Cron Reference

Cron Every Month (1st at Midnight)

Cron expression 0 0 1 * * means At 12:00 AM, on the 1st.

Cron expression to run a job on the first of every month at midnight: 0 0 1 * *. Perfect for monthly billing, invoicing, and reporting tasks.

Cron Expression

0 0 1 * *
0Minute
0Hour
1Day
*Month
*Weekday

Common use cases

  • Monthly billing runs and invoice generation
  • Monthly analytics summaries
  • Archiving previous month's data
  • Resetting monthly usage counters

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Platform usage examples

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

# Add this line to run every month (1st at midnight)
0 0 1 * * /usr/bin/php /var/www/html/script.php

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

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 1 * *'

jobs:
  run:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - name: Run job
        run: echo "Running every month (1st at midnight)"
Kubernetes CronJob
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: my-scheduled-job
spec:
  schedule: "0 0 1 * *"
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
          - name: job
            image: my-image:latest
          restartPolicy: OnFailure

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Frequently asked questions

What is the cron expression for every month (1st at midnight)?

The cron expression is 0 0 1 * *. Cron expression to run a job on the first of every month at midnight: 0 0 1 * *. Perfect for monthly billing, invoicing, and reporting tasks.

How do I schedule a cron job to run every month (1st at midnight) in Linux?

Open your crontab with "crontab -e" and add a new line: 0 0 1 * * /path/to/your/script.sh — this schedules your script to run every month (1st at midnight). Save and exit; the cron daemon picks up the change immediately.

What does the cron expression "0 0 1 * *" mean?

Cron expression to run a job on the first of every month at midnight: 0 0 1 * *. Perfect for monthly billing, invoicing, and reporting tasks.

Can I use "0 0 1 * *" in GitHub Actions?

Yes. In your workflow YAML, set the schedule trigger: on: schedule: - cron: '0 0 1 * *'. GitHub Actions uses standard 5-field Unix cron syntax, so this expression works as-is.

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