loops.yaml

Working examples

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Each recipe is a small, readable starting point. Copy one into loops.yaml, review its paths and credentials, run it once on demand, then add a schedule when you trust the result.

18 / 18 shown

1. 01

   Nightly SQLite → R2

   backup 0 3 * * *

   Snapshot a SQLite DB and push it to an R2 bucket. Offsite backup in two lines.

   sqlite3 app.db ".backup /tmp/app-$(date +%F).db" && \
     wrangler r2 object put backups/app-$(date +%F).db --file /tmp/app-$(date +%F).db

   needs: sqlite3 · wrangler

2. 02

   Mirror a folder to R2

   backup 0 */6 * * *

   Rsync-style upload of a working directory to R2 so a wiped VPS costs you nothing.

   tar czf /tmp/site.tgz ./site && \
     wrangler r2 object put backups/site-$(date +%FT%H).tgz --file /tmp/site.tgz

   needs: tar · wrangler

3. 03

   Postgres dump to R2

   backup 30 2 * * *

   Compressed pg_dump straight into object storage. Keep the last 7 by date in the key.

   pg_dump "$DATABASE_URL" | gzip | \
     wrangler r2 object put db/pg-$(date +%F).sql.gz --pipe

   needs: pg_dump · gzip · wrangler

4. 04

   TLS cert expiry check

   health 0 9 * * *

   Alert before a certificate expires. Catches the outage everyone forgets about.

   END=$(echo | openssl s_client -servername $DOMAIN -connect $DOMAIN:443 2>/dev/null \
     | openssl x509 -noout -enddate | cut -d= -f2); \
     echo "cert for $DOMAIN expires $END"

   needs: openssl · curl

5. 05

   Endpoint heartbeat

   health */5 * * * *

   Hit a URL, fail loud on non-200. The whole monitoring stack you need on day one.

   curl -fsS -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" https://example.com/health \
     || echo "DOWN at $(date)"

   needs: curl

6. 06

   Disk space guard

   health */30 * * * *

   Warn when the VPS disk crosses 85%. Cheap insurance against a full-disk 500.

   df -P / | awk 'NR==2 && $5+0 > 85 {print "disk " $5 " on " $6}'

   needs: df · awk

7. 07

   Purge Cloudflare cache

   cloudflare on-demand

   Bust the cache on deploy or schedule. One API call, no dashboard clicking.

   curl -fsS -X POST \
     "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$ZONE_ID/purge_cache" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $CF_API_TOKEN" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     --data '{"purge_everything":true}'

   needs: curl

8. 08

   Dynamic DNS updater

   cloudflare */15 * * * *

   Point a Cloudflare DNS record at your current IP. Self-hosted from a dynamic address.

   IP=$(curl -fsS https://api.ipify.org); \
     curl -fsS -X PATCH \
     "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/zones/$ZONE_ID/dns_records/$RECORD_ID" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $CF_API_TOKEN" \
     --data "$(jq -n --arg ip "$IP" '{type:"A",content:$ip}')"

   needs: curl · jq

9. 09

   Scheduled Worker deploy

   cloudflare on-demand

   Pull latest, deploy a Worker. A one-box CD pipeline with no CI service.

   git -C ./app pull --ff-only && \
     cd ./app && wrangler deploy

   needs: git · wrangler

10. 10

    Summarize a log with Workers AI

    cloudflare 0 18 * * *

    Pipe the day’s log through a model and get a plain-English summary. Your agent in cron.

    TAIL=$(tail -c 6000 app.log | jq -Rs .); \
      curl -fsS "https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/$ACCT/ai/run/@cf/meta/llama-3.1-8b-instruct" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $CF_API_TOKEN" \
      --data "{\"prompt\":\"Summarize today's errors: \"$TAIL}"

    needs: curl · jq

11. 11

    RSS → webhook digest

    notify 0 8 * * 1-5

    Fetch a feed, post new items to a chat webhook. Stay current without opening a tab.

    curl -fsS https://example.com/feed.json \
      | jq -r '.items[0:5][] | "• \(.title) — \(.url)"' \
      | curl -fsS "$CHAT_WEBHOOK" --data-binary @-

    needs: curl · jq

12. 12

    Watch a page for change

    watch 0 */2 * * *

    Hash a page, ping you when it changes. Price drops, stock, job posts — anything.

    NEW=$(curl -fsS https://example.com/item | sha1sum | cut -c1-12); \
      OLD=$(cat .item-hash 2>/dev/null); \
      [ "$NEW" != "$OLD" ] && echo "changed" && echo "$NEW" > .item-hash

    needs: curl · sha1sum

13. 13

    Watch a repo for releases

    watch 0 * * * *

    Poll a GitHub repo’s latest release; notify on a new tag. No webhooks to host.

    TAG=$(curl -fsS https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name); \
      [ "$TAG" != "$(cat .last-tag 2>/dev/null)" ] && \
      echo "new release $TAG" && echo "$TAG" > .last-tag

    needs: curl · jq

14. 14

    Trim runaway logs

    chores 0 4 * * *

    Keep the last 5k lines of a log file. The unglamorous chore that prevents a 3am page.

    tail -n 5000 app.log > app.log.tmp && mv app.log.tmp app.log

    needs: tail · mv

15. 15

    Sweep old temp files

    chores 0 5 * * *

    Delete files older than 7 days from a scratch dir. Boring, essential, two seconds.

    find /tmp/scratch -type f -mtime +7 -delete

    needs: find

16. 16

    Load a CSV into D1

    data 0 1 * * *

    Pull a CSV and import it into a D1 table. A nightly ETL in one command.

    curl -fsS https://example.com/export.csv -o /tmp/in.csv && \
      wrangler d1 execute mydb --command \
      ".import /tmp/in.csv records"

    needs: curl · wrangler

17. 17

    Snapshot an API to JSON

    data 0 0 * * *

    Save a daily copy of an API response. Cheap history you can diff later.

    curl -fsS https://api.example.com/stats \
      | jq . > snapshots/stats-$(date +%F).json

    needs: curl · jq

18. 18

    Batch-make thumbnails

    chores */10 * * * *

    Resize every new image in a folder. ffmpeg/ImageMagick + cron beats a SaaS.

    for f in inbox/*.jpg; do \
      [ -f "thumbs/$(basename "$f")" ] || convert "$f" -resize 400x "thumbs/$(basename "$f")"; \
      done

    needs: ImageMagick