{"slug": "systemd-timers", "name": "systemd timers", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 1, "score": 1.85, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2026-06-02", "latest": "2026-07-27", "why": "I love systemd timers! I've slowly moved all of my ansible-deployed cron jobs to timers", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I love systemd timers! 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I've slowly moved all of my ansible-deployed cron jobs to timers", "excerpt": "I love systemd timers! I've slowly moved all of my ansible-deployed cron jobs to timers (now just an ansible copy!). The integration with journalctl, especially in a newer OS like Debian 13 where syslog is gone, is really nice. It's also really nice to be able to start the service manually for debug. Having a cron job that didn't work was an annoying exercise in copy/pasting or writing an extra shell script. Don't ev", "context": "", "use_case": "scheduled jobs", "switched_from": "cron", "story": "You Don't Love Systemd Timers Enough"}, {"id": 773914048, "item_id": 48369628, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48369628", "by": "gchamonlive", "date": "2026-06-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Moved from cronie to systemd timers because they are resilient to system startup times.", "excerpt": "Moved from cronie to systemd timers because they are resilient to system startup times. 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I use systemd timers which are monitored through prometheus.", "excerpt": "I abolished cron. I use systemd timers which are monitored through prometheus.", "context": "", "use_case": "scheduled jobs", "switched_from": "cron", "story": "Ask HN: What do you use to monitor cron jobs and queue workers?"}, {"id": 773932592, "item_id": 48370787, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48370787", "by": "kayson", "date": "2026-06-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love systemd timers! I've slowly moved all of my ansible-deployed cron jobs to timers", "excerpt": "I love systemd timers! I've slowly moved all of my ansible-deployed cron jobs to timers (now just an ansible copy!). The integration with journalctl, especially in a newer OS like Debian 13 where syslog is gone, is really nice. It's also really nice to be able to start the service manually for debug. Having a cron job that didn't work was an annoying exercise in copy/pasting or writing an extra shell script. 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There wasn't the last time I used them, which I found to be super annoying for testing them.", "context": "", "use_case": "scheduled jobs", "switched_from": "", "story": "You Don't Love Systemd Timers Enough"}, {"id": 773914048, "item_id": 48369628, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48369628", "by": "gchamonlive", "date": "2026-06-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Moved from cronie to systemd timers because they are resilient to system startup times.", "excerpt": "Moved from cronie to systemd timers because they are resilient to system startup times. My backup strategy is to create a borg archive entry every day at a fixed time. With cronie the system needs to be running at the scheduled time, but systemd timer tolates this and runs the service as soons as the system is available.", "context": "", "use_case": "scheduled backups", "switched_from": "cronie", "story": "You Don't Love Systemd Timers Enough"}]}