The latest articles on DEV Community by xiun xiao (@xiun_xiao_6eae2df5c108c5f). https://dev.to/xiun_xiao_6eae2df5c108c5f https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F2969596%2F7055e0a9-0a90-4345-a346-4802ba191b99.JPG https://dev.to/xiun_xiao_6eae2df5c108c5f en xiun xiao Mon, 01 Jun 2026 09:31:22 +0000 https://dev.to/xiun_xiao_6eae2df5c108c5f/i-built-cronbox-a-local-first-menu-bar-scheduler-for-scripts-and-coding-agent-tasks-3oh8 https://dev.to/xiun_xiao_6eae2df5c108c5f/i-built-cronbox-a-local-first-menu-bar-scheduler-for-scripts-and-coding-agent-tasks-3oh8 <p>I have a lot of small scripts that are useful only on my own machine: cleanup jobs, sync tasks, backups, local reports, quick data pulls, and lately a few coding-agent tasks.</p> <p>Putting those on a server felt heavier than the problem. Plain cron or launchd works, but it is not very pleasant when I want to browse available scripts, attach JSON args, check whether a job is still running, or read stdout/stderr after the fact.</p> <p>So I built <strong>CronBox</strong>: a local-first macOS menu bar scheduler for scripts and coding-agent tasks.</p> <h2> What it does </h2> <p>CronBox scans folders for executable entry scripts, lets you run them manually, and lets you schedule them as recurring cron jobs or one-shot runs.</p> <p>It keeps the useful operational bits in one place:</p> <ul> <li>script directories and selected entrypoints</li> <li>aliases, cron expressions, timezones, JSON args, and environment variables</li> <li>run history</li> <li>live stdout/stderr logs</li> <li>macOS notifications when scheduled jobs complete</li> <li>skipped runs when the previous run for the same schedule is still queued or running</li> </ul> <p>The main window can be closed while scheduled jobs keep running from the menu bar.</p> <h2> Why this exists </h2> <p>I wanted something between two extremes:</p> <ul> <li> <strong>cron / launchd</strong>: reliable, but not friendly when iterating on local scripts</li> <li> <strong>server-side job runners</strong>: powerful, but too much infrastructure for personal machine tasks</li> </ul> <p>CronBox is meant for the messy middle: local automation that you actually want to inspect and adjust.</p> <h2> CLI examples </h2> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight shell"><code>cronbox add ~/scripts cronbox add ~/scripts <span class="nt">--include</span> daily-report.sh cronbox schedules add ./daily-report.sh <span class="s2">"0 9 * * *"</span> <span class="nt">--tz</span> Asia/Shanghai cronbox schedules add ./reminder.sh <span class="s2">"* * * * *"</span> <span class="nt">--once</span> cronbox run ~/scripts daily-report.sh <span class="nt">--args</span> <span class="s1">'{"date":"today"}'</span> </code></pre> </div> <p>It also has helpers for creating local Codex and Claude Code task scripts in the default <code>~/.cronbox</code> workspace.</p> <h2> Install </h2> <p>The current install path is macOS:<br> </p> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight shell"><code>curl <span class="nt">-fsSL</span> https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xiaoxiunique/cronbox/main/scripts/install-macos.sh | bash </code></pre> </div> <h2> Stack </h2> <p>CronBox is built with Tauri 2, Vue 3, TypeScript, and Rust. It is MIT licensed.</p> <p>Website: <a href="https://cronbox.dev" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://cronbox.dev</a><br> GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/xiaoxiunique/cronbox" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/xiaoxiunique/cronbox</a></p> <p>I am still polishing packaging and the coding-agent task workflows. I would be interested to hear how other people handle local scheduled scripts: do you prefer a GUI/menu bar tool, or do you keep everything in cron/launchd?</p> opensource rust tauri productivity