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Cron every Thursday

0 9 * * 4

At 09:00, only on Thursday.

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September 2026 · UTC

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The cron expression for every Thursday at 09:00

0 9 * * 4

The day-of-week value 4 is Thursday in standard cron. Name-alias form: 0 9 * * THU.

See the dedicated guide for the full breakdown: Cron every week.

Paste it into the editor above to see the next runs on a calendar.

When to run a job every Thursday at 09:00

  • Reports and notifications that should only go out every Thursday at 09:00.
  • Maintenance windows and heavier batch jobs scheduled around when people are working.
  • Reminders and check-ins tied to a weekly rhythm rather than a calendar date.

Run this cron anywhere

0 9 * * 4 is five-field cron syntax. It works as is in:

AWS EventBridge and Quartz use six-field expressions with a ? in one of the day fields, so convert first:

  • AWS EventBridge - cron(minute hour day-of-month month ? year); see the AWS guide.
  • Quartz Scheduler - prepend a seconds field (0) and replace one day field with ?; see the Quartz guide.

Useful variations

  • 0 0 * * 4 - every Thursday at midnight
  • 0 9 * * THU - name-alias form (equivalent)
  • 0 9 * * 1,4 - Monday and Thursday (twice-a-week)

Gotchas when running every Thursday at 09:00

  • Timezone and daylight saving - DST handling is scheduler-specific: Vixie/cronie can skip or double local matches; GitHub advances nonexistent local times; EventBridge Scheduler skips spring and runs once in the fall overlap. UTC-only Vercel and Cloudflare schedules are unaffected.
  • Missed runs are not replayed - If the host or platform is unavailable at the scheduled minute, standard cron simply waits for the next match. Add a heartbeat or alert if a skipped run must be noticed.
  • Day-of-week and day-of-month are OR-ed - In Vixie-style cron, restricting both fields runs the job when either matches. Keep day-of-month as * when the weekday is the only restriction you want.
  • Sunday numbering varies by dialect - Vixie-style cron accepts 0 and 7 as Sunday. AWS EventBridge and Quartz use 1 for Sunday and 7 for Saturday; prefer weekday names when translating dialects.

Examples

  • 0 18 * * *
    Every day at 18:00
  • 0 */5 * * *
    Every 5 hours
  • 0 18 * * 1-5
    Weekdays at 18:00
  • 0 0 1 * *
    Once a month, on the 1st at midnight

Cheatsheet

Full cheatsheet
FieldReq.RangeWildcards
minuteyes0-59, - * /
houryes0-23, - * /
day of monthyes1-31, - * /
monthyes1-12 or JAN-DEC, - * /
day of weekyes0-6 or names; some dialects use 0-7 or 1-7 — see Dialects, - * /

Frequently asked questions

Syntax

Can I write THU instead of 4 for Thursday?

Yes. 0 9 * * THU is equivalent to 0 9 * * 4 when weekday names are supported. Expression: 0 9 * * THU

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Day-of-week values
How do I run on both Monday and Thursday?

Use 0 9 * * 1,4. The weekday list creates Monday and Thursday runs with three-day and four-day gaps. Expression: 0 9 * * 1,4

Open in editor
Twice-a-week guide

Timing

What expression sends a Thursday newsletter at 15:00?

Use 0 15 * * 4. Weekday 4 selects Thursday and hour 15 selects 15:00 in the scheduler timezone. Expression: 0 15 * * 4

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Weekly cron guide
Why run weekend preparation on Thursday?

Thursday leaves Friday to inspect failures before weekend traffic or staffing changes. Use 0 9 * * 4 for a morning preparation run. Expression: 0 9 * * 4

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Days and months

Does 0 9 1 * 4 mean the first Thursday of each month?

No in Vixie cron. It fires every Thursday and every first day of the month because restricted day fields are OR-ed; Quartz and AWS require one day field to be ?. Expression: 0 9 1 * 4

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Day-field rules
How do I schedule the second Thursday of each month?

Use 0 0 9 ? * THU#2 in Quartz-compatible syntax. The #2 suffix selects the second Thursday. Expression: 0 0 9 ? * THU#2

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Nth-weekday rules
How do I schedule the last Thursday of each month?

Use 0 0 9 ? * THUL in Quartz-compatible syntax. Standard Vixie crontab needs a wrapper because weekday L is unsupported. Expression: 0 0 9 ? * THUL

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Last-weekday rules
Why pair Thursday with Monday for twice-weekly work?

0 9 * * 1,4 creates three-day and four-day gaps, distributing two weekly runs more evenly than adjacent weekdays. Expression: 0 9 * * 1,4

Open in editor
Twice-a-week guide

Platforms

What is the Quartz form for every Thursday at 09:00?

Use 0 0 9 ? * THU. Quartz prepends seconds and uses ? for day-of-month while Thursday controls day-of-week. Expression: 0 0 9 ? * THU

Open in editor
Quartz cron guide

Debugging

What is the risk of a late Thursday release cron?

Failures can spill into Friday or the weekend. Add a deployment cutoff, completion monitoring, and rollback automation rather than relying on the cron start alone.

Crontap

Can Crontap call an endpoint every Thursday?

Yes. Crontap can run 0 9 * * 4 in the selected IANA timezone and invoke an HTTP endpoint every Thursday.

Schedule API calls

General

What is the cron expression for every Thursday at 09:00?

0 9 * * 4. Paste this into Linux crontab, Vercel cron, node-cron, robfig/cron, or a Kubernetes CronJob to run a job every Thursday at 09:00; AWS EventBridge and Quartz need the six-field form.

How can I verify this cron actually runs every Thursday at 09:00?

The editor above shows the next 30+ runs on a calendar in your local timezone, plus a plain-English description. If the calendar matches your intent, the cron is correct.

Does 0 9 * * 4 work on every platform?

Linux crontab, Vercel cron jobs, node-cron, robfig/cron, and Kubernetes CronJob accept the five-field form as is. AWS EventBridge and Quartz use six-field expressions with a ? in one of the day fields; see the AWS and Quartz guides for the conversion. Vercel's free Hobby plan caps the minimum frequency at once-per-day; the Pro plan removes that cap.

What happens if the previous run is still going when the next one fires?

Most schedulers will start the new run anyway, leading to overlap. To prevent this, wrap the command with flock -n /tmp/myjob.lock /path/to/script.sh on Linux, or set concurrencyPolicy: Forbid on Kubernetes CronJob. Vercel and EventBridge may overlap runs if the previous one is still executing; make the handler idempotent.

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