ModuleFest Cron Monitor – Scheduled Task Control Tower

WordPress runs scheduled work through WP-Cron, which only fires on page loads. On quiet sites tasks run late or never. On busy sites they can overlap and hammer the database. ModuleFest Cron Monitor gives you one control tower for all of it. Bottleneck profiler. Every task that runs during cron is timed and measured, then ranked by duration, peak memory and failure rate. Instrumentation is attached only during real cron runs, so normal page loads are unaffected. Overlap protection. Mark heavy tasks as "guarded" and only one copy will run at a time. An overlapping copy is skipped and retried shortly after, so no work is lost. Stall recovery and alerts. A shutdown guard, active only during cron runs, records fatal errors mid-task. Tasks that run past your stall threshold are closed and, if recurring, rescheduled. Email and webhook alerts are rate-limited so you are never flooded. Real cron trigger. A secret REST endpoint lets a server crontab or an uptime monitor run cron on an exact schedule. An optional, throttled loopback keepalive helps sites that still get some traffic. The plugin never edits wp-config.php: switching off the page-load trigger (DISABLE_WP_CRON) is your choice, and the Setup Wizard shows you exactly what to add. Per-run drill-down. See each run's arguments, the callbacks that fired, the plugin or theme that owns them, memory, and (optionally) database query profiling. Event editor. Reschedule, re-time, pause, resume, add and remove events, and manage custom schedules. Health score and weekly email. One number from 0 to 100 at the top of the Dashboard, with the main reason. An optional weekly summary email sends the same to you. Late-task explainer. A task that is late shows why, in plain English, with a link to the fix. Common WordPress, WooCommerce and plugin tasks have friendly names and a safe-to-pause hint. Schedule snapshots. Compare the schedule with a saved copy to see what an update added, removed or changed. One is taken automatically before any update. Test my cron. One button checks a task really runs on time, and explains what to fix if it does not. Action Scheduler bridge. If WooCommerce or another plugin uses Action Scheduler, see its queue (status counts, recent and failed actions) next to WP-Cron. WP-CLI. wp cronmonitor list|run|pause|resume|profile|history|health|purge for agencies managing many sites. Also included: a guided Setup Wizard, an on-demand Health Check, a KPI dashboard, contextual Help tabs on every screen, and a Help & Guide page with step-by-step walkthroughs, an FAQ and a glossary. Everything here is free. Every feature is available from the moment you activate it, with no time limit and no account. Everything runs on your own site. Formerly Cron-Sentry. If you used Cron-Sentry, activating this plugin imports your settings, paused tasks, custom schedules and run history. A notice then reminds you to deactivate and delete Cron-Sentry. More from ModuleFest Cron Monitor is made by ModuleFest. Our other free plugins on WordPress.org:

• ModuleFest Pet Groomer – bookings, clients, pets and a staff app for grooming businesses.
• ModuleFest Pet Walker – walks, clients, pets and a staff app for dog-walking businesses.

Guides for every Cron Monitor feature are at modulefest.com/help/cronmonitor. You can also ask for Cron Monitor news by email from the plugin's Dashboard; nothing is sent unless you choose to subscribe.

1. In wp-admin go to Plugins → Add New, search for "ModuleFest Cron Monitor", then install and activate it. Or upload the modulefest-cron-monitor folder to /wp-content/plugins/ and activate it.
2. You are taken to the Setup Wizard. Choose your cron mode, guard heavy tasks, set up alerts and, if you like, the keepalive.
3. Run the Health Check (Cron Monitor → Health Check) any time to confirm everything is green.

For the most reliable timing, add define( 'DISABLE_WP_CRON', true ); to wp-config.php yourself and call the trigger URL from a real crontab or uptime monitor every 1–5 minutes. The wizard and Settings page show the exact URL and crontab line.

1.12.1

• Maintenance release to check updates run smoothly. No change to how the plugin works.

1.12.0

• New: a health score (0 to 100) at the top of the Dashboard, with the main reason.
• New: an optional weekly summary email, with a Send summary now button.
• New: late tasks on Scheduled Events show a Late badge, the likely cause and a link to the fix.
• New: plain-English names under common WordPress, WooCommerce and plugin task names, with a safe-to-pause hint.
• New: schedule snapshots. Compare the schedule with a saved copy to see what was added, removed or changed. A snapshot is taken automatically before updates.
• New: Test my cron on Health Check checks that a task really runs on time and explains why if not.

1.11.3

• Changed: the plugin folder, text domain and WordPress.org address are now modulefest-cron-monitor.

1.11.2

• Changed: settings are cleaned as soon as they are submitted, before any add-on can read them.
• Changed: the Cron-Sentry import notice now shows only on Cron Monitor's own screens.

