# HelloCron

> HelloCron is cron job, background task and uptime monitoring. Jobs send a ping at start and end; silence, failure or a slow run raises an alert. HTTP and SSL checks run from HelloCron. Ingest API at https://api.hellocron.com (key prefix ck_), Management API at https://app.hellocron.com/api/v1 (key prefix mk_).

- OpenAPI 3 contract for both APIs: https://docs.hellocron.com/openapi.yaml
- Full text of these docs in one file: https://docs.hellocron.com/llms-full.txt
- Shell client: https://github.com/hellocron/cli (served at https://hellocron.com/hellocron.sh)
- Agent Skills, MCP server and plugin for AI assistants: https://github.com/hellocron/agent-plugin (MCP endpoint https://mcp.hellocron.com/mcp)
- Official libraries: https://github.com/hellocron/php, https://github.com/hellocron/laravel, https://github.com/hellocron/ping-action

## Start

- [HelloCron Docs](https://docs.hellocron.com/): Job monitoring platform, documentation for developers.

## Getting started

- [Authentication](https://docs.hellocron.com/getting-started/authentication/): How to authenticate API requests.
- [Introduction](https://docs.hellocron.com/getting-started/introduction/): What is HelloCron and how does it work?
- [Quick Start](https://docs.hellocron.com/getting-started/quickstart/): Send your first ping in 2 minutes.

## API reference

- [Event Types & States](https://docs.hellocron.com/api/event-types/): All supported event_type values and their allowed states.
- [Management API](https://docs.hellocron.com/api/monitors/): Manage monitors programmatically with the HelloCron REST API.
- [API Overview](https://docs.hellocron.com/api/overview/): HelloCron APIs, base URLs, authentication and rate limits.
- [POST /ping](https://docs.hellocron.com/api/ping/): Send heartbeat pings to track cron jobs and scheduled tasks. A simple, Cronitor-API-compatible ping endpoint - a lightweight alternative to PostPing, Cronitor, and Healthchecks.io.
- [GET /ping](https://docs.hellocron.com/api/ping-get/): Submit a monitoring event via a simple GET request with query parameters.

## Guides

- [AI agents and MCP](https://docs.hellocron.com/guides/ai-agents/): Let Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor or Gemini set up HelloCron monitoring for you, from skills to the remote MCP server.
- [Alert Channels](https://docs.hellocron.com/guides/alert-channels/): Deliver monitor alerts to email, Telegram, Discord, Slack, PagerDuty, or any webhook endpoint.
- [Monitoring Cron Jobs](https://docs.hellocron.com/guides/cron-jobs/): Wrap any cron job to track start, success, and failure.
- [Laravel Scheduler](https://docs.hellocron.com/guides/laravel/): Monitor every Laravel Scheduler task with the hellocron/laravel package - automatic run/complete/fail pings, durations, exit codes and monitor sync.
- [Migrating to HelloCron](https://docs.hellocron.com/guides/migration/): Switch from Cronitor, PostPing, Healthchecks.io, or any other cron/ping monitoring tool.
- [Shell Script Client](https://docs.hellocron.com/guides/shell-script/): Use hellocron.sh for easy integration from any shell script.
- [Uptime badge for your README](https://docs.hellocron.com/guides/uptime-badge/): Embed a live status badge from a HelloCron status page in a README, wiki or docs site. No API key, no JavaScript, cacheable SVG.

## Reference

- [Shell client changelog](https://docs.hellocron.com/reference/client-changelog/): Version history of the hellocron.sh shell client.
- [Postman Collection](https://docs.hellocron.com/reference/postman/): Download the HelloCron API collection for Postman.
- [Swagger UI](https://docs.hellocron.com/reference/swagger/): Interactive API explorer. Test endpoints directly from the browser.

## Product

- [Features](https://docs.hellocron.com/product/features/): Full HelloCron feature list grouped by module - cron monitoring, HTTP uptime, SSL checks, alerts, API and integrations.
- [Use cases](https://docs.hellocron.com/product/use-cases/): Concrete scenarios where HelloCron earns its keep - solo founder, DevOps lead, agency, SRE.
- [Why HelloCron](https://docs.hellocron.com/product/why-hellocron/): The problem we solve, and when you should reach for HelloCron instead of writing your own monitoring from scratch.

## Comparisons

- [HelloCron as a Cronitor alternative](https://docs.hellocron.com/compare/cronitor-alternative/): An honest comparison of HelloCron and Cronitor for cron job monitoring, uptime checks and SSL expiry, including pricing, ping API compatibility and how to migrate without downtime.
- [HelloCron as a Healthchecks.io alternative](https://docs.hellocron.com/compare/healthchecks-io-alternative/): How HelloCron compares to Healthchecks.io for cron and heartbeat monitoring, including pricing, HTTP and SSL coverage, self-hosting and how to migrate your existing pings.
- [HelloCron as an UptimeRobot alternative](https://docs.hellocron.com/compare/uptimerobot-alternative/): How HelloCron compares to UptimeRobot for uptime monitoring, cron job heartbeats and SSL expiry, including what the free plans actually cover and how to run both side by side.