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Apache Airflow cron expression: hourly during business hours on weekdays
To run a Apache Airflow job hourly during business hours on weekdays, use:
0 9-17 * * 1-5At minute 0, during hours 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, on Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu and Fri.
Your week at a glance
Upcoming runs
| # | Local | UTC | From now |
|---|
Copy-ready code
Why use this schedule
Hourly, but only from 9 to 17 on weekdays, so nothing runs overnight or at weekends.
- Hourly stock or price snapshots
- Support SLA checks
- Syncing with a partner that only works in office hours
First runs, as an example
Starting from 1 January 2027, evaluated in UTC:
| # | Date and time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 09:00:00 |
| 2 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 10:00:00 |
| 3 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 11:00:00 |
| 4 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 12:00:00 |
| 5 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 13:00:00 |
| 6 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 14:00:00 |
Hourly during business hours on weekdays in every dialect
| System | Expression |
|---|---|
| Apache Airflow (this page) | 0 9-17 * * 1-5 |
| Quartz | 0 0 9-17 ? * 2-6 |
| Spring | 0 0 9-17 * * 1-5 |
| Crontab | 0 9-17 * * 1-5 |
| Kubernetes | 0 9-17 * * 1-5 |
| AWS EventBridge | 0 9-17 ? * 2-6 * |
| Jenkins | H 9-17 * * 1-5 |
| GitHub Actions | 0 9-17 * * 1-5 |
| node-cron | 0 9-17 * * 1-5 |
| Azure Functions | 0 0 9-17 * * 1-5 |
| Google Cloud Scheduler | 0 9-17 * * 1-5 |
Need to translate a different expression? Use the cron converter.
Ready-to-use Apache Airflow config
Drop this into your project. The expression is the one above.
from datetime import datetime
from airflow import DAG
from airflow.operators.empty import EmptyOperator
with DAG(
dag_id="my_dag",
start_date=datetime(2026, 1, 1),
schedule="0 9-17 * * 1-5", # schedule_interval= before Airflow 2.4
catchup=False,
):
EmptyOperator(task_id="start")The Apache Airflow fields, in order: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day-of-month (1-31), month (1-12), day-of-week (0-7, 0 and 7 = Sunday).
Things to watch out for in Apache Airflow
- Weekdays are 0-6 with Sunday as 0, or names such as MON-FRI.
- A scheduled run starts after its data interval ends, so a daily 0 0 * * * run processes yesterday's interval just after midnight. Set catchup=False if you do not want backfills.
- Airflow defaults to UTC. On a time-zone-aware DAG a cron schedule follows wall-clock time, so a daily 00:00 US/Eastern run moves between 04:00 and 05:00 UTC across daylight saving changes.
The common mistake with this schedule
9-17 includes hour 17, so the last run is at 17:00, not 16:00. The range is inclusive.
Frequently asked questions
How do I run a Apache Airflow job hourly during business hours on weekdays?
Use 0 9-17 * * 1-5. At minute 0, during hours 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, on Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu and Fri.
What is the hourly during business hours on weekdays cron expression in other systems?
Quartz: 0 0 9-17 ? * 2-6; Spring: 0 0 9-17 * * 1-5; Crontab: 0 9-17 * * 1-5. The table on this page lists every dialect.
Which time zone does Apache Airflow use for this schedule?
Airflow defaults to UTC. On a time-zone-aware DAG a cron schedule follows wall-clock time, so a daily 00:00 US/Eastern run moves between 04:00 and 05:00 UTC across daylight saving changes.