo dpkg -i scron_X.X.X_linux_amd64.deb

Configuration file at /etc/scron/config.yml

Configuration

Create a config.yml file in the same directory as the binary (or /etc/scron if install via .deb):

jobs:
  - name: "Daily Backup"
    minute: "0"
    hour: "2"
    command: "backup.sh /data /backup"
  
  - name: "Health Check"
    minute: "*/5"
    hour: "*"
    command: "curl -f http://localhost:8080/health"
  
  - name: "Log Cleanup"
    minute: "30"
    hour: "1"
    command: "find /var/log -name '*.log' -mtime +7 -delete"

Configuration Fields

Field	Description	Format	Examples
name	Descriptive job name for logging	String	"Daily Backup", "Health Check"
minute	Minute pattern (0-59)	String	"0", "*/5", "15,30,45", "*"
hour	Hour pattern (0-23)	String	"2", "*/2", "9-17", "*"
command	Shell command to execute	String	"echo 'Hello'", "backup.sh"
notification	Name of notification configuration to use	String	"default"

Notifications

You can configure notifications for job success or failure using Gotify and SMTP:

notification:
  - name: default
    success:
      gotify: 
        url: https://gotify.example.com/message?token=YOUR_TOKEN
      smtp:
        host: smtp.example.com
        port: "587"
        username: your_username
        password: your_password
        from: sender@example.com
        to: recipient@example.com
        use_ssl: true
    error:
      gotify:
        url: https://gotify.example.com/message?token=YOUR_TOKEN
      smtp:
        host: smtp.example.com
        port: "587"
        username: your_username
        password: your_password
        from: sender@example.com
        to: recipient@example.com
        use_ssl: true

jobs:
  - name: "Daily Backup"
    minute: "0"
    hour: "2"
    command: "backup.sh /data /backup"
    notification: default

Notifications support:

• Multiple named notification configurations
• Separate success and error notification URLs
• Optional configuration per job
• Gotify and SMTP notification methods
• Multiple recipients for SMTP
• TLS support for SMTP

Pattern Syntax

• * - Every minute/hour
• */n - Every n minutes/hours
• n - Specific minute/hour
• n,m,o - Multiple specific values
• n-m - Range of values

Examples

Simple Periodic Task

jobs:
  - name: "Heartbeat"
    minute: "*"
    hour: "*"
    command: "echo $(date): Service running >> /var/log/heartbeat.log"

Business Hours Only

jobs:
  - name: "Business Hours Check"
    minute: "0"
    hour: "9-17"
    command: "business-hours-task.sh"

Multiple Schedules

jobs:
  - name: "Frequent Check"
    minute: "*/2"
    hour: "*"
    command: "quick-check.sh"
  
  - name: "Hourly Report"
    minute: "0"
    hour: "*"
    command: "generate-report.sh"
  
  - name: "Daily Cleanup"
    minute: "0"
    hour: "3"
    command: "cleanup.sh"