Cron Expression */3 * * * * Every 3 Minutes (2026)
Cron expression */3 * * * * means Every 3 minutes.
Cron expression */3 * * * * every 3 minutes in 2026. This page explains step syntax, overlap risk, and safe high-frequency scheduling practices.
Cron Expression
Common use cases
- Near-real-time polling with controlled compute load
- Frequent queue or webhook checks
- Short-interval operational metrics refresh
- Fast detection loops for lightweight monitoring tasks
How to use this cron schedule
If your target query is cron expression */3 * * * * every 3 minutes, this is the exact expression you need. The step value `*/3` in the minute field means run at minute 0, 3, 6, 9, and so on throughout every hour. Combined with wildcard hour/day/month/weekday fields, it executes continuously every three minutes. In 2026, this cadence is common for near-real-time workflows where five-minute windows are too slow but every-minute execution is too noisy or expensive. It is a practical middle ground for responsive automation.
High-frequency schedules require stronger guardrails than daily or hourly jobs. The biggest risk is run overlap when a task takes longer than three minutes. Prevent duplicate side effects with idempotent writes, locking, or queue-based execution models. Check API rate limits and dependency budgets, because frequent retries can quickly exhaust quotas during incidents. Validate cron behavior in staging and verify timezone assumptions even for short intervals, especially when logs and dashboards are shared across regions. Clear operational documentation prevents confusion when responders inspect bursty execution patterns.
For reliable 2026 operations, keep three-minute cron jobs narrow, observable, and easy to pause. Track duration percentiles, failure rates, and the age of the last successful run. Alert on sustained failure streaks, not one transient blip, to avoid noisy paging. Separate fast checks from heavy processing: let the cron enqueue work and process it asynchronously when needed. Use this page as the canonical copy source for `*/3 * * * *`, then compare related every-minute and every-5-minutes schedules to tune cost versus responsiveness. For timestamp conversion during incident analysis, the sibling tool at https://epoch-convert.com is useful.
Want to customize this schedule?
Open it in the visual builder to tweak the expression interactively.
Open in BuilderNeed to monitor this cron job?
Cronhub tracks your scheduled jobs and alerts you if they fail or run late.
Platform usage examples
# Edit your crontab
crontab -e
# Add this line to run expression */3 * * * * every 3 minutes (2026)
*/3 * * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/script.php
# Or run a shell script
*/3 * * * * /home/user/scripts/job.sh >> /var/log/job.log 2>&1# .github/workflows/scheduled.yml
name: Scheduled Job
on:
schedule:
- cron: '*/3 * * * *'
jobs:
run:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Run job
run: echo "Running expression */3 * * * * every 3 minutes (2026)"apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
name: my-scheduled-job
spec:
schedule: "*/3 * * * *"
jobTemplate:
spec:
template:
spec:
containers:
- name: job
image: my-image:latest
restartPolicy: OnFailureRelated developer tools
More free tools for engineering workflows that pair with scheduled jobs:
Frequently asked questions
What is the cron expression for expression */3 * * * * every 3 minutes (2026)?
The cron expression is */3 * * * *. Cron expression */3 * * * * every 3 minutes in 2026. This page explains step syntax, overlap risk, and safe high-frequency scheduling practices.
How do I schedule a cron job to run expression */3 * * * * every 3 minutes (2026) in Linux?
Open your crontab with "crontab -e" and add a new line: */3 * * * * /path/to/your/script.sh — this schedules your script to run expression */3 * * * * every 3 minutes (2026). Save and exit; the cron daemon picks up the change immediately.
What does the cron expression "*/3 * * * *" mean?
Cron expression */3 * * * * every 3 minutes in 2026. This page explains step syntax, overlap risk, and safe high-frequency scheduling practices.
Can I use "*/3 * * * *" in GitHub Actions?
Yes. In your workflow YAML, set the schedule trigger: on: schedule: - cron: '*/3 * * * *'. GitHub Actions uses standard 5-field Unix cron syntax, so this expression works as-is.