Home โบ Apache Airflow โบ Every hour
Apache Airflow cron expression: every hour
To run a Apache Airflow job every hour, use:
0 * * * *At minute 0.
Your week at a glance
Upcoming runs
| # | Local | UTC | From now |
|---|
Copy-ready code
Why use this schedule
One run at the top of each hour, twenty-four a day. This is the classic maintenance cadence: frequent enough to keep data fresh, slow enough that even a heavier job finishes comfortably before the next one starts.
- Rotating or compressing logs
- Hourly aggregation of events
- Refreshing materialised views
First runs, as an example
Starting from 1 January 2027, evaluated in UTC:
| # | Date and time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 2 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 01:00:00 |
| 3 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 02:00:00 |
| 4 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 03:00:00 |
| 5 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 04:00:00 |
| 6 | Fri, 01 Jan 2027, 05:00:00 |
Every hour in every dialect
| System | Expression |
|---|---|
| Apache Airflow (this page) | 0 * * * * |
| Quartz | 0 0 * * * ? |
| Spring | 0 0 * * * * |
| Crontab | 0 * * * * |
| Kubernetes | 0 * * * * |
| AWS EventBridge | 0 * * * ? * |
| Jenkins | H * * * * |
| GitHub Actions | 0 * * * * |
| node-cron | 0 * * * * |
| Azure Functions | 0 0 * * * * |
| Google Cloud Scheduler | 0 * * * * |
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 * * * *", # 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
- 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
Many teams start everything at minute 0, which creates a thundering herd on shared systems. Offset heavy jobs, for example to minute 7 or 23, or use H in Jenkins.
Frequently asked questions
How do I run a Apache Airflow job every hour?
Use 0 * * * *. At minute 0.
What is the every hour cron expression in other systems?
Quartz: 0 0 * * * ?; Spring: 0 0 * * * *; Crontab: 0 * * * *. 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.