CronFu

CronFu Quickstart

Get your first cron job monitored in under 2 minutes.

1. Create an Account

Sign up at app.cronfu.dev/signup.

2. Generate an API Key

  1. Navigate to Settings > API Keys
  2. Click Generate Key
  3. Select type: Telemetry
  4. Give it a label (e.g., "Production crontab")
  5. Copy the key — it won't be shown again!

Your key will look like: cfu_tel_abc123def456ghi789jkl012mno345pqr678...

3. Send Your First Ping

Simple heartbeat (curl)

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TELEMETRY_KEY" \
  "https://ping.cronfu.dev/p/my-first-monitor?state=complete"

CronFu will automatically create a monitor called "my-first-monitor" the first time it receives a ping. No pre-configuration needed.

Monitor a cron job (wrap your command)

Use run before your command and complete or fail after to track duration and detect failures:

# In your crontab (crontab -e)
*/5 * * * * curl -fsS -m 10 -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://ping.cronfu.dev/p/my-cron-job?state=run" && \
  /path/to/your/script.sh && \
  curl -fsS -m 10 -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://ping.cronfu.dev/p/my-cron-job?state=complete" || \
  curl -fsS -m 10 -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://ping.cronfu.dev/p/my-cron-job?state=fail"

URL-path mode (no header needed)

If you enabled URL-path auth on your key, you can embed the key directly in the URL:

curl "https://ping.cronfu.dev/p/YOUR_TELEMETRY_KEY/my-first-monitor?state=complete"

Security note: URL-path auth embeds the API key in the URL, which may be logged by proxies. Use header-based auth when possible.

Send additional context

Attach metadata to pings via query parameters:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
  "https://ping.cronfu.dev/p/nightly-backup?state=complete&metric=duration:42.5&host=worker-01&env=production"

Or use a POST request with a JSON body:

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"state":"fail","message":"Connection refused","status_code":1}' \
  "https://ping.cronfu.dev/p/nightly-backup"

4. Check Your Dashboard

Open app.cronfu.dev/dashboard — your monitor should appear within seconds. You'll see its status, last ping time, and any metadata you sent.

5. Set a Schedule

Navigate to your monitor's Settings tab and set a cron schedule (e.g., */5 * * * *). CronFu will alert you if your job misses its expected schedule.

You can also set a grace period to avoid false alarms — for example, a 60-second grace period means CronFu waits an extra minute after the expected time before marking the monitor as late.

Next Steps

  • API Reference — Full API documentation with all endpoints and schemas
  • CLI Install — Install the CronFu CLI for crontab discovery and sync
  • Pricing — Compare plans and find the right tier for your team