How do I avoid cron jobs failing silently?

Use heartbeat monitoring: the job pings a URL on success, and you alert if check-ins stop.

Cron Expression Helper

Paste a 5-field cron expression to get a human-readable explanation and the next run times.

Cron expression (5 fields)

Format: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week (e.g. */20 * * * *). Supports names like mon and jan, plus macros like @daily.

Human-readable schedule

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Next 10 run times (local time)

Click any preset to load it into the calculator:

It runs every 20 minutes (at minute 0, 20, and 40 of each hour).

Some systems use 5 fields (minute-hour-dom-month-dow). Others add seconds or special operators. This tool focuses on common 5-field cron.

Use heartbeat monitoring: your job pings a URL on success, and you get alerted if it stops checking in.

UpDog cron/heartbeat monitoring alerts when scheduled jobs stop checking in — the classic silent failure mode.