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Apache Airflow cron expression: on the last day of every month
To run a Apache Airflow job on the last day of every month, use:
0 0 L * *At 00:00 UTC, on the last day of the month.
Your week at a glance
Upcoming runs
| # | Local | UTC | From now |
|---|
Copy-ready code
Why use this schedule
Month-end closing jobs. Months have different lengths, so you cannot write a single fixed day.
- Month-end financial close
- Final monthly invoice run
- Monthly data snapshots
First runs, as an example
Starting from 1 January 2027, evaluated in UTC:
| # | Date and time (UTC) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sun, 31 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 2 | Sun, 28 Feb 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 3 | Wed, 31 Mar 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 4 | Fri, 30 Apr 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 5 | Mon, 31 May 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 6 | Wed, 30 Jun 2027, 00:00:00 |
On the last day of every month in every dialect
| System | Expression |
|---|---|
| Apache Airflow (this page) | 0 0 L * * |
| Quartz | 0 0 0 L * ? |
| Spring | 0 0 0 L * * |
| Crontab | 0 0 28-31 * * |
| Kubernetes | 0 0 28-31 * * |
| AWS EventBridge | 0 0 L * ? * |
| Jenkins | H 0 28-31 * * |
| GitHub Actions | 0 0 28-31 * * |
| node-cron | 0 0 L * * |
| Azure Functions | 0 0 0 28-31 * * |
| Google Cloud Scheduler | 0 0 28-31 * * |
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 L * *", # 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
- As in standard cron (croniter's default is day_or=True), when both day-of-month and day-of-week are restricted the DAG runs when either one matches.
- croniter, which Airflow uses, extends cron with L (last day of month), W and # (nth weekday, such as MON#1). The Airflow docs show 0 0 * * MON#1.
- 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
Unix cron has no "last day" symbol. The common 28-31 workaround fires up to four times a month, so the job must check that tomorrow is the 1st.
Frequently asked questions
How do I run a Apache Airflow job on the last day of every month?
Use 0 0 L * *. At 00:00 UTC, on the last day of the month.
What is the on the last day of every month cron expression in other systems?
Quartz: 0 0 0 L * ?; Spring: 0 0 0 L * *; Crontab: 0 0 28-31 * *. 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.