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GitHub Actions cron expression: every 12 hours
To run a GitHub Actions job every 12 hours, use:
0 0,12 * * *At minute 0, during hours 00, 12.
Your week at a glance
Upcoming runs
| # | Local | UTC | From now |
|---|
Copy-ready code
Why use this schedule
Twice a day, at midnight and noon. Written as a list, which is clearer than */12.
- Twice-daily database dumps
- Syncing a catalogue to a marketplace
- Morning and evening digest emails
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, 12:00:00 |
| 3 | Sat, 02 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 4 | Sat, 02 Jan 2027, 12:00:00 |
| 5 | Sun, 03 Jan 2027, 00:00:00 |
| 6 | Sun, 03 Jan 2027, 12:00:00 |
Every 12 hours in every dialect
| System | Expression |
|---|---|
| GitHub Actions (this page) | 0 0,12 * * * |
| Quartz | 0 0 0,12 * * ? |
| Spring | 0 0 0,12 * * * |
| Crontab | 0 0,12 * * * |
| Kubernetes | 0 0,12 * * * |
| AWS EventBridge | 0 0,12 * * ? * |
| Jenkins | H 0,12 * * * |
| node-cron | 0 0,12 * * * |
| Apache Airflow | 0 0,12 * * * |
| Azure Functions | 0 0 0,12 * * * |
| Google Cloud Scheduler | 0 0,12 * * * |
Need to translate a different expression? Use the cron converter.
Ready-to-use GitHub Actions config
Drop this into your project. The expression is the one above.
on:
schedule:
- cron: "0 0,12 * * *"The GitHub Actions fields, in order: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day-of-month (1-31), month (1-12), day-of-week (0-6, 0 = Sunday).
Things to watch out for in GitHub Actions
- Scheduled workflows only run on the default branch, and public repos pause them after 60 days without activity.
- GitHub Actions schedules are always UTC. Convert your local time to UTC before writing the expression.
The common mistake with this schedule
In UTC, midnight and noon fall at odd local times. For India, 00:00 and 12:00 UTC are 05:30 and 17:30 IST.
Frequently asked questions
How do I run a GitHub Actions job every 12 hours?
Use 0 0,12 * * *. At minute 0, during hours 00, 12.
What is the every 12 hours cron expression in other systems?
Quartz: 0 0 0,12 * * ?; Spring: 0 0 0,12 * * *; Crontab: 0 0,12 * * *. The table on this page lists every dialect.
Which time zone does GitHub Actions use for this schedule?
GitHub Actions schedules are always UTC. Convert your local time to UTC before writing the expression.