Quarterly (1st of Every 3rd Month)

Use in your stack

# Quarterly — 1st of Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct at midnight
0 0 1 */3 * /usr/local/bin/quarterly-report.sh

{ "cron": "0 0 0 1 */3 ?", "timezone": "UTC" }

apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: quarterly-report
spec:
  schedule: "0 0 1 */3 *"
  timeZone: "UTC"
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
          - name: report
            image: my-image:latest
          restartPolicy: OnFailure

cron(0 0 1 */3 ? *)

@Scheduled(cron = "0 0 0 1 */3 *")
public void quarterly() { /* ... */ }

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 1 */3 *'

Next runs

Pick a timezone to see when this expression fires next.

Variations

Common use cases

• Quarterly fiscal or usage reports.
• Quarterly billing or subscription renewals.
• Rotating credentials on a quarterly cadence.
• Quarterly data archival or compliance jobs.

Gotchas

• `*/3` in the month field steps from month 1, so it fires in January, April, July, October — calendar quarters, not fiscal quarters. For a fiscal year starting in a different month, use an explicit list like `0 0 1 2,5,8,11 *`.
• AWS EventBridge: `0 0 1 */3 ? *` — uses `?` for day-of-week.
• The 1st of the month always exists, so this is a safe date anchor.

Frequently asked questions