How to manage cron jobs in Kiravo

Cron is what lets a website do scheduled work — running a backup script, syncing data with an external API, sending a daily summary email, cleaning up old records, regenerating a sitemap. Anything that needs to happen on a regular timer goes here.

To open the Cron jobs section, go to your website’s dashboard, click Advanced in the top menu bar, choose Developer tools, then click Cron jobs in the sidebar.

You’ll see a list of any existing cron jobs (empty on a fresh site) and an Add cron job button at the top.

Add a cron job

Click Add cron job. The form opens.

Caution

Cron jobs run real commands automatically. Double-check the command and the schedule before saving. A typo in the command can corrupt files; an interval set too aggressively (e.g. every minute for a heavy script) can degrade site performance. Start with longer intervals and tighten them only if you find the job needs to run more often.

What command or URL should run?

By default, when you install WordPress on Kiravo, a cron job is automatically created. The default command is wp cron event run --due-now --path=public_html, which runs every cron task WordPress has currently scheduled. It uses WP-CLI, which is pre-installed on Kiravo sites.

You can add other commands or URLs to run cron tasks. Examples below.

The first field is command or request URL. Two kinds of inputs work:

• A shell command. For example, php /home/<your-account>/public_html/script.php. The command runs as your account, with the same file-system permissions you have when connected over SSH.
• A request URL. For example, https://yourdomain.com/cron-endpoint.php?key=secret. The server makes an HTTP request to the URL on schedule. Useful for WordPress, where many cron tasks are exposed via wp-cron.php or a plugin endpoint.

Set the interval

The second field is the interval — how often the command should run. You can either:

• Pick a preset — common intervals like Every 15 minutes, Every hour, Every day at midnight. Use these when one fits.
• Enter a custom cron expression — the standard five-field cron syntax. Examples:
  • */15 * * * * — every 15 minutes.
  • 0 * * * * — every hour, on the hour.
  • 0 2 * * * — every day at 02:00.
  • 0 3 * * 0 — every Sunday at 03:00.
  • 15 * * * * — at minute 15 past every hour.

Read each field as: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week. * means “every”, */N means “every N”, a number means that exact value.

If you’re new to cron syntax, crontab.guru is a good interactive translator — type an expression and it tells you in English what it means.

Save

Click Add. The job appears in the list, showing the command and interval, and starts running on schedule from then on.

See what’s currently scheduled

The Cron jobs list shows every active cron job for the website, with two columns:

• Command or URL — the exact thing being run.
• Interval — how often it runs (in cron expression form, or in plain English if you picked a preset).

Each row has action controls for editing and deleting.

If you’re not sure whether a job is firing, the website’s Activity log records cron events alongside other panel activity — check there for the last run time.

Edit an existing cron job

Schedules and commands change. To update an existing job:

1. Find the job in the Cron jobs list.
2. Use the edit control on its row.
3. The form opens, pre-filled with the current command and interval. Change whichever field you need.
4. Save.

The change takes effect at the next scheduled run. If the job was about to fire imminently, it’ll fire under the new settings.

Common reasons to edit

• The script’s path moved — update the command.
• The job is too aggressive — widen the interval (e.g. every 5 minutes → every 15).
• The job isn’t firing often enough — tighten the interval, but watch the server load.
• A secret in the URL needs rotating — paste in the new URL.

Remove a cron job

When a scheduled task is no longer needed — the integration retired, the cleanup script obsolete, the campaign over — delete the cron job. Leaving dead cron jobs around wastes server cycles and clutters the list.

1. Find the job in the Cron jobs list.
2. Use the delete control on its row.
3. Confirm.

The job is removed immediately and stops running.