CloudPanel Cron Intermediate

How to set up cron jobs in CloudPanel

Schedule automated tasks per site using CloudPanel's built-in cron job manager. Includes examples for WordPress wp-cron, PHP scripts, and database maintenance.

UnderHost NOC Network Operations

5 min read Updated June 2026

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Create a cron job
Cron schedule syntax
Common examples
Cron not running

CloudPanel includes a per-site cron job manager. Cron jobs created here run as the site's system user, so they have access to that site's files and the correct PHP environment without needing root.

Create a cron job

Log in to CloudPanel and go to Sites → your site
Click the Cron Jobs tab
Click Add Cron Job
Set the schedule using the minute/hour/day/month/weekday fields, or enter a cron expression
Enter the command to run
Click Add

The cron job runs as the site's system user. Use the full path to PHP and your script file. The PHP binary path on CloudPanel is typically:

/usr/bin/php8.1

Or for the system default PHP:

/usr/bin/php

Cron schedule syntax

Five fields: minute hour day month weekday

Schedule	Expression
Every 5 minutes	`/5 * * *`
Every hour	`0 * * * *`
Every day at midnight	`0 0 * * *`
Every day at 3am	`0 3 * * *`
Every Sunday at 1am	`0 1 * * 0`

Common examples

WordPress dedicated cron (every 5 minutes):

/usr/bin/php /home/SYSTEM_USER/htdocs/yourdomain.com/wp-cron.php > /dev/null 2>&1

After adding this, disable WordPress's built-in wp-cron by adding to wp-config.php:

define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);

Daily database backup at 3am:

mysqldump -u DB_USER -pDB_PASS DB_NAME | gzip > /home/SYSTEM_USER/backups/db-$(date +\%Y\%m\%d).sql.gz

Clear a cache directory hourly:

find /home/SYSTEM_USER/htdocs/yourdomain.com/cache/ -name "*.php" -mtime +1 -delete

Cron not running

Wrong PHP version path: Use which php8.1 or which php over SSH to find the correct binary path for your installed PHP version
Wrong file path: Cron requires the full absolute path. The site's document root is /home/SYSTEM_USER/htdocs/yourdomain.com/-replace with your actual system user and domain
Script errors: Remove > /dev/null 2>&1 temporarily so output is emailed to the system user. Check the error to diagnose
Output email not received: The cron system sends output to the system user's local mailbox. Check /var/mail/SYSTEM_USER via SSH if you are not receiving emails
Percent signs in commands: In crontab, % is a special character. Escape it as \% in date format strings