Run a cron job every hour
“At minute 0.”
The canonical hourly schedule: minute 0 of every hour, 24 runs a day. Pinning the minute field is the whole trick — the beginner version * 1 * * * looks similar but runs sixty times during the 1 AM hour.
0 * * * *Next 5 runs
Computing from your local clock…
Field by field
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | 0 | exactly 0 |
| Hour | * | every value |
| Day of month | * | every value |
| Month | * | every value |
| Day of week | * | every value |
Typical uses
- Hourly ETL increments and log shipping
- Refreshing OAuth tokens that expire in a few hours
- Billing meters and usage snapshots
Worth knowing: If many hourly jobs share a host, stagger their minutes (7 * * * *, 23 * * * *) instead of piling everything on minute 0.
Related schedules
Need a different schedule? Build and test any cron expression with live explanation and next-run preview, or read the complete cron syntax guide.