Cron Reference

Cron Every Minute

Cron expression * * * * * means Every minute.

Cron expression to run a job every minute: * * * * *. Use this for lightweight polling, health checks, or real-time event processing.

Cron Expression

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

Common use cases

  • Health check endpoints that need near-real-time monitoring
  • Message queue consumers checking for new jobs
  • Lightweight polling tasks with minimal resource usage

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 minute
* * * * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/script.php

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

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

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

Related developer tools

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Frequently asked questions

What is the cron expression for every minute?

The cron expression is * * * * *. Cron expression to run a job every minute: * * * * *. Use this for lightweight polling, health checks, or real-time event processing.

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

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

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

Cron expression to run a job every minute: * * * * *. Use this for lightweight polling, health checks, or real-time event processing.

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

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

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