Cron recipe
Cron job every minute: the exact expression
The expression
* * * * *Paste it into crontab -e, your platform cron config, or tool.crontap.com/cronjob-debugger to preview the next runs.
What it does
Fires once per minute, on the minute boundary (00 seconds is not guaranteed on all systems; the job starts sometime during that minute).
When to use it
Health checks and synthetic probes
Ping an internal endpoint or queue depth metric on a tight loop during incidents.
Dev and staging smoke tests
Validate that a deploy stayed up without waiting for hourly batch windows.
Cache warming
Refresh hot keys before traffic spikes so the first real user does not pay cold-start cost.
Common variations
* * * * *Standard five-field cron on Linux, Vercel Cron, and Crontap.
Run this with Crontap
External HTTP cron hits your URL on this schedule, stores every response, and emails you when a run fails. No daemon on the box, no drift when the server reboots. Pro schedules down to a 1-minute cadence; $3.25/mo annual flat for unlimited jobs.
Related recipes
- every 2 minutes
*/2 * * * * - every 5 minutes
*/5 * * * * - every 10 minutes
*/10 * * * * - every 15 minutes
*/15 * * * * - every 30 minutes
*/30 * * * *
More patterns in the cron syntax cheat sheet and what is a cron job in Linux.
FAQ
- What is the cron expression for every minute?
- Use * * * * * (standard five-field cron). Verify the next run times in the free cron debugger before you deploy.
- Can Crontap run this schedule?
- Yes. Crontap fires five-field expressions on your chosen cadence (1-minute floor on Pro), with per-schedule IANA timezones, retries, and failure alerts. Pro is $3.25/mo billed annually.