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Cron expression

Every year

Runs once a year at 00:00 on January 1. Same as @yearly and @annually.

0 0 1 1 * Open in Cron Expression Parser

Field by field

Field Value Matches
Minute 0 0
Hour 0 0
Day of month 1 1
Month 1 January
Day of week * Every value

Next run times

Example: the first 6 runs after January 1, 2026 (UTC).

  1. Fri, Jan 1, 2027, 00:00
  2. Sat, Jan 1, 2028, 00:00
  3. Mon, Jan 1, 2029, 00:00
  4. Tue, Jan 1, 2030, 00:00
  5. Wed, Jan 1, 2031, 00:00
  6. Thu, Jan 1, 2032, 00:00

Ready-to-use versions

crontab
0 0 1 1 * /path/to/command

Add the line with crontab -e. It runs in the server's time zone unless CRON_TZ or TZ is set.

Kubernetes CronJob
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: every-year
spec:
  schedule: "0 0 1 1 *"
  timeZone: "Etc/UTC"
  concurrencyPolicy: Forbid
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          restartPolicy: OnFailure
          containers:
            - name: job
              image: busybox:1.36
              command: ["/bin/sh", "-c", "date; echo run"]

Set spec.timeZone (Kubernetes 1.27+); without it the schedule follows the controller manager's time zone, usually UTC.

GitHub Actions
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 1 1 *'
  workflow_dispatch:

GitHub Actions always uses UTC, accepts intervals of 5 minutes or more, and may start scheduled runs late under load.

Quartz
0 0 0 1 1 ?

Quartz puts seconds first and needs ? in either day-of-month or day-of-week. Days are 1–7 from Sunday, so names are safer.

Spring
@Scheduled(cron = "0 0 0 1 1 *")

Spring @Scheduled(cron = …) takes six fields: seconds, then the usual five.

FAQ

› Is cron reliable for yearly jobs?

If the machine is off at that moment, the run is skipped. Use anacron or a systemd timer with Persistent=true for jobs that must catch up.

› Which time zone does 0 0 1 1 * run in?

Cron uses the time zone of the machine or service that runs it. On Linux that is the system time zone unless CRON_TZ or TZ is set; Kubernetes CronJobs accept spec.timeZone; GitHub Actions always uses UTC.

› How can I check this schedule before deploying it?

Open 0 0 1 1 * in the Cron Expression Parser on this site. It explains each field and lists the upcoming runs in your local time or UTC, right in your browser.