GitHub Actions
Cron Schedule Examples

15+ GitHub Actions Cron Examples

Simple intervals

Daily schedules

Weekday schedules

Weekly schedules

Monthly schedules

Full Workflow Templates

Nightly build and test

name: Nightly Build

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 2 * * *'     # 2:00 AM UTC daily
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  build-and-test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Run full test suite
        run: npm run test:full

      - name: Build
        run: npm run build

      - name: Notify on failure
        if: failure()
        uses: actions/github-script@v7
        with:
          script: |
            github.rest.issues.create({
              owner: context.repo.owner,
              repo: context.repo.repo,
              title: 'Nightly build failed',
              body: 'Run: ' + context.serverUrl + '/' + context.repo.owner + '/' + context.repo.repo + '/actions/runs/' + context.runId
            })

Weekly dependency update

name: Weekly Dependency Check

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 8 * * 1'    # Monday 8:00 AM UTC
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  update-deps:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'

      - name: Check for outdated packages
        run: npm outdated || true

      - name: Run audit
        run: npm audit --audit-level=high

Scheduled release with version bump

name: Monthly Release

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 10 1 * *'   # 1st of every month, 10:00 AM UTC
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      version_bump:
        description: 'Version bump type'
        required: true
        default: 'patch'
        type: choice
        options: [patch, minor, major]

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

      - name: Bump version
        run: |
          BUMP="${{ inputs.version_bump || 'patch' }}"
          npm version $BUMP --no-git-tag-version

      - name: Commit and tag
        run: |
          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
          git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
          VERSION=$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")
          git add package.json
          git commit -m "chore: release v$VERSION"
          git tag "v$VERSION"
          git push && git push --tags

Common Mistakes

Always Include workflow_dispatch

Adding workflow_dispatch alongside your schedule gives you a "Run workflow" button in the GitHub Actions UI. This is essential for:

• Testing — Run immediately without waiting for the schedule
• Incident response — Manually trigger when you need the job to run now
• Debugging — Run with custom inputs to test different scenarios
• Re-enabling — Quickly test after re-enabling a disabled workflow

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 2 * * *'
  workflow_dispatch:         # No config needed — just add it
    inputs:                  # Optional: add inputs for parameterised manual runs
      environment:
        description: 'Target environment'
        required: false
        default: 'staging'
        type: choice
        options: [staging, production]

Multiple Schedules in One Workflow

A single workflow can have multiple schedule entries. All of them trigger the same workflow:

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 8 * * 1-5'   # Weekdays at 8 AM UTC
    - cron: '0 12 * * 0'    # Sundays at noon UTC
  workflow_dispatch:

To know which schedule triggered the run, check github.event.schedule in your job steps:

- name: Check which schedule triggered
  run: |
    echo "Triggered by: ${{ github.event.schedule || 'manual' }}"
    if [ "${{ github.event.schedule }}" = "0 8 * * 1-5" ]; then
      echo "Weekday morning run"
    fi