Cronjob Manager TUI

A comprehensive Terminal User Interface (TUI) for managing cronjobs on Debian Trixie and other Linux distributions.

Features

• Human-Readable Schedule Syntax: View and understand your cron schedules at a glance
• Full CRUD Operations: Add, edit, delete, and toggle cronjobs easily
• Live Logging: Real-time output when running jobs manually
• Log History: Persistent log storage and viewing for each job
• Quick Presets: Common schedule templates (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly)
• Job Status Management: Enable/disable jobs without deleting them
• Intuitive Keyboard Navigation: Vim-style keybindings

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• cron/crontab
• Terminal with color support

Installation

Quick Install

# Navigate to the application directory
cd cronjob-tui

# Run the setup script
./setup.sh

# Or install dependencies manually
pip3 install textual croniter

Manual Installation

# Install dependencies
pip3 install textual croniter

# Make executable (if needed)
chmod +x cronjob-manager

# Run
./cronjob-manager

Debian Trixie Specific

# Install system dependencies
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-pip cron

# Install Python packages
pip3 install textual croniter --break-system-packages

# Run
python3 cronjob-manager

Usage

Starting the Application

# Using the wrapper script
./cronman

# Or directly with Python
python3 cronjob-manager

Keyboard Shortcuts

Navigation

Key	Action
↑/k	Move up in job list
↓/j	Move down in job list
Enter	Select/confirm
Tab	Switch between panels
Escape	Close dialog/go back

Job Management

Key	Action
a	Add new cronjob
e	Edit selected job
d	Delete selected job
t	Toggle job (enable/disable)
r	Run job now (immediate execution)
l	View job logs

General

Key	Action
?	Show help screen
R	Refresh job list
H	View execution history
q	Quit application

Human-Readable Schedule Examples

The application automatically converts cron syntax to readable text:

Cron Syntax	Human Readable
* * * * *	Every minute
*/5 * * * *	Every 5 minutes
0 * * * *	Every hour on the hour
0 0 * * *	Every day at midnight
0 9 * * 1-5	Every weekday at 9:00 AM
0 17 * * 1-5	Every weekday at 5:00 PM
0 0 1 * *	On the 1st of every month at midnight
0 0 1 1 *	Once a year on January 1st at midnight

Quick Presets

When adding or editing a job, use the preset buttons:

• Every Minute: * * * * *
• Hourly: 0 * * * *
• Daily: 0 0 * * *
• Weekly: 0 0 * * 0
• Monthly: 0 0 1 * *

File Structure

The application stores data in ~/.cronjob-manager/:

~/.cronjob-manager/
├── config.json      # Application configuration
├── jobs.json        # Job definitions
├── history.json     # Execution history
└── logs/
    ├── job_abc123.log   # Individual job logs
    └── job_def456.log

Cron Expression Reference

Field Order

┌───────────── minute (0 - 59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0 - 23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1 - 31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1 - 12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0 - 6) (Sunday = 0)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Special Characters

Character	Meaning
*	Any value
,	Value list separator
-	Range of values
/	Step values
0 or 7	Sunday

Examples

# Every 15 minutes
*/15 * * * * /path/to/script.sh

# Every hour at minute 30
30 * * * * /path/to/script.sh

# Every day at 6:30 AM
30 6 * * * /path/to/script.sh

# Every Monday at 9:00 AM
0 9 * * 1 /path/to/script.sh

# First day of every month at midnight
0 0 1 * * /path/to/script.sh

# Every weekday (Mon-Fri) at 5:00 PM
0 17 * * 1-5 /path/to/script.sh

# Every 6 hours
0 */6 * * * /path/to/script.sh

# At specific times (8 AM and 8 PM)
0 8,20 * * * /path/to/script.sh

Troubleshooting

"textual not found" Error

pip3 install textual --break-system-packages

"crontab: command not found" Error

sudo apt install cron

Permission Denied

chmod +x cronjob-manager
# or run with:
python3 cronjob-manager

Colors Not Displaying Correctly

Ensure your terminal supports 256 colors:

echo $TERM
# Should show something like xterm-256color or screen-256color

Security Notes

• Jobs are stored in user crontab (crontab -l)
• Log files are stored in ~/.cronjob-manager/logs/
• The application never runs with elevated privileges
• Commands are executed with user permissions

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.

Author

Created for Debian Trixie console TUI management.