actually not harsh

this is exactly the kind of concrete feedback I was hoping for. You’re right that the quick-start paragraph explains the actual value better than the current pitch… Thank you for taking the time to look at this.

cron isn’t using your login shell. that’s the trap.

but put PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin at the top of the crontab, then test the exact command once with env -i HOME=“$HOME” PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin /bin/sh -c ‘…’, and you catch most of the “worked in my terminal” stuff before it turns into tomorrow’s missing backup. MAILTO or a heartbeat catches the next failure.