Platforms

Cron in GitHub Actions

GitHub Actions supports scheduled workflows with the schedule event. Cron schedules are evaluated in UTC.

Workflow schedule example

name: Nightly CI
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 2 * * 1-5"

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: npm test

Limitations and best practices

Schedules use UTC.
Very frequent schedules may be delayed or skipped during high load.
Scheduled workflows run on the default branch.
Avoid relying on exact second-level timing.

Common mistakes

Forgetting that GitHub Actions schedules use UTC.
Expecting scheduled workflows to run on feature branches.
Scheduling too many workflows at the top of the hour.

FAQ

What timezone does GitHub Actions cron use?

GitHub Actions scheduled workflows use UTC.

Can I use seconds in GitHub Actions cron?

No. GitHub Actions schedule uses 5-field cron syntax.

Related learning pages

Cron in Linux

Learn Linux crontab basics including crontab -e, crontab -l, environment variables, logs, and safe command examples.

Cron Best Practices

Production cron best practices for logging, timezones, retries, monitoring, paths, and avoiding overlapping jobs.