How to log cron job outputs
Created on March 31, 2026
linux
This works on Ubuntu.
There are two layers to this problem:
- see meta logs of cron
- see the actual logs of the job
meta logs:
# 1: /var/log/syslog
sudo grep 'CRON' /var/log/syslog
# 2: journalctl
journalctl -u cron
This will tell you that the scheduled cron job ran, but show you the jobs output.
job logs:
You need to use redirection of STDOUT and STDERR. `>> ~/logs/job.log 2>&1
Example:
* * * * * cd /home/david/scripts/ && /home/linxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin/direnv exec . make -C retention retention >> cron.log 2>&1