tickr-cron 1.0.4

Cron for humans - schedule tasks with natural language

Tickr

Cron for humans - tickr tasks with natural language

A simple, cross-platform task scheduler that's easier to use than cron, with human-readable syntax and built-in logging.

Features

• 📝 Natural language scheduling - "every 5 minutes", "every monday at 9am"
• 💾 Persistent storage - tasks survive restarts
• 📊 Built-in logging - track all executions with stdout/stderr
• 🔄 Retry logic - automatically retry failed tasks
• ⏱️ Timeout support - kill long-running tasks
• 🖥️ Cross-platform - works on Linux, macOS, and Windows
• 🎯 Simple CLI - no complex cron syntax to remember

Quick Start

Installation

pip install tickr-cron

Or with pipx (recommended):

pipx install tickr-cron

Add Your First Task

# Run a backup script every day at 2am
tickr add backup-db --run "python backup.py" --when "every day at 2:00"

# Check on a service every 5 minutes
tickr add health-check --run "curl https://myapp.com/health" --when "every 5 minutes"

# Send a weekly report
tickr add weekly-report --run "./send_report.sh" --when "every monday at 9:00"

Start the Daemon

# Start in background (Unix-like systems)
tickr daemon

# Or run in foreground (useful for debugging/Docker)
tickr daemon --foreground

View Your Tasks

# List all tasks
tickr list

# Detailed view
tickr list --verbose

# Check execution history
tickr logs backup-db

# Check daemon status
tickr status

Supported tickr Formats

Interval-based

• every 5 minutes - every N minutes
• every hour - every N hours
• every 3 days - every N days

Time-based

• every day at 14:30 - daily at specific time
• every monday at 9:00 - weekly on specific day
• every weekday at 8:00 - Monday-Friday at specific time

Day-based

• every monday - every specific weekday
• every friday - any day of the week
• every weekday - Monday through Friday

CLI Commands

tickr add

Add a new scheduled task.

tickr add <task_name> --run <command> --when <schedule> [options]

Options:
  --timeout SECONDS     Kill task if runs longer than this
  --retries N           Retry N times on failure
  --retry-delay SECONDS Wait between retries (default: 60)

Examples:

# Simple task
tickr add my-task --run "echo hello" --when "every 5 minutes"

# With timeout and retries
tickr add api-check \
  --run "curl https://api.example.com" \
  --when "every hour" \
  --timeout 30 \
  --retries 3 \
  --retry-delay 120

tickr list

Show all scheduled tasks.

tickr list [--verbose]

tickr run

Execute a task immediately (ignores schedule).

tickr run <task_name>

tickr logs

View execution history for a task.

tickr logs <task_name> [--limit N] [--failed-only]

Options:
  --limit N         Show last N runs (default: 10)
  --failed-only     Only show failed executions

tickr enable/disable

Enable or disable a task without deleting it.

tickr disable <task_name>
tickr enable <task_name>

tickr remove

Delete a task and all its execution history.

tickr remove <task_name>

tickr daemon

Start the tickr daemon.

tickr daemon [--foreground]

Options:
  --foreground    Don't daemonize (useful for debugging/Docker)

tickr status

Show daemon status and next scheduled task.

tickr status

Advanced Usage

Retry Failed Tasks

tickr add flaky-api \
  --run "python sync_data.py" \
  --when "every hour" \
  --retries 3 \
  --retry-delay 300

If the task fails, it will retry 3 times with a 5-minute delay between attempts.

Timeout Long-Running Tasks

tickr add slow-task \
  --run "./long_process.sh" \
  --when "every day at 3am" \
  --timeout 3600

The task will be killed if it runs longer than 1 hour (3600 seconds).

Run in Docker

FROM python:3.11-slim

RUN pip install tickr

# Add your scheduled tasks
RUN tickr add my-task --run "python app.py" --when "every hour"

# Run daemon in foreground
CMD ["tickr", "daemon", "--foreground"]

Configuration

All data is stored in ~/.tickr/:

• tickr.db - SQLite database with tasks and execution history
• daemon.pid - PID file for the running daemon
• daemon.log - Daemon logs (rotated at 10MB)