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Remote Servers (SSH)

Cronboard can connect to remote servers via SSH and manage their cron jobs exactly like local ones. You use the same keyboard shortcuts and forms; the only difference is that changes are applied to the remote user’s crontab instead of your local one.

Adding a Server

  1. Switch to the Servers tab.
  2. Press a to open the Add Server dialog.
  3. Fill in the fields:
Field Description
Hostname Server hostname or IP. Append :port for a non-standard port (e.g. myserver.com:2222). Defaults to port 22.
Username SSH login username
Password Leave empty to use an SSH key instead
Crontab user Optional. Manage cron jobs for a different user (requires sudo permissions). Leave empty to use the current user.
  1. Click Add Server.

Servers are saved persistently in ~/.config/cronboard/servers.toml. Passwords are stored encrypted (bcrypt), never in plain text.

Add Server dialog with Hostname, Username, Password, and Crontab user fields

SSH Key Authentication

If you leave the Password field empty, Cronboard will connect using your SSH key. It looks for keys and the known_hosts file in the default location:

~/.ssh/

Make sure the server's host key is already trusted (i.e. you have connected to it at least once, e.g. with ssh user@host from the terminal). That way the first connection from Cronboard won’t prompt for host key confirmation.

Connecting to a Server

  1. In the Servers tab, navigate to the server in the tree view using j / k.
  2. Press c to connect.

Once connected, the cron table for that server appears on the right and supports all the same operations as the local tab:

  • Create (c), Edit (e), Delete (D), Pause (p), Refresh (r), Search (/)

You can only be connected to one server at a time. To work on another server, disconnect with d first, then connect to the other.

Managing Another User's Cron Jobs

If you entered a Crontab user when adding the server, Cronboard will run crontab -u <user> on the remote server. This requires your SSH user to have sudo (or equivalent) privileges on the remote machine so it can act on behalf of that user.

Disconnecting

Press d to disconnect from the current server. The tree view remains intact so you can reconnect later. Your crontab changes on the server are already saved; disconnecting does not discard them.

Deleting a Server

  1. Navigate to the server in the tree view.
  2. Press D (uppercase) and confirm.

This removes the server from both the tree view and the saved configuration file. It does not remove any cron jobs on the remote server; it only removes the saved connection details from your machine.