Glossary · Automation

Cron

A time-based job scheduling system that runs commands or scripts at specified times and intervals.

Cron is a time-based job scheduling utility originating from Unix-like operating systems. Cron jobs are defined using cron expressions–a syntax of five fields (minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week) that specify when a job should execute. For example, "0 9 * * 1" runs at 9:00 AM every Monday. In database contexts, cron is used to schedule backups, report generation, data imports, cleanup tasks, and monitoring checks. Modern cloud platforms offer cron-like scheduling services (AWS EventBridge, Google Cloud Scheduler, Azure Logic Apps) that provide managed, distributed scheduling without maintaining cron servers. Many database tools use cron expressions as the standard format for defining schedule intervals.

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