# Cron job monitoring

> Cron job monitoring: scheduled jobs check in through your SDK, and Parsemend alerts you when one is missed, runs too long or fails. Crontab and interval schedules, included on the free plan.

Source: https://www.parsemend.com/cron-monitoring

Scheduled jobs check in when they start and finish. Miss a run, run too long or fail, and Parsemend opens an issue and alerts you.

- **Schedules:** crontab or interval
- **Set up:** the first check-in creates the monitor
- **Missed run:** after a 5-minute margin by default
- **Too long:** after 30 minutes by default

```
await Sentry.withMonitor('nightly-billing', runBilling, {
  schedule: { type: 'crontab', value: '0 3 * * *' },
});
```

On Developer, your coding agent can pick up any of these issues over MCP and fix it.

## Frequently asked questions

### Do I create monitors by hand?

No. The first check-in from your job creates the monitor, with the schedule it reports.

### Can I check in without an SDK?

Yes. A check-in is a small HTTP request, so curl in a shell script works.

### Which languages are supported?

PHP, Laravel and Node are verified end to end; other SDKs use the same protocol.

_Monitors cannot be created from the dashboard; they appear on the first check-in._