To run a cron job every 10 minutes, use:
*/10 * * * *
It fires at minutes 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 of every hour: 144 times a day. In a crontab:
*/10 * * * * /usr/local/bin/fetch-orders.sh >> /var/log/fetch-orders.log 2>&1
What each field means
| Field | Value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Minute | */10 | every 10th minute, starting at 0 |
| Hour | * | every hour |
| Day of month | * | every day |
| Month | * | every month |
| Day of week | * | every day of the week |
Variants
| Schedule | Expression |
|---|---|
| Every 10 minutes, written out | 0,10,20,30,40,50 * * * * |
| Every 10 minutes, offset to :03, :13, :23... | 3-59/10 * * * * |
| Every 10 minutes from 9:00 to 17:50 | */10 9-17 * * * |
| Every 10 minutes on weekdays | */10 * * * 1-5 |
| Jenkins, spread across the hour | H/10 * * * * |
| Quartz (seconds first) | 0 0/10 * * * ? |
Spring @Scheduled | 0 */10 * * * * |
| AWS EventBridge, weekdays | cron(0/10 * ? * MON-FRI *) |
Platform notes
- Linux crontab: local server time. If your command contains
%(as indate +%F), escape it as\%. - GitHub Actions: allowed (the minimum is 5 minutes). UTC unless you set
timezone, and runs may be delayed when Actions is busy. See GitHub Actions cron. - Kubernetes CronJob:
schedule: "*/10 * * * *". Set.spec.timeZoneif the hour range matters, for example"Europe/Berlin". - Cloudflare Cron Triggers: UTC. Watch weekday numbers: Cloudflare counts 1 = Sunday to 7 = Saturday, so write
mon-frirather than1-5. - Vercel: Pro or Enterprise. Vercel doesn't accept day names like
MON, so use1-5there. - Jenkins:
H/10 * * * *keeps 10-minute spacing with a stable per-job offset. See Jenkins cron.
Common mistakes
- *`10 * * `* runs once an hour, at minute 10.
- Weekday numbers that differ by platform.
1-5is Monday to Friday in Linux cron, GitHub Actions and Kubernetes, but Sunday to Thursday on Cloudflare. - Runs that outlast the interval. Use
flock -norconcurrencyPolicy: Forbid.
Running an AI agent every 10 minutes
Possible, but 144 runs a day adds up in tokens. For agent checks, every 30 minutes or hourly is usually enough. The scheduled skills page shows how to run a Claude Code or Codex skill on a schedule.
Questions
Which minutes does */10 run at?
Minutes 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 of every hour. The step always counts from the start of the range, not from when the job was installed.
How do I run every 10 minutes only in the first half of the hour?
Use 0-29/10 * * * * for minutes 0, 10 and 20. In Jenkins, H(0-29)/10 * * * * does the same with a per-job offset.
Can I run every 10 minutes on Vercel's free plan?
No. As of October 2026, Hobby projects can only schedule cron jobs that run once a day; every 10 minutes needs Pro or Enterprise.
How do I run every 10 seconds instead?
Standard cron can't, since its smallest unit is a minute. Spring's six-field cron can (*/10 * * * * *), or use a systemd timer or a loop.