jps-crontab-utils

Collection of Python utilities for parsing, validating, and searching crontab files.

🚀 Overview

jps-crontab-utils provides three command-line tools:

1. Crontab Parser

Parses raw crontab files into structured job objects:

• Supports per-job metadata via comment blocks
• Handles multiline commands with POSIX \ continuation
• Resolves executables using $PATH or absolute paths
• Normalizes metadata keys automatically (owner-email → owner_email)

2. Crontab Checker

Validates each cron job for:

• Required metadata (owner, owner email, reference, repository, etc.)
• Recommended metadata (labels, run frequency, description, etc.)
• Executable existence, file type, +x bit, and non-empty status
• Outputs human-readable tables or JSON for automation

3. Crontab Search Utility

Queries crontab entries based on:

• Labels (--label nightly)
• Owner email (--email john.smith)
• Code repository (--repo git@gitlab.com:org/pipeline.git)
• Full JSON output for programmatic analysis

These utilities help improve crontab hygiene, enforce team standards, and identify broken or undocumented jobs across large environments.

Features

• 🔍 Search cron jobs using metadata filters
• 📝 Parse job schedule, command, metadata
• 🛠 Validate executables and metadata completeness
• 📈 Rich terminal tables (typer + rich)
• 📦 JSON output for CI/CD and automation
• 🧪 100% test-covered parser and search modules

Example Usage

Parse and inspect a crontab

jps-crontab-parse --file /etc/crontab

Search for jobs labeled “nightly”

jps-crontab-search --file crontab.txt --label nightly

Audit a crontab

jps-crontab-check --file crontab.txt

JSON mode for pipelines

jps-crontab-check --file crontab.txt --json | jq .

📦 Installation

make install

pip install jps-crontab-utils

🧪 Development

make fix && make format && make lint
make test

📜 License

MIT License © Jaideep Sundaram

Documentation

📘 Full documentation: see docs/USAGE.md