Cron Reference

Cron Every Hour

Cron expression 0 * * * * means At minute 0.

Cron expression to run a job every hour: 0 * * * *. Runs at the top of every hour, 24 times per day.

Cron Expression

0 * * * *
0Minute
*Hour
*Day
*Month
*Weekday

Common use cases

  • Log rotation and archiving
  • Hourly report generation
  • Rate limit counter resets
  • Aggregating hourly analytics

Want to customize this schedule?

Open it in the visual builder to tweak the expression interactively.

Open in Builder

Need to monitor this cron job?

Cronhub tracks your scheduled jobs and alerts you if they fail or run late.

Monitor with Cronhub

Platform usage examples

Linux / Unix — crontab
# Edit your crontab
crontab -e

# Add this line to run every hour
0 * * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/script.php

# Or run a shell script
0 * * * * /home/user/scripts/job.sh >> /var/log/job.log 2>&1
GitHub Actions
# .github/workflows/scheduled.yml
name: Scheduled Job

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 * * * *'

jobs:
  run:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Run job
        run: echo "Running every hour"
Kubernetes CronJob
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: my-scheduled-job
spec:
  schedule: "0 * * * *"
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
          - name: job
            image: my-image:latest
          restartPolicy: OnFailure

Related developer tools

More free tools for engineering workflows that pair with scheduled jobs:

Frequently asked questions

What is the cron expression for every hour?

The cron expression is 0 * * * *. Cron expression to run a job every hour: 0 * * * *. Runs at the top of every hour, 24 times per day.

How do I schedule a cron job to run every hour in Linux?

Open your crontab with "crontab -e" and add a new line: 0 * * * * /path/to/your/script.sh — this schedules your script to run every hour. Save and exit; the cron daemon picks up the change immediately.

What does the cron expression "0 * * * *" mean?

Cron expression to run a job every hour: 0 * * * *. Runs at the top of every hour, 24 times per day.

Can I use "0 * * * *" in GitHub Actions?

Yes. In your workflow YAML, set the schedule trigger: on: schedule: - cron: '0 * * * *'. GitHub Actions uses standard 5-field Unix cron syntax, so this expression works as-is.

Related cron schedules

More Free Developer Tools