Cron @reboot: run a job at startup

@reboot

Once, each time the cron daemon starts (normally at boot).

@reboot runs the command once when the cron daemon starts, which normally means at boot. It is supported by Vixie cron and cronie (most Linux distributions), not by Kubernetes, GitHub Actions or cloud schedulers.

Try it and tweak it

Change any field below and the preview updates. Set the time zone to match your server.

✓ Valid cron

Once, each time the cron daemon starts (normally at boot).

Next 10 runs

Calculating in your browser…

Times are computed in your browser for the selected zone and are informational. The server that runs the job uses its own zone (often UTC) and cron flavour, so verify there.

Same schedule in other dialects

Unix crontab* * * * *
Quartz0 * * * * ?
Spring @Scheduled0 * * * * ?
AWS EventBridgecron(* * * * ? *)

Variations

@dailyIf you need a recurring run as well as the boot run, add a second line such as @daily

In other schedulers

crontab line@reboot /path/to/command

Questions

What is the cron expression for @reboot?
@reboot. Once, each time the cron daemon starts (normally at boot).
Which time zone will it use?
The time zone of the machine or service running cron. GitHub Actions and Vercel use UTC; Kubernetes uses spec.timeZone if set. The preview above lets you pick a zone.