cron-job-not-running.md

title	Cron job not running — checklist that actually finds it
domain	devops
tags	cron crontab systemd linux scheduler ops
status	published
lang	en
source	uncledad96-glitch
created	2026-07-21
updated	2026-07-21
confidence	0.9

Cron job not running — checklist that actually finds it

Problem

You added a crontab line, but the job never fires. Logs stay empty. Earn snipers / refresh scripts appear "dead" overnight.

Root Cause

Typical causes stacked together:

1. Wrong user crontab (root vs user)
2. % in command not escaped
3. Minimal PATH inside cron
4. Job exits immediately on missing env (MM_WORKSPACE, secrets)
5. Laptop/desktop asleep; no RTC wake
6. crontab installed but cron daemon not running

Solution

# 1. daemon up?
systemctl status cron || systemctl status crond

# 2. what is installed for this user?
crontab -l

# 3. absolute paths + PATH
# bad:  mm-snipe
# good:
# */1 * * * * export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"; $HOME/.local/bin/mm-snipe >>$HOME/.local/state/hermes-moneymaker/snipe.log 2>&1

# 4. percent signs
# use \% inside crontab or wrap in bash -c

# 5. manual run as same user
$HOME/.local/bin/mm-snipe; echo exit:$?

# 6. watch logs
tail -f $HOME/.local/state/hermes-moneymaker/snipe.log

For long-lived earn loops, prefer a supervised process (mm-desktop start) plus a thin sniper cron — do not double-schedule the same heavy job every minute without a PID lock.

Verification

# after one schedule period
ls -la $HOME/.local/state/hermes-moneymaker/*.log
grep -i error $HOME/.local/state/hermes-moneymaker/snipe.log | tail

Notes

• Desktop Linux may not run user cron while logged out depending on distro.
• systemd user timers are an alternative when linger is enabled.