1.11.1

• Fixed: after closing the Welcome window with the keyboard, focus now moves to the Got it button in What's new.
• Fixed: pressing Got it and leaving the page straight away no longer shows What's new again on the next screen.

1.11.0

• New: a short Welcome window the first time anyone opens Cron Monitor on a new site, with where to send feedback and feature requests and where the help is. It shows once per site.
• New: a What's new window after each update, once per person, listing what changed since the version that person last saw.
• Both windows appear only on Cron Monitor's own screens, close with the X, the main button, Escape or a click outside, and never contact another site.
• New: "The Welcome and What's new windows" help topic.

1.10.2

• Changed: below the minimum PHP (7.2) or WordPress (6.2) version, the plugin now stays switched off and shows one notice instead of loading.
• Changed: the Unschedule confirmation now uses the admin script like every other confirmation, with no inline handler.
• Changed: the menu no longer asks for a fixed position, so it sits after Settings.
• Fixed: licence and readme links now point straight at their final address.

1.10.1

• Fixed: WordPress 6.7+ "translation loading was triggered too early" notice when another plugin reads the cron schedule list before init.

1.10.0

• New: "Get news for Cron Monitor" card on the Dashboard and a new About ModuleFest screen. Nothing is sent until you tick the consent box and press Subscribe. "Not now" hides it for 30 days; "Don't show again" hides it for good.
• New: About ModuleFest screen with our other free plugins on WordPress.org.
• New: Documentation, Support forum, Newsletter and Rate links on the Plugins screen, and "Read the full guide" links from each help topic to modulefest.com.
• New: after 14 days, one dismissible line on the Dashboard asks for a review on WordPress.org. "Already did" hides it for good.
• Changed: alert emails end with one "Sent by Cron Monitor from ModuleFest" line.

1.9.3

• New: the ModuleFest Cron Monitor logo. The admin menu shows a one-colour version that takes on your admin colour scheme; page titles and the About and Help pages show the full-colour logo.
• Changed: the plugin's colours follow the new brand palette (slate navy and teal), including buttons, links, focus highlights and checkboxes on its own screens.

1.9.2

• Security: admin forms verify their nonce before anything else in the request is read. Each form's nonce now names its own action.
• Changed: the WordPress upgrade file is loaded only when dbDelta() is not already available, right before it is used.
• New: a "More free plugins from ModuleFest" section on the About page, using WordPress's own plugin details window.

1.9.1

• Security: every link that carries a filter, run id, event or wizard step now carries a nonce, verified before the value is read.
• Security: AJAX actions check their nonce and capability first, in the handler itself.
• Changed: importing from Cron-Sentry no longer deactivates it or touches its scheduled events; a notice links to the Plugins page instead.
• Changed: the menu and page icon is now a clock.

1.9.0

• Renamed: Cron-Sentry is now ModuleFest Cron Monitor, ready for the WordPress.org directory.
• New: settings, paused tasks, custom schedules and run history are imported from Cron-Sentry on activation. A notice shows your new trigger URL.
• Changed: all internal names use the mfcs_ prefix; REST namespace is mfcs/v1; the WP-CLI command is wp cronmonitor.
• Fixed: the cron trigger URL now sets WordPress's cron lock before calling wp-cron.php, as core does. Before, wp-cron.php could exit without running anything, so sites with WP-Cron switched off could miss tasks.
• New: "Moving from Cron-Sentry" help topic and ? links to the matching help.
• Security: the trigger endpoint checks its key in the REST permission callback; new sites get a 32-character key.
• Changed: no hub, support-desk or usage-data code in this build, and no calls home.
• Changed: inline event handlers moved into the admin script. Minimum WordPress version is now 6.2.

1.8.0

• Released as Cron-Sentry: plugin slug aligned with the support hub.

1.7.0 – 1.7.2

• Released as Cron-Sentry: help content shared with the support hub; release metadata.

1.6.0 – 1.6.1

• Merged dashboards into one KPI page; categorised Help & Guide; redesigned About page; tested with WordPress 7.0.

1.5.0

• KPI dashboard: success rate, runs, errors, stalls, overlaps prevented, average duration and peak memory.

1.4.0

• Setup Wizard recommends which tasks to guard, using run history, intervals and hook names.

1.3.0 – 1.3.7

• About page; optional support desk and usage data (hub copy only); PHP 7.2 support restored.

1.2.0

• Per-run drill-down, optional query profiling, event editor, Action Scheduler bridge, WP-CLI commands, plugin/theme attribution.

1.1.0 – 1.1.1

• Setup Wizard, Health Check, Help & Guide, contextual Help tabs, test buttons; "Run now" uses each event's real arguments.

1.0.0

• Initial release: bottleneck profiler, overlap governor, stall recovery with alerts, and real cron trigger.