wp cron

Last updated: February 12, 2026

Tests, runs, and deletes WP-Cron events; manages WP-Cron schedules.

Subcommands

Command Description
wp cron event Schedules, runs, and deletes WP-Cron events.
wp cron schedule Gets WP-Cron schedules.
wp cron test Tests the WP Cron spawning system and reports back its status.

Examples

# Test WP Cron spawning system
$ wp cron test
Success: WP-Cron spawning is working as expected.

wp cron event

Schedules, runs, and deletes WP-Cron events.

Subcommands

Command Description
wp cron event delete Deletes all scheduled cron events for the given hook.
wp cron event list Lists scheduled cron events.
wp cron event run Runs the next scheduled cron event for the given hook.
wp cron event schedule Schedules a new cron event.
wp cron event unschedule Unschedules all cron events for a given hook.

Examples

# Schedule a new cron event
$ wp cron event schedule cron_test
Success: Scheduled event with hook 'cron_test' for 2016-05-31 10:19:16 GMT.

# Run all cron events due right now
$ wp cron event run --due-now
Executed the cron event 'cron_test_1' in 0.01s.
Executed the cron event 'cron_test_2' in 0.006s.
Success: Executed a total of 2 cron events.

# Delete all scheduled cron events for the given hook
$ wp cron event delete cron_test
Success: Deleted a total of 2 cron events.

# List scheduled cron events in JSON
$ wp cron event list --fields=hook,next_run --format=json
[{"hook":"wp_version_check","next_run":"2016-05-31 10:15:13"},{"hook":"wp_update_plugins","next_run":"2016-05-31 10:15:13"},{"hook":"wp_update_themes","next_run":"2016-05-31 10:15:14"}]

wp cron event delete

Deletes all scheduled cron events for the given hook.

Synopsis

wp cron event delete [<hook>...] [--due-now] [--exclude=<hooks>] [--all]

Parameters

Parameter Description
[<hook>...] One or more hooks to delete.
[--due-now] Delete all hooks due right now.
[--exclude=<hooks>] Comma-separated list of hooks to exclude.
[--all] Delete all hooks.

Examples

$ wp cron event delete cron_test
Success: Deleted a total of 2 cron events.

wp cron event list

Lists scheduled cron events.

Synopsis

wp cron event list [--fields=<fields>] [--<field>=<value>] [--field=<field>] [--format=<format>]

Parameters

Parameter Description
[--fields=<fields>] Limit the output to specific object fields.
[--<field>=<value>] Filter by one or more fields.
[--field=<field>] Prints the value of a single field for each event.
[--format=<format>] Render output in a particular format. Default: table. Options: table, csv, ids, json, count, yaml

Available Fields

Default fields:

  • hook
  • next_run_gmt
  • next_run_relative
  • recurrence

Optional fields:

  • time
  • sig
  • args
  • schedule
  • interval
  • next_run

Examples

# List scheduled cron events
$ wp cron event list
+-------------------+---------------------+---------------------+------------+
| hook              | next_run_gmt        | next_run_relative   | recurrence |
+-------------------+---------------------+---------------------+------------+
| wp_version_check  | 2016-05-31 22:15:13 | 11 hours 57 minutes | 12 hours   |
| wp_update_plugins | 2016-05-31 22:15:13 | 11 hours 57 minutes | 12 hours   |
| wp_update_themes  | 2016-05-31 22:15:14 | 11 hours 57 minutes | 12 hours   |
+-------------------+---------------------+---------------------+------------+

# List scheduled cron events in JSON
$ wp cron event list --fields=hook,next_run --format=json

wp cron event run

Runs the next scheduled cron event for the given hook.

Synopsis

wp cron event run [<hook>...] [--due-now] [--exclude=<hooks>] [--all]

Parameters

Parameter Description
[<hook>...] One or more hooks to run.
[--due-now] Run all hooks due right now.
[--exclude=<hooks>] Comma-separated list of hooks to exclude.
[--all] Run all hooks.

Examples

# Run all cron events due right now
$ wp cron event run --due-now
Executed the cron event 'cron_test_1' in 0.01s.
Executed the cron event 'cron_test_2' in 0.006s.
Success: Executed a total of 2 cron events.

wp cron event schedule

Schedules a new cron event.

Synopsis

wp cron event schedule <hook> [<next-run>] [<recurrence>] [--<field>=<value>]

Parameters

Parameter Description
<hook> The hook name.
[<next-run>] A Unix timestamp or an English textual datetime description compatible with strtotime(). Defaults to now.
[<recurrence>] How often the event should recur. See wp cron schedule list for available schedule names. Defaults to no recurrence.
[--<field>=<value>] Arguments to pass to the hook for the event. <field> should be a numeric key, not a string.

Examples

# Schedule a new cron event
$ wp cron event schedule cron_test
Success: Scheduled event with hook 'cron_test' for 2016-05-31 10:19:16 GMT.

# Schedule new cron event with hourly recurrence
$ wp cron event schedule cron_test now hourly
Success: Scheduled event with hook 'cron_test' for 2016-05-31 10:20:32 GMT.

# Schedule new cron event and pass arguments
$ wp cron event schedule cron_test '+1 hour' --0=first-argument --1=second-argument
Success: Scheduled event with hook 'cron_test' for 2016-05-31 11:21:35 GMT.

wp cron event unschedule

Unschedules all cron events for a given hook.

Synopsis