Cron Jobs

EdgeCrab includes a built-in cron scheduler. Scheduled jobs run the EdgeCrab agent on a recurring schedule — the same agent loop, same tools, same config.

Cron Syntax

EdgeCrab uses standard 5-field cron syntax:

┌──── minute (0-59)
│ ┌──── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌──── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌──── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌──── day of week (0-7, 0/7=Sunday)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Examples:

0 9 * * 1-5          # 9 AM weekdays
0 */4 * * *          # every 4 hours
0 0 1 * *            # midnight on 1st of each month
*/15 * * * *         # every 15 minutes

Managing Cron Jobs

CLI

# List all jobs
edgecrab cron list

# Add a job
edgecrab cron add "0 9 * * 1-5" "summarize overnight GitHub activity"

# Add with a name
edgecrab cron add --name morning-standup "0 9 * * 1-5" "morning standup summary"

# Enable/disable
edgecrab cron enable morning-standup
edgecrab cron disable morning-standup

# Delete
edgecrab cron delete morning-standup

# Run now (one-shot)
edgecrab cron run morning-standup

Agent Tool (`manage_cron_jobs`)

The agent can manage its own schedule during a session:

❯ Schedule a daily report at 6 PM that summarizes today's git commits

The agent calls manage_cron_jobs with:

{
  "action": "create",
  "name": "daily-git-report",
  "schedule": "0 18 * * *",
  "task": "Summarize today's git commits across all repositories in ~/projects/"
}

Cron Storage

Jobs are stored in ~/.edgecrab/cron/:

~/.edgecrab/cron/
├── morning-standup.json
├── daily-git-report.json
└── weekly-review.json

Each file is a JSON descriptor:

{
  "name": "morning-standup",
  "schedule": "0 9 * * 1-5",
  "task": "Summarize overnight GitHub notifications and Slack messages",
  "enabled": true,
  "model": null,
  "toolsets": null,
  "last_run": "2025-05-14T09:00:00Z",
  "next_run": "2025-05-15T09:00:00Z"
}

Cron with Gateway

When the gateway is running, cron job results can be sent to a messaging platform:

gateway:
  telegram:
    home_channel: "-100123456789"  # results sent here

Set the home channel from the TUI:

/sethome

Timezone

Cron schedules respect the timezone config key:

timezone: "America/New_York"

Override with env var:

EDGECRAB_TIMEZONE=Europe/London edgecrab cron list

The `/cron` Slash Command

From the TUI:

/cron                # open cron job manager UI

Shows all jobs with their next run time, status, and last run output.

Practical Cron Job Examples

Daily standup summary (weekdays 9 AM):

edgecrab cron add --name standup "0 9 * * 1-5" \
  "Check GitHub notifications, open PRs, and failing CI. Summarize in 5 bullet points."

Weekly code quality check (Sunday midnight):

edgecrab cron add --name weekly-quality "0 0 * * 0" \
  "Run cargo clippy --workspace 2>&1, cargo test --workspace 2>&1. Report any new warnings or failures."

Hourly log watcher:

edgecrab cron add --name log-watch "0 * * * *" \
  "Check the last hour of /var/log/app.log for ERROR or CRITICAL entries. Alert if found."

Pro Tips

Send results to Telegram. Set gateway.telegram.home_channel and run the gateway — cron job results arrive as Telegram messages. Perfect for monitoring tasks you want to know about without watching a terminal.

Test before scheduling. Run the task once manually to verify it works:

edgecrab "Summarize overnight GitHub notifications and Slack messages"

Once the output looks right, add it as a cron job.

Use specific toolsets per job. If a cron job only needs web access, restrict it:

{ "name": "news-summary", "schedule": "0 7 * * *", "task": "...", "toolsets": ["web"] }

This prevents a cron job from accidentally modifying files.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Cron jobs aren’t running. What’s happening?

Cron jobs only run while EdgeCrab is running. The cron scheduler is embedded — no system cron (crontab) is involved. Keep EdgeCrab running in a background session or Docker container for scheduled jobs to fire.

Q: How do I see the output of the last cron run?

edgecrab cron show morning-standup   # last output + next run time

Or check the logs via edgecrab gateway logs if the gateway is running.

Q: Can a cron job trigger a gateway message?

Yes. Set gateway.telegram.home_channel (or Discord/Slack equivalent). The cron job’s final response is sent to that channel automatically.

Q: What happens if a cron job is still running when the next trigger fires?

The new run is skipped with a warning. Cron jobs do not run concurrently with themselves.

Q: How do I pause all cron jobs temporarily?

edgecrab cron disable --all    # disable all
edgecrab cron enable --all     # re-enable all