Cron expression for every 7 minutes

About */7 * * * *

*/7 * * * * is the closest single line, but it isn't every 7 minutes. The minute field restarts every hour, so this fires at :00, :07, :14, :21, :28, :35, :42, :49 and :56 and then at :00 again — a 4-minute gap. No crontab can fix that: 7 divides neither an hour nor a day, so the pattern never lines up. If the exact interval matters, use a step that divides 60 (5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20 or 30), or run the job from a loop or a systemd timer with OnUnitActiveSec=7min.

Cron reads the five fields as minute hour day month weekday. For this schedule that breaks down as:

New to cron? Read the syntax reference or the FAQ.

Use it in crontab or GitHub Actions

The single line below is the closest cron gets, not the exact schedule (see above). A crontab runs in the server's local timezone; GitHub Actions always evaluates schedules in UTC. For Kubernetes, AWS EventBridge, or Vercel, use the export menu in the calculator above.

crontab

# At 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56 minutes past the hour, every hour, every day
*/7 * * * * /path/to/command

GitHub Actions workflow

# At 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56 minutes past the hour, every hour, every day
# Note: GitHub Actions always runs schedules in UTC.
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '*/7 * * * *'

Repeating intervals

• every minute* * * * *
• every 2 minutes*/2 * * * *
• every 3 minutes*/3 * * * *
• every 5 minutes*/5 * * * *
• every 10 minutes*/10 * * * *
• every 15 minutes*/15 * * * *

Build a custom cron expression →