cron-doctor

> **Compatible with Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, and any SKILL.md-compatible agent.** # Cron Doctor Diagnose and triage cron job failures. ## Usage When asked to check cron health or diagnose failures: ### 1. List All Jobs ```bash # List user's crontab crontab -l # List system crontabs sudo cat /etc/crontab ls -la /etc/cron.d/ ``` ### 2. Check Recent Execution ```bash # Check cron logs (location varies by system) # Debian/Ubuntu: grep CRON /var/log/syslog | tail -50 # RHEL/CentOS: tail -50 /var/log/cron # macOS: log show --predicate 'process == "cron"' --last 1h # Check for specific job output grep "your_job_name" /var/log/syslog | tail -20 ``` ### 3. Identify Problems **Error patterns to watch:** - `"command not found"` — Missing executable or PATH issue - `"Permission denied"` — File/directory permissions wrong - `"No such file or directory"` — Script path incorrect - `"timeout"` — Job took too long - `"ECONNREFUSED"` — Network/service down - `"rate limit"` — API throttling - Missing output — Job may not be running at all ### 4. Triage Priority | Priority | Criteria | |----------|----------| | 🔴 Critical | Trading, backup, security jobs | | 🟠 High | User-facing deliveries | | 🟡 Medium | Monitoring, research jobs | | 🟢 Low | Nice-to-have, non-essential | ### 5. Generate Report Write to `~/workspace/reports/cron-health-YYYY-MM-DD.md`: ```markdown # Cron Health Report - [DATE] ## Summary - ✅ Healthy: X jobs - ⚠️ Warning: X jobs - ❌ Failed: X jobs ## Failed Jobs ### [Job Name] - **Error:** [message] - **Last Success:** [date] - **Priority:** [level] - **Fix:** [suggested action] ## Recommendations 1. [Action item] 2. [Action item] ``` ### 6. Common Fixes | Error | Fix | |-------|-----| | Command not found | Use full path to executable, or set PATH in crontab | | Permission denied | Check file permissions, run `chmod +x script.sh` | | No output | Add `>> /tmp/job.log 2>&1` to capture output | | Wrong timezone | Set `TZ=` in crontab or use system timezone | | Rate limit | Reduce frequency or add backoff | ### 7. Debugging Tips ```bash # Test cron environment (cron has minimal PATH) env -i /bin/sh -c 'echo $PATH' # Verify script runs manually /path/to/your/script.sh # Check if cron daemon is running systemctl status cron # Linux launchctl list | grep cron # macOS ``` ## Escalation If 3+ critical jobs failed, alert the user immediately. ## Verification Gates Before claiming diagnosis complete: - [ ] **All failed jobs listed** — none skipped or ignored - [ ] **Priority assigned** — based on impact, not just recency - [ ] **Fix suggested** — actionable next step for each failure - [ ] **Report written** — to `~/workspace/reports/cron-health-YYYY-MM-DD.md` - [ ] **Critical failures escalated** — 3+ critical = alert user