Heartbeat & cron job monitoring
Ping SitePuls when a scheduled job finishes. If the ping stops, you get an alert — ideal for backups, imports, and internal automations that must run on time.
What heartbeat monitoring is for
Cron and background workers can fail silently while the website still loads. A heartbeat is a simple “I ran” signal after your job completes so you know the schedule is healthy.
How the check works
SitePuls gives you a unique URL. Your script calls it with curl or any HTTP client after success. If no request arrives within the expected window (plus grace), the monitor goes down and alerts fire.
Jobs and automations to watch
Database backups, nightly data syncs, cleanup tasks, report generation, and queue drainers — anything that must run on a cadence even when nobody logs in.
Alert when heartbeats stop
Email, Telegram, and webhooks carry the same incident signals as other monitors. History shows missed windows so you can prove reliability to your team.
No agent required
Everything is an HTTP call from your existing environment — VMs, containers, or serverless functions — as long as outbound HTTPS is allowed.
Pair with API monitoring
API checks validate user-facing endpoints; heartbeats validate batch work behind them. Together they cover synchronous and asynchronous paths.
Internal tasks and pipelines
Use heartbeats for jobs that don’t map cleanly to a public URL. The monitor only cares that your automation checked in.
Setup checklist
Create the monitor, copy the URL, add it to the end of your cron or workflow, set interval + grace to match runtime, and attach contacts.
Frequently asked questions
What is heartbeat monitoring?
Heartbeat monitoring checks that your cron job or scheduled task runs on time. Your job sends a signal (e.g. HTTP request) to SitePuls; if the signal doesn't arrive within the expected interval, you get an alert.
How do I add a heartbeat to my cron job?
Create a heartbeat monitor in SitePuls and get your unique URL. Add a curl or HTTP request to that URL at the end of your cron script. When the job runs, it pings SitePuls; if the ping is missing, you're alerted.
Why use heartbeat monitoring?
Cron jobs can fail silently. Heartbeat monitoring tells you when a job didn't run so you can fix the script, permissions, or scheduler. It complements uptime and API monitoring for full coverage.
What if my job is slower than the interval?
Increase the expected interval or grace period so occasional long runs don’t false-positive. Tune to your worst-case runtime.
Can serverless functions send heartbeats?
Yes, as long as the function can call the HTTPS URL when it completes.
Is this a replacement for log-based alerting?
Heartbeats answer “did the job run on schedule?” Logs answer “what happened inside?”. Many teams use both; SitePuls focuses on the heartbeat signal.
Can I reuse one URL for multiple jobs?
Each monitor has its own URL so you can tell which pipeline failed. Split separate cron tasks into separate monitors.
What about jobs that should not run concurrently?
Heartbeats only prove completion. Serialize jobs in your scheduler if exclusivity matters — SitePuls does not coordinate locks between runs.