Kubernetes cron
A Kubernetes CronJob uses spec.schedule with the same 5-field layout as crontab. From 1.27 you can set spec.timeZone to an IANA name so the controller is not stuck in the API server's zone.
Field format
minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week
Gotchas
- Does Kubernetes cron run in UTC?
- By default it uses the timezone of kube-controller-manager. Set spec.timeZone: America/New_York (or your zone) for predictable hours.
- What if a previous job is still running?
- concurrencyPolicy defaults to Allow. Use Forbid to skip an overlapping tick, or Replace to kill the old job.
Examples
Hourly
0 * * * *Open this scheduleEvery 5 minutes
*/5 * * * *Open this scheduleMonday 09:00
0 9 * * 1Open this schedule
Snippet for Kubernetes
GitHub Actions
UTC only. Quote the expression so YAML keeps the stars.
on:
schedule:
- cron: '0 9 * * 1'Kubernetes
CronJob spec.schedule. Kubernetes uses the timezone of the kube-controller-manager unless you set .spec.timeZone.
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
name: job
spec:
schedule: "0 9 * * 1"
jobTemplate:
spec:
template:
spec:
restartPolicy: OnFailure
containers:
- name: job
image: busybox
args: ["echo", "run"]AWS EventBridge
Six fields: minutes hours day-of-month month day-of-week year. Use ? in either day-of-month or day-of-week.
cron(0 9 ? * 1 *)Quartz
Quartz is seconds-first (6 or 7 fields). Day-of-week names are MON, TUE, … and ? is required in one of the day fields.
0 0 9 * * 1Vercel Cron
{
"crons": [
{
"path": "/api/cron",
"schedule": "0 9 * * 1"
}
]
}crontab
0 9 * * 1 /usr/local/bin/jobnode-cron
import cron from 'node-cron';
cron.schedule('0 9 * * 1', () => {
// job
});Spring @Scheduled
Spring uses 6 fields by default (seconds first) unless you set spring.task.scheduling.cron.expression.
@Scheduled(cron = "0 0 9 * * 1")
public void run() {
// job
}