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Kubernetes cron expression: every Sunday at midnight
To run a Kubernetes 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 |
|---|---|
| Kubernetes (this page) | 0 0 * * 0 |
| Quartz | 0 0 0 ? * 1 |
| Spring | 0 0 0 * * 0 |
| Crontab | 0 0 * * 0 |
| AWS EventBridge | 0 0 ? * 1 * |
| Jenkins | H 0 * * 0 |
| GitHub Actions | 0 0 * * 0 |
| node-cron | 0 0 * * 0 |
| Apache Airflow | 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 Kubernetes config
Drop this into your project. The expression is the one above.
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
name: my-job
spec:
schedule: "0 0 * * 0"
timeZone: "Etc/UTC"
concurrencyPolicy: Forbid
jobTemplate:
spec:
template:
spec:
restartPolicy: OnFailure
containers:
- name: job
image: busybox
command: ["sh", "-c", "date"]The Kubernetes 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 Kubernetes
- Day-of-week is 0-6 (or 7) with Sunday as 0, as in standard cron.
- A CronJob creates a new Job object each run. Set concurrencyPolicy and startingDeadlineSeconds so missed runs behave as you expect.
- Set spec.timeZone (Kubernetes 1.27+) to a name like Asia/Kolkata. Without it the schedule follows the controller's time zone, usually UTC.
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 Kubernetes 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 Kubernetes use for this schedule?
Set spec.timeZone (Kubernetes 1.27+) to a name like Asia/Kolkata. Without it the schedule follows the controller's time zone, usually UTC.