Cron Expression First Day of Every Month (0 0 1 * *)

// how it works

How `0 0 1 * *` Works

0 0 1 * * fires at midnight on the first day of every month. 1 in the day-of-month field (field 3) targets the 1st. The wildcard in the month field means every month. The weekday field wildcard is ignored when a specific day-of-month is set.

Equivalent shorthand: @monthly (alias for 0 0 1 * * in most Unix implementations).

Common uses: monthly invoices, billing cycles, monthly reports, first-of-month database snapshots.

Field Breakdown

Field	Value	Meaning
Minute	`0`	At minute zero
Hour	`0`	At midnight
Day of month	`1`	On the 1st
Month	`*`	Every month
Weekday	`*`	Any day (day-of-month takes priority)

// next scheduled runs (UTC)

Next 10 Run Times

Approximate run times starting from the current date. Open in the builder to see exact run times in your timezone.

2026-04-01 00:00 2026-05-01 00:00 2026-06-01 00:00 2026-07-01 00:00 2026-08-01 00:00 2026-09-01 00:00 2026-10-01 00:00 2026-11-01 00:00 2026-12-01 00:00 2027-01-01 00:00

// copy-paste ready examples

Platform Examples

Linux / Unix crontab

0 0 1 * * /path/to/script.sh
# or:
@monthly /path/to/script.sh

GitHub Actions

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 1 * *'  # 1st of month, midnight UTC

AWS EventBridge

cron(0 0 1 * ? *)

Kubernetes CronJob

spec:
  schedule: "0 0 1 * *"

node-cron (Node.js)

cron.schedule('0 0 1 * *', () => { ... });

APScheduler (Python)

scheduler.add_job(fn, 'cron', day=1, hour=0, minute=0)

// related expressions

Related Cron Expressions

// frequently asked questions

FAQ

What is @monthly in cron?

@monthly is an alias for 0 0 1 * * — it runs at midnight on the 1st of every month.

How do I run a cron job on the last day of every month?

The last day varies (28–31). A common trick: 0 0 28-31 * * [ $(date +%d) -eq $(cal | awk 'NF{last=$NF} END{print last}') ] && /path/to/script.sh. Alternatively, use a scheduler that supports L (like Quartz: 0 0 0 L * ?).

How do I run a job on the 15th and last day of each month?

For the 15th: 0 0 15 * *. Combine with the last-day trick above, or use two separate cron lines.

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Cron Expression First of Every Month0 0 1 * *

How 0 0 1 * * Works