cron

Cron Scheduler

Schedule and manage recurring tasks: $ARGUMENTS

Commands

All commands accept --port <port> (default: 8421).

Command	Description
aux4 cron start	Start the scheduler server
aux4 cron stop	Stop the scheduler
aux4 cron add --name "<name>" --every "<interval>" --run "<command>"	Add a recurring task
aux4 cron add --name "<name>" --in "<delay>" --run "<command>"	Add a one-time delayed task
aux4 cron remove --name "<name>"	Remove a task
aux4 cron pause --name "<name>"	Pause a task
aux4 cron resume --name "<name>"	Resume a paused task
aux4 cron list	List all scheduled tasks
aux4 cron history --name "<name>" --limit 10	View execution history

Scheduling Intervals (--every)

Expression	Meaning
10s, 30s	Every N seconds
5 min, 15 min	Every N minutes
2 hours	Every 2 hours
1 day	Once per day
monday, friday	Weekly on that day
weekday	Monday through Friday
weekend	Saturday and Sunday
1 month	Monthly

Combine with --at HH:MM for time-of-day scheduling:

aux4 cron add --name "daily-backup" --every "1 day" --at "02:00" --run "backup.sh"
aux4 cron add --name "standup-reminder" --every "weekday" --at "09:30" --run "echo standup time"

One-Time Delayed Tasks (--in)

aux4 cron add --name "delayed-deploy" --in "30 min" --run "deploy.sh"
aux4 cron add --name "reminder" --in "2 hours" --run "echo check results"

Max Executions (--max)

Limit how many times a task runs before auto-removal:

aux4 cron add --name "retry-3x" --every "5 min" --max 3 --run "check-service.sh"

Integration with Jobs

Every cron execution runs through aux4 jobs, so you get full lifecycle tracking:

aux4 cron history --name "daily-backup"    # see execution history
aux4 jobs output "<job-id>"                 # read output of a specific run

When to Use Cron

• Recurring checks — monitor a service, check for new data
• Scheduled maintenance — backups, cleanup, log rotation
• Periodic syncs — pull data from APIs on a schedule
• Reminders — time-based notifications
• Retry patterns — retry a failing operation with --max

Lifecycle

1. Start the scheduler: aux4 cron start
2. Add tasks as needed
3. The scheduler persists tasks in .cron.json — survives restarts
4. Stop when done: aux4 cron stop

Rules

• Always start the cron server before adding tasks
• Use descriptive names for tasks
• Check history to verify tasks are executing correctly
• Combine with /jobs to inspect output of cron-triggered executions
• Use --max for tasks that shouldn't run indefinitely