Commands

If using [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/), add uvx to the start of the following commands.

The crondir command supports the following operations:

crondir build

Build the crontab from snippets in the cron dir:

crondir build [--cron-dir=<path>] [--no-backup] [--backup-path=<path>]

where:

• --cron-dir=<path> - override the path to the cron dir, from ~/.cron.d/

• --no-backup - do not perform a backup

• --backup-path=<path> - override the path to the backup dir, from ~/.cron.d/backups/

You will need to run this command after you make any changes to the cron dir.

This will make a backup of this user’s current crontab, then concatenate all snippets in the cron dir, add any unmanaged existing crontab tasks, then install them as the new crontab for this user.

Examples

Backup and rebuild the crontab:

crondir build

Rebuild without taking a backup:

crondir build --no-backup

Instead of ~/.cron.d/, use the cron dir ~/cron_tasks/:

crondir build --cron-dir=~/cron_tasks/

crondir list

List installed snippets:

crondir list [–cron-dir=<path>]

where:

• --cron-dir=<path> - override the path to the cron dir, from ~/.cron.d/

crondir add

Add a cron snippet:

crondir add <source> [<cron-name>] [--force] [--cron-dir=<path>]

where:

• <source> - the source file to install.

• <cron-name> - optional snippet name - the filename to give it in ~/.cron.d/. If not specified, will use the same filename as source.

• --force - if the target already exists, overwrite it. If this is not set and it already exists, it will raise an error.

• --cron-dir=<path> - override the path to the cron dir, from ~/.cron.d/

You will need to run crondir build after this for your change to take effect.

Examples

Add the file project/mytask as mytask:

crondir add project/mytask
crondir build

Add the file project/mytask as project__mytask:

crondir add project/mytask project__mytask
crondir build

Add the file project/mytask mytask and overwrite if it exists:

crondir add project/mytask --force
crondir build

Instead of ~/.cron.d/, use the cron dir ~/cron_tasks/:

crondir add project/mytask --cron-dir=~/cron_tasks/
crondir build --cron-dir=~/cron_tasks/

crondir remove

Remove a cron snippet from the cron dir:

crondir remove <cron-name> [--force] [--cron-dir=<path>]

where:

• <cron-name> - the snippet name from crondir add - in other words, the filename in ~/.cron.d/.

• --force - if the target does not exists, don’t exit with an error.

• --cron-dir=<path> - override the path to the cron dir, from ~/.cron.d/

You will need to run crondir build after this for your change to take effect.

Examples

Remove the cron snippet named mytask:

crondir remove mytask
crondir build

Try to remove mytask, but don’t fail if it isn’t present:

crondir remove mytask --force
crondir build

Failure state may be useful when chaining commands:

# Only rebuild if the task was removed
crondir remove mytask && crondir build

# Rebuild whether it was removed or not
crondir remove mytask --force && crondir build

Instead of ~/.cron.d/, use the cron dir ~/cron_tasks/:

crondir remove mytask --cron-dir=~/cron_tasks/
crondir build --cron-dir=~/cron_tasks/