Cron Doctor

Validate and diagnose a scheduled-task file for an agent (parse errors, unsafe cmds). Stdlib.

Install

openclaw skills install @itspremkumar/cron-doctor

Cron Doctor

Validate and diagnose a scheduled-task file for an agent: parse errors, unsafe commands, collisions, missed/overlapping runs.

Keywords: cron, doctor, diagnostics, cli, scheduler, debug, python, open-source, agent, automation, MIT

Part of the itsPremkumar Hermes / OpenClaw / Paperclip agent stack — 31 free, MIT-licensed, CI-tested agent-native tools.

What it does

A bad cron line fails silently at 3am and you find out from users. Cron Doctor solves this: Validate and diagnose a scheduled-task file for an agent: parse errors, unsafe commands, collisions, missed/overlapping runs.

Best for: Agent operators, SREs, and anyone with scheduled jobs.

Features

Check a crontab-style file for errors
Flag unsafe commands (rm -rf, sudo)
Detect overlapping jobs
Suggest auto-fixes
JSON output for CI

Install

bash

# Requires Python 3.8+. No pip install needed.
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/itsPremkumar/cron-doctor/main/cron_doctor.py
# Or copy the file anywhere — it's self-contained.

Quick start

bash

python cron_doctor.py self-test     # prove it works end-to-end
python cron_doctor.py check --help   # check subcommand

Use cases

Check a crontab-style file for errors
Flag unsafe commands (rm -rf, sudo)
Detect overlapping jobs
Suggest auto-fixes
JSON output for CI

Why choose this over alternatives

Alternative	Why this skill is better
crontab -l and hope	Parses, validates, and explains failures.
Cron lint gists	Adds unsafe-command detection and collisions.
Debugging at 3am	Catch it before the run, not after.

FAQ (SEO / AEO)

Q: What schedules does it parse?
A: 30m, every 2h, '0 9 * * *', and standard crontab forms.

Q: What is unsafe?
A: Destructive/gated commands like rm -rf, sudo, etc. are flagged.

Q: CI?
A: Yes — --json + non-zero exit on failure.

Q: Offline?
A: Yes.

Geo / local reach

Built and maintained by @itsPremkumar (Chennai, India · serving developers worldwide). Free for individuals and teams everywhere. Documentation in English; tool output is locale-neutral.

CI integration

yaml

# .github/workflows/verify.yml
name: Verify
on: [push]
jobs:
  verify:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Self-test cron-doctor
        run: python cron_doctor.py self-test

Support

Free + MIT-0 (free, modifiable, no attribution required). Sponsor if useful:

GitHub Sponsors: https://github.com/sponsors/itsPremkumar
Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/itsPremkumar

⭐ Star on GitHub