A lightweight, fast, dependency-free Cron expression parser, task runner, and job scheduler for Go and standalone usage.
Gronx is a lightweight, dependency-free Cron expression parser and task scheduling library for Go. It allows developers to parse Cron expressions, check due dates, calculate next/previous execution times, and run scheduled tasks either programmatically or as a standalone daemon. It solves the need for a fast, integrated scheduling solution within Go applications without relying on external cron systems.
Go developers building applications that require scheduled job execution, task automation, or cron-like functionality, as well as system administrators looking for a lightweight, standalone task scheduler alternative to crond.
Developers choose Gronx for its zero dependencies, high performance due to early bailout logic, and comprehensive feature set including a built-in task runner daemon. It offers both programmatic integration for Go apps and a standalone binary, providing flexibility to replace traditional cron systems entirely.
Lightweight, fast and dependency-free Cron expression parser (due checker, next/prev due date finder), task runner, job scheduler and/or daemon for Golang (tested on v1.13+) and standalone usage. If you are bold, use it to replace crontab entirely.
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Has no external libraries, making it lightweight and easy to integrate without dependency conflicts or bloat.
Uses early bailout logic to quickly skip non-matching cron segments, optimizing performance for batch operations as highlighted in the README.
Supports seconds granularity, tags like '@5minutes', and modifiers such as 'L' for last day, going beyond standard cron expressions.
Includes a standalone binary 'tasker' that can replace crond, with concurrency control and timezone support for flexible deployment.
Offers only a simple on/off concurrency flag per task, lacking advanced features like job priorities, rate limiting, or dynamic scaling.
On Windows, defaults to PowerShell which doesn't support Unix-style command chaining (e.g., '&&'), requiring workarounds for complex task scripts.
Task state is not persisted; if the daemon crashes, there's no built-in mechanism to recover or resume interrupted jobs, relying on file-based definitions only.
gronx is an open-source alternative to the following products:
crontab is a configuration file in Unix-like systems that defines the schedule of cron jobs, specifying commands to run and their timing using a specific syntax.
crond is the daemon (background service) that runs the cron job scheduler on Unix-like systems, executing scheduled tasks according to the crontab configuration.