Manifest reference

The v2 manifest is the authoritative definition of your SteadyCron account. A single file (or a directory of files) declares every job, alert channel, tag, and variable the CLI manages.

Top-level structure

namespace: my-app        # optional — scopes IaC ownership
variables:               # server-side template variables (list of objects)
channels:                # alert channel definitions
tags:                    # reusable tag definitions
shaping:                 # rate-limit hints
jobs:                    # HTTP jobs and heartbeat checks
                         # alert rules are declared per job under jobs[].rules

namespace

A string that scopes all resources in this manifest. The CLI only manages (and with --prune, only deletes) resources that belong to this namespace — so IaC-managed jobs and manually created jobs can coexist safely in the same account.

namespace: production

Omitting namespace uses the default namespace. See Namespaces & ownership for multi-environment setups.

jobs[]

Each entry is either an HTTP job (kind: http) that calls your endpoint on a schedule, or a heartbeat check (kind: heartbeat) that expects a ping from your own cron.

Common fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
id	string	No	Stable reconciliation key. When set, renames are safe — the id never changes, so heartbeat ping URLs are preserved. Falls back to name when absent.
name	string	Yes	Display name shown in the dashboard and alert messages. Must be unique within the manifest.
kind	http | heartbeat	No	Job type. Defaults to http.
schedule	string	Yes*	Five-field cron expression (minute hour dom month dow).
interval	integer	Yes*	Fixed interval in seconds (10–86400). Alternative to schedule.
timezone	string	No	IANA timezone name, e.g. Europe/Berlin. Defaults to UTC.
paused	boolean	No	Create or keep the job in a paused state.
tags	string[]	No	Tag references as "key:value" strings, e.g. ["env:prod", "team:backend"].
rules	object[]	No	Per-job alert rules. See Alert rules.

*Exactly one of schedule or interval is required.

HTTP job fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
method	string	No	HTTP method. One of GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE. Defaults to GET.
url	string	Yes	Endpoint to call. Supports ${ENV} (CLI substitution) and {{template_var}} (server-side) placeholders.
headers	object	No	Additional request headers. Values support ${ENV} placeholders.
body	string	No	Request body. Supports {{template_var}} placeholders.
timeout	integer	No	Request timeout in seconds. Defaults to 60.
retries	integer	No	Number of retries on non-2xx response or timeout. Defaults to 0.
retry_backoff	integer	No	Seconds between retries. Defaults to 30.
retry_on_timeout	boolean	No	Count timeouts as failures for retry purposes. Defaults to true.
retry_on_status	integer[]	No	HTTP status codes that trigger a retry (100–599).
skip_if_running	boolean	No	Skip execution if the previous run is still active. Defaults to false.
misfire_policy	string	No	Behavior when a scheduled fire is missed: do_nothing (default) or fire_once_now.

Heartbeat check fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
grace	integer	No	Seconds to wait after the expected ping time before alerting. Defaults to 60.
stuck_run_detection	boolean	No	Alert when a run exceeds max_run_duration. Defaults to true.
max_run_duration	integer	No	Maximum allowed run duration in seconds (60–86400).

channels[]

Alert channels referenced by job rules via their id or name.

Field	Type	Required	Description
id	string	No	Stable reference key used in jobs[].rules[].channel.
name	string	Yes	Human-readable name shown in the dashboard and alert messages.
kind	string	Yes	One of slack, discord, email, telegram, webhook.
config	object	No	Kind-specific key-value configuration. Use ${ENV} placeholders — never commit real secrets.

channels:
  - id: ops-slack
    name: Slack #ops
    kind: slack
    config:
      webhook_url: ${SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL}

Alert rules {#alert-rules}

Alert rules are defined per job under jobs[].rules. Each rule binds a trigger event to a notification channel.

jobs:
  - id: weekly-digest
    name: Weekly digest email
    kind: http
    schedule: "0 9 * * 1"
    url: https://api.myapp.com/jobs/digest
    rules:
      - channel: ops-slack
        trigger: on_failure
        severity: p1
      - channel: ops-slack
        trigger: on_recovery

Field	Type	Required	Description
channel	string	Yes	Channel id or name to notify.
trigger	string	Yes	Event that fires the rule: on_failure, on_recovery, on_missed_heartbeat.
severity	string	No	Severity label forwarded to the channel (e.g. p1, p2, p3).
params	object	No	Trigger-specific parameters.
dedup_window_seconds	integer	No	Alert deduplication window in seconds.

tags[]

Tags group jobs in the dashboard. Each tag has a key and value; jobs reference them as "key:value" strings.

tags:
  - id: env-prod
    key: env
    value: prod
  - id: team-backend
    key: team
    value: backend

Job reference: tags: ["env:prod", "team:backend"]

Field	Type	Required	Description
id	string	No	Stable reference key.
key	string	Yes	Tag category (e.g. env, team).
value	string	Yes	Tag value (e.g. prod, backend).
color	string	No	Hex color code for the dashboard.

variables

Server-side template variables. Each variable is an object with id, name, and value. The CLI resolves ${ENV_VAR} in value at apply time; the server substitutes {{name}} in HTTP job fields at execution time. Secrets never end up in git.

variables:
  - id: digest-token
    name: digest_token
    value: ${DIGEST_TOKEN}

Use {{digest_token}} in HTTP url, headers, or body fields.

Field	Type	Required	Description
id	string	No	Stable reference key.
name	string	Yes	Variable name used in {{name}} server-side substitutions.
value	string	No	Variable value. Supports ${ENV_VAR} CLI substitution.

shaping

Request shaping controls concurrency and rate limits for HTTP jobs — useful when many jobs fire at the same minute and you need to spread load.

shaping:
  max_concurrent_jobs: 5
  max_jobs_per_minute: 30

Field	Type	Description
max_concurrent_jobs	integer	Maximum number of HTTP jobs running in parallel.
max_jobs_per_minute	integer	Maximum HTTP job executions per minute.

Complete example

namespace: production

variables:
  - id: digest-token
    name: digest_token
    value: ${DIGEST_TOKEN}

channels:
  - id: ops-slack
    name: Slack #ops
    kind: slack
    config:
      webhook_url: ${SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL}

tags:
  - id: env-prod
    key: env
    value: prod
  - id: team-backend
    key: team
    value: backend

jobs:
  - id: weekly-digest
    name: Weekly digest email
    kind: http
    method: POST
    url: https://api.myapp.com/jobs/digest
    schedule: "0 9 * * 1"
    timezone: Europe/Berlin
    timeout: 120
    retries: 3
    tags: ["env:prod", "team:backend"]
    rules:
      - channel: ops-slack
        trigger: on_failure
        severity: p1
      - channel: ops-slack
        trigger: on_recovery

  - id: nightly-backup
    name: Nightly DB backup
    kind: heartbeat
    schedule: "0 2 * * *"
    grace: 1800
    tags: ["env:prod"]
    rules:
      - channel: ops-slack
        trigger: on_missed_heartbeat
        severity: p1

Secrets: two mechanisms, side by side

	${ENV_VAR_NAME}	{{template_var}}
Resolved by	CLI at apply time	Server at execution time
Works in	Any field	HTTP job url, headers, body only
Use for	API keys, webhook URLs, environment-specific values	Dynamic per-execution values
Exported as	Placeholder ${VAR}	Placeholder {{var}}

steadycron export emits both kinds of placeholder wherever it detects a secret or a template variable, so the exported manifest is safe to commit as-is.