Auto-Clean Temp Files and Old Uploads by Age

Schedule

Setup

1. 1

   Identify the directories to clean

   Decide which paths hold expendable files: common candidates are /tmp, /var/tmp, your application upload staging folder (e.g. /var/www/app/uploads/tmp), and any export or cache directories. Never point the script at directories that contain user data you have not already archived elsewhere.

2. 2

   Choose a safe minimum age

   Pick a minimum file age in days using -mtime +N, where N is the number of days old a file must be before deletion. For /tmp use 1-2 days; for user upload staging use 7 days; for processed export files use 30 days. More conservative values reduce the risk of deleting a file that is still in use.

3. 3

   Create the cleanup script on your server

   Save the script below to /usr/local/bin/cleanup-old-files.sh and make it executable with: chmod +x /usr/local/bin/cleanup-old-files.sh. Edit the DIRS and MAX_AGE_DAYS variables at the top to match your environment. Add your CronJobPro heartbeat token to the HEARTBEAT_URL variable.

4. 4

   Create a CronJobPro heartbeat monitor

   In CronJobPro, create a new Heartbeat monitor with a period of 1 day and a grace period of 30 minutes. Copy the unique ping URL (https://cronjobpro.com/ping/<your-token>) into the HEARTBEAT_URL variable in the script. Set up an alert channel (email, Slack, etc.) on the monitor so you are notified if a ping does not arrive within the expected window.

5. 5

   Register the cron entry

   Add the job to root's crontab with: crontab -e, then add the line: 0 3 * * * /usr/local/bin/cleanup-old-files.sh >> /var/log/cleanup-old-files.log 2>&1. The log file lets you review what was deleted and catch permission errors without needing to check the server manually.

The script

bash

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# ---- Configuration ----
# Space-separated list of directories to clean
DIRS="/tmp /var/tmp /var/www/app/uploads/tmp"

# Delete files older than this many days
MAX_AGE_DAYS=7

# CronJobPro heartbeat URL (replace <token> with your actual token)
HEARTBEAT_URL="https://cronjobpro.com/ping/<token>"

# Optional: minimum file size to delete (avoids touching tiny lock files)
# Set to 0c to delete files of any size
MIN_SIZE="0c"
# ---- End configuration ----

LOG_PREFIX="[cleanup-old-files $(date -u '+%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')]"
TOTAL_FREED=0
EXIT_CODE=0

for DIR in $DIRS; do
  if [ ! -d "$DIR" ]; then
    echo "$LOG_PREFIX SKIP $DIR (not found)"
    continue
  fi

  echo "$LOG_PREFIX Scanning $DIR for files older than ${MAX_AGE_DAYS} days"

  # Collect matching files before deletion so we can log and sum sizes
  while IFS= read -r -d '' FILE; do
    SIZE=$(stat -c%s "$FILE" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
    echo "$LOG_PREFIX DELETE $FILE (${SIZE} bytes)"
    rm -f -- "$FILE" || { echo "$LOG_PREFIX WARN could not delete $FILE"; EXIT_CODE=1; }
    TOTAL_FREED=$((TOTAL_FREED + SIZE))
  done < <(find "$DIR" -maxdepth 5 -type f \
              -mtime +"$MAX_AGE_DAYS" \
              -size +"$MIN_SIZE" \
              -print0 2>/dev/null)

  # Also remove empty subdirectories left behind
  find "$DIR" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 5 -type d -empty -delete 2>/dev/null || true
done

FREED_MB=$(echo "scale=2; $TOTAL_FREED / 1048576" | bc)
echo "$LOG_PREFIX Done. Total freed: ${FREED_MB} MB (exit_code=${EXIT_CODE})"

# Report outcome to CronJobPro
if [ "$EXIT_CODE" -eq 0 ]; then
  curl -fsS --retry 3 "${HEARTBEAT_URL}" -o /dev/null
else
  curl -fsS --retry 3 "${HEARTBEAT_URL}/fail" -o /dev/null
fi

exit "$EXIT_CODE"

Frequently asked questions

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