Abstrax

Cron

The cron command group manages scheduled jobs. Abstrax writes each job as a file in /etc/cron.d, named abstrax-<id>. This keeps Abstrax-managed jobs separate from hand-written crontabs.

abstrax cron <action> [arguments] [flags]

Permissions

add, remove, and modify require root because they write to /etc/cron.d. The list, info, enable, and disable commands do not enforce a root check in code, but writing to or reading the cron files may still require root depending on file permissions.

Cron job IDs

A cron job is identified by an ID you choose. The ID may contain letters, digits, underscores, and hyphens, up to 64 characters.

cron add

Add a new cron job. You must provide a command and a schedule.

abstrax cron add <id> --command="<command>" (--schedule="..." | frequency flag) [flags]

Required

  • --command - the command to run. If omitted, the command fails with --command is required.
  • A schedule, provided either with --schedule or one of the frequency flags. If neither is given, the command fails with --schedule or a frequency flag is required.

Schedule flags

Provide a raw cron expression, or use a convenience flag:

Flag Equivalent expression
--every-minute * * * * *
--every-five-minutes */5 * * * *
--every-ten-minutes */10 * * * *
--every-fifteen-minutes */15 * * * *
--every-thirty-minutes */30 * * * *
--hourly 0 * * * *
--daily 0 0 * * *
--weekly 0 0 * * 0
--monthly 0 0 1 * *
--yearly 0 0 1 1 *
--schedule A custom 5-field cron expression

A --schedule value takes priority. It must have exactly 5 fields (minute, hour, day, month, weekday) or it is rejected.

Other flags

Flag Default Description
--user root User to run the job as
--output Redirect stdout to this file
--error-output Redirect stderr to this file
--append-output false Append output instead of overwriting
--discard-output false Discard all output
--working-dir Working directory for the command
--env Environment variable as KEY=VALUE (repeatable)
--enabled true Create the job enabled
--disabled false Create the job disabled

Examples

When the command runs PHP, use the versioned binary that matches the project (php8.5, php8.4, and so on). The unversioned php command follows the system default and may not match the project's runtime. Check the version with abstrax project info <name>.

sudo abstrax cron add backup --command="/usr/local/bin/backup.sh" --daily --user=root
sudo abstrax cron add report --command="php8.5 artisan report" --schedule="0 8 * * 1" --user=www-data
sudo abstrax cron add queue --command="php8.5 artisan queue:work" --every-minute
sudo abstrax cron add cleanup --command="/usr/local/bin/cleanup.sh" --daily \
  --output=/var/log/cleanup.log --env=APP_ENV=production

Example output

Cron job backup created.
  Schedule: 0 0 * * *
  User:     root
  Command:  /usr/local/bin/backup.sh
  File:     /etc/cron.d/abstrax-backup

cron remove

Remove a managed cron job by ID.

sudo abstrax cron remove <id>

cron modify

Change an existing job. Only the fields you pass are updated.

sudo abstrax cron modify <id> [flags]
Flag Description
--user Change the user
--command Change the command
--schedule Change the schedule (validated as a 5-field expression)
--output Change stdout redirection
--error-output Change stderr redirection
--working-dir Change the working directory
--env Set an environment variable as KEY=VALUE (repeatable) 
sudo abstrax cron modify backup --schedule="0 3 * * *"

cron list

List managed cron jobs.

abstrax cron list

ID       SCHEDULE       USER       ENABLED   COMMAND
backup   0 0 * * *      root       yes       /usr/local/bin/backup.sh
queue    * * * * *      www-data   yes       php8.5 artisan queue:work

cron info

Show details for a single job.

abstrax cron info backup

  ID:        backup
  Schedule:  0 0 * * *
  User:      root
  Command:   /usr/local/bin/backup.sh
  Enabled:   yes
  File:      /etc/cron.d/abstrax-backup

cron enable and cron disable

Enable or disable a job without removing it.

abstrax cron enable backup
abstrax cron disable backup

Notes

  • Only jobs created by Abstrax (files named abstrax-<id> in /etc/cron.d) are listed and managed. Existing system crontabs are not touched.
  • The --schedule value must be a standard 5-field cron expression. Abstrax checks the field count but does not deeply validate each field's syntax.