What use cases does Cesium Automation solve?

Running recurring workflows at specific time intervals. Examples include data extraction and processing, periodic restacking, security scans, resetting user LDAP credentials, managing VPN access, and granting SSH access to machines.

What is a Task Executor?

The Task Executor (TEX) is software that runs as a daemon process within your infrastructure. It authenticates to Cesium Ops cloud, executes workflows, and communicates execution state. TEX initiates only outbound connections to Cesium core and never accepts incoming requests, requiring no open ports for enhanced security.

What are the different task types available?

Cesium supports three task types: (1) Shell Task - runs sh/bash scripts on Linux/Mac or PowerShell on Windows, (2) Python Task - runs Python3 scripts with virtual environment support for dependencies, and (3) Run Docker - executes any Docker image from Docker Hub or private registries.

What are the core entities in Cesium Automation?

The core entities are: Workspace (organizes task executors and workflows), Task Executor (software that runs workflows in your infrastructure), and Workflow (contains a directed acyclic graph of tasks with metadata for alerting).

A workspace organizes task executors and workflows into logical groups for easier management. You can create workspaces per team if multiple teams use Cesium, or group workflows by purpose to keep your automation organized.

Where can I see the run history of a workflow?

Workflow run history shows individual executions with details including requested time, start time, end time, status, and execution type (scheduled or on-demand). Access history via the View History action in the workflows list or the View History button on workflow details. You can also see the timeline of individual task lifecycles.

Yes. The Task Executor runs within your own infrastructure and only makes outbound connections to Cesium core. It never accepts incoming requests and requires no open ports. All workflow execution happens within your environment, ensuring your data never leaves your infrastructure.

May 15, 2026

Scheduling a shell script with Cesium

How to Schedule a Shell Script with Cesium Automation

By KorOps Team

For many teams, automation starts with a simple shell script.

Scheduled Jobs

Maybe it's a nightly backup, a log cleanup task, a report generation script, or a maintenance operation that needs to run every day. The traditional approach is to add the script to crontab and hope it runs successfully. That works—until it doesn't.

The problem

As organizations grow, cron jobs become difficult to manage. Scripts end up scattered across multiple servers, ownership becomes unclear, and failures often go unnoticed until they cause a problem.

Configuring the cron job

Cesium Automation addresses these challenges by centralizing scheduling, execution, and monitoring.

Most automation tools want you to ship your secrets and your network to them. Cesium's agent runs inside your perimeter and only makes outbound HTTPS calls, which means:

Your scripts, credentials, and target systems never leave your network.
No inbound firewall holes.
No SaaS getting paged at 3am because your database is down.

Step 1: Install a Task Executor

The first step is to install a Cesium Task Executor (TEX) on the server where the script will run.

The Task Executor establishes a secure outbound connection to Cesium Automation and allows jobs to be executed remotely without opening inbound firewall ports.

Once connected, the server becomes available as an execution target.

Step 2: Create a Shell Script Task

In the Cesium Automation dashboard, create a new task.

Configure the task with:

Task Type: Shell Script Execution Target: Your Task Executor Script Path: /opt/scripts/cleanup.sh

Save the task and test it by running it manually.

The execution output will be captured and stored by Cesium Automation.

Step 3: Configure a Schedule

Next, create a schedule for the task.

For example:

Daily at 2:00 AM Every Sunday at midnight Every 15 minutes First day of every month

Cesium Automation supports cron-style scheduling while providing a user-friendly interface for managing schedules.

Instead of editing crontab files on individual servers, schedules are managed centrally.

Step 4: Enable Notifications

One of the biggest advantages of Cesium Automation is visibility.

Configure notifications to alert your team when:

A task fails
A task completes successfully

Notifications can be sent through email, Slack, or other integrated systems.

Now your team knows immediately when a problem occurs.

Step 5: Review Execution History

Every execution is recorded.

For each run you can view:

Start time
End time
Execution duration
Standard output

This makes troubleshooting significantly easier compared to traditional cron jobs.

Instead of logging into servers and searching through log files, you can review execution history directly from the Cesium Automation dashboard.