# javan/whenever

Cron jobs in Ruby

Repository: https://github.com/javan/whenever
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/whenever
Language: Ruby
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-07-01T22:45:54+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 84/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 90, release rhythm 66, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 6407, "days_push": 63, "days_rel": 227, "gap_med": 29.0, "n_releases_24m": 3}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 8859, forks 715 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:26.059894+00:00)

## What it is
Whenever is a Ruby gem that provides a clean DSL for defining cron jobs in a schedule.rb file and converting them to crontab syntax. It can generate, preview, and update crontab entries via a command-line interface.

## Use cases
- schedule recurring rake tasks in a rails app
- write cron jobs with readable ruby syntax
- deploy crontab entries from version-controlled config
- run background jobs at specific times daily
- define custom job types for scheduled commands
- manage cron schedules per server role with capistrano

## When to choose
- you use ruby or rails and want maintainable, testable cron schedules
- you want cron definitions in version control instead of hand-edited crontabs
- you need to install crontab entries as part of deployment

## When to avoid
- you need distributed or persistent job queues rather than cron scheduling
- your stack is not ruby
- you need second-level or sub-minute scheduling precision

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: scheduling, cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: ruby, cli
- tags: cron, crontab, ruby-gem, job-scheduling, dsl, automation, command-line, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- javan/whenever (main) score 84

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:26.059894+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:24:46.656958+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/javan/whenever (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:26.059894+00:00, sha 422a9ae9b8aa)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.