Define the expectation.
Give each job a name, an expected schedule and a grace period for those runs that take a little longer.
Cron & heartbeat monitoring
Know when the
quiet jobs
go quiet.
Your backups, scheduled tasks and background workers should check in. When they stop, you should be the first to know.
One check-in URL. A little peace of mind.
●●●WORKSPACE / PRODUCTION
A small signal. A clearer picture.
Your background work,
out in the open.
Database backupOn schedule
Last check-in 2 minutes ago24h schedule
Invoice exportRunning late
Grace period in progress1h schedule
$ curl -fsS -m 10 --retry 5 -o /dev/null "https://pingvella.iangunter.co.uk/ping/your-check-uuid"
# your job checks in, you get clarity
# your job checks in, you get clarity
Illustration only · sample data
BUILT FOR THE WORK YOU DON'T SEEBACKUPSCRON JOBSQUEUE WORKERSDATA SYNCS
Small setup. Useful signal.
Three steps to
a quieter on-call.
A straightforward workflow for tasks that need to run on time.
Send a check-in.
Add a request to your job's completion path. A unique URL connects that run to the right check.
Act on the silence.
Surface missed runs, see the history and route an alert to the people who can put things right.
Designed around your next action
Less noise.
More “that's sorted”.
A clear view of what ran, what didn't and what needs attention.
Schedules with breathing room
Simple intervals or cron expressions in any timezone, with grace periods to tell a slow job from a missing one.
History you can read
Start, success and failure signals, run durations and recent outcomes, laid out for a quick investigation.
Alerts with somewhere to go
Email, Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams and custom webhooks, plus recovery notices when a job comes back.
The useful details
A few good questions.
What is heartbeat monitoring?
Your job sends a check-in on its expected schedule. If the check-in doesn't arrive within the grace period, Pingvella flags the job as down and notifies you.
How do I check in from a job?
Request your check's unique URL when the job finishes — with curl, wget or any HTTP client. Append /start at the beginning of a run to measure its duration, or /fail to report a failure immediately.
What is the difference between late and down?
A late check has passed its expected time but is still within its grace period. A down check has passed that window, or reported a failure. Alerts are sent when a check goes down, and again when it recovers.
Should I keep my check URLs secret?
Yes. Anyone with the URL can send a check-in for that job, so treat it like a credential.
Keep an ear on the background