Cron Every Day at 3 AM
Cron expression 0 3 * * * means At 3:00 AM.
Cron expression to run a job every day at 3:00 AM: 0 3 * * *. The classic maintenance window — 3 AM is widely used for scheduled downtime and heavy system tasks.
Cron Expression
Common use cases
- Scheduled server maintenance and OS patching
- Running database VACUUM / ANALYZE operations
- Deploying low-risk releases during minimal-traffic windows
- Triggering nightly data warehouse loads
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 every day at 3 am
0 3 * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/script.php
# Or run a shell script
0 3 * * * /home/user/scripts/job.sh >> /var/log/job.log 2>&1# .github/workflows/scheduled.yml
name: Scheduled Job
on:
schedule:
- cron: '0 3 * * *'
jobs:
run:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Run job
run: echo "Running every day at 3 am"apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
name: my-scheduled-job
spec:
schedule: "0 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 every day at 3 am?
The cron expression is 0 3 * * *. Cron expression to run a job every day at 3:00 AM: 0 3 * * *. The classic maintenance window — 3 AM is widely used for scheduled downtime and heavy system tasks.
How do I schedule a cron job to run every day at 3 am in Linux?
Open your crontab with "crontab -e" and add a new line: 0 3 * * * /path/to/your/script.sh — this schedules your script to run every day at 3 am. Save and exit; the cron daemon picks up the change immediately.
What does the cron expression "0 3 * * *" mean?
Cron expression to run a job every day at 3:00 AM: 0 3 * * *. The classic maintenance window — 3 AM is widely used for scheduled downtime and heavy system tasks.
Can I use "0 3 * * *" in GitHub Actions?
Yes. In your workflow YAML, set the schedule trigger: on: schedule: - cron: '0 3 * * *'. GitHub Actions uses standard 5-field Unix cron syntax, so this expression works as-is.