01
Start with evidence
Check whether a cron job is running
Separate scheduler state, process evidence, logs and a real completion signal.
Engineering guides
HeartbeatHook Guides for Jobs, Signals and Application Monitoring
Practical explanations for developers and operators working with scheduled jobs, background processes, health checks, webhooks and polling.
One practical path
From first signal to dependable operations.
Follow the guides in order. Each step answers one operational question and prepares the next decision.
8 stepsFoundation to production thinking
02
Define reliability
Monitor a cron job reliably
Turn expected execution and meaningful completion into an operational contract.
03
Choose the signal
Heartbeat vs health check
Understand the direction and question each monitoring pattern answers.
04
Cover workers
Monitor background jobs
Combine worker state, logs, metrics, completion checks and heartbeats.
05
Choose transport
Webhooks vs polling
Compare topology, retries, security and intermittent receivers.
06
Connect private systems
Receive events without a public webhook
Use outbound polling and a mailbox model behind NAT, firewalls or private networks.
07
Protect critical work
Monitor scheduled backups
Separate execution, completion evidence, storage validation and restore testing.
08
Reason about silence
Understand a dead man's switch
Use expected evidence of life to interpret meaningful silence without overclaiming.