Quick Start
From zero to cron monitoring in under two minutes.
1 Create a monitor
From your SiteVitals dashboard, navigate to Cron Monitors and click New Monitor. Fill in the basics:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | A recognisable label, e.g. "Nightly database backup" |
| Schedule type | Simple (pick an interval) or Cron expression (e.g. 0 2 * * *) |
| Expected interval | How often the job runs — every minute up to every week |
| Grace period | How long to wait after a missed ping before alerting (1–1,440 minutes) |
| Timezone | The timezone your cron schedule operates in |
Click Save. SiteVitals generates a unique ping URL and shows you setup instructions immediately.
2 Add the ping to your cron job
Append a curl call to the end of your existing cron entry. The simplest integration:
The && ensures the success ping only fires if your script exits with code 0. The -fsS --retry 3 flags keep curl quiet on success, show errors on failure, and retry transient network issues.
With start signal and failure reporting
For full visibility — including runtime measurement and explicit failure alerts:
This sends /start before the job, a success ping if it completes, or a /fail ping if it exits non-zero.
Sending runtime and exit code
If your script tracks its own execution time:
Sending log output
POST the output of your job for diagnostic context:
3 Verify it's working
After your cron job runs for the first time, return to the monitor's dashboard in SiteVitals. You should see:
- › Status changed from "New" to "Up"
- › Last ping timestamp matching when your job ran
- › Next expected timestamp showing when the next ping is due
If you sent a /start signal, you'll also see the calculated runtime for the job.
Default alerts
When you create a new monitor, SiteVitals automatically sets up two alert channels:
- › Email — sent to your account email address
- › In-app notification — visible in the SiteVitals dashboard
You can add Slack webhooks, custom webhooks and additional email recipients from the monitor's settings page.
What's next?
Explore the full ping API or learn how to manage your monitors, configure alerts and view statistics.