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Apache Airflow cron expression: every Sunday at midnight
To run a Apache Airflow job every Sunday at midnight, use:
0 0 * * 0At 00:00 UTC, on Sun.
Your week at a glance
Upcoming runs
| # | Local | UTC | From now |
|---|
Copy-ready code
Why use this schedule
The traditional weekly maintenance slot, at the very start of Sunday. It sits in the quietest part of the week for most business systems, so heavy clean-up jobs rarely disturb anyone.
- Weekly log rotation
- Weekly vacuum or optimise
- Weekly data exports
First runs, as an example
Starting from 1 January 2027, evaluated in UTC:
| # | Date and time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sun, 03 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 2 | Sun, 10 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 3 | Sun, 17 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 4 | Sun, 24 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 5 | Sun, 31 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 6 | Sun, 07 Feb 2027, 00:00:00 |
Every Sunday at midnight in every dialect
| System | Expression |
|---|---|
| Apache Airflow (this page) | 0 0 * * 0 |
| Quartz | 0 0 0 ? * 1 |
| Spring | 0 0 0 * * 0 |
| Crontab | 0 0 * * 0 |
| Kubernetes | 0 0 * * 0 |
| AWS EventBridge | 0 0 ? * 1 * |
| Jenkins | H 0 * * 0 |
| GitHub Actions | 0 0 * * 0 |
| node-cron | 0 0 * * 0 |
| Azure Functions | 0 0 0 * * 0 |
| Google Cloud Scheduler | 0 0 * * 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 0 * * 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
- 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
Sunday as 0 works in Unix cron but not in Quartz, where the range is 1-7. Use 1 or SUN there.
Frequently asked questions
How do I run a Apache Airflow job every Sunday at midnight?
Use 0 0 * * 0. At 00:00 UTC, on Sun.
What is the every Sunday at midnight cron expression in other systems?
Quartz: 0 0 0 ? * 1; Spring: 0 0 0 * * 0; Crontab: 0 0 * * 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.