cron0 2 * * *

GitHub Actions — Nightly Build at 2 AM UTC

“At 02:00”

Runs a GitHub Actions nightly build workflow at 2:00 AM UTC daily. A standard schedule for nightly CI builds, overnight test suites, and daily automated releases in GitHub repositories.

Daily1 run/day

Want to customize this schedule or validate your own cron expression?

Try it live →

Field Breakdown

Field	Value	Meaning
minute	`0`	0
hour	`2`	2
day	`*`	every day of month
month	`*`	every month
weekday	`*`	every day of week

minute

hour

day

month

weekday

Lint Analysis

Info

This time may fall within a DST transition gap for some timezones. Jobs could be skipped or run twice.

Common Use Cases

✓GitHub Actions nightly build
✓Overnight test suite
✓Daily automated release

Code Examples

Bash / crontab

# Run your script on schedule: 0 2 * * *
0 2 * * * /path/to/your/script.sh

Node.js (node-cron)

import cron from 'node-cron';

cron.schedule('0 2 * * *', () => {
  console.log('Running scheduled task');
});

Python (APScheduler)

from apscheduler.schedulers.blocking import BlockingScheduler

scheduler = BlockingScheduler()

@scheduler.scheduled_job('cron', minute='0', hour='2')
def my_job():
    print('Running scheduled task')

scheduler.start()

GitHub Actions Workflow

Generate a ready-to-use .github/workflows/schedule.yml file. Customize the name and download directly.

GitHub Actions

Workflow Name

Job ID

# .github/workflows/schedule.yml
name: GitHub Actions — Nightly Build at 2 AM UTC

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 2 * * *'
  workflow_dispatch: # allow manual trigger

jobs:
  run:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Run scheduled task
        run: |
          echo "Running on schedule: 0 2 * * *"
          # Add your commands here

Save as .github/workflows/schedule.yml in your repository root

Cron Syntax Quick Reference

Field	Allowed Values	Special Chars
minute	0–59	* , - /
hour	0–23	* , - /
day of month	1–31	* , - /
month	1–12 or JAN–DEC	* , - /
day of week	0–7 or SUN–SAT	* , - /

Special characters: *= any value ,= list -= range / = step

Related Patterns — Daily

0 0 * * *

Daily at Midnight (00:00)

Need to build your own cron expression from scratch?

Open the Cron Expression Builder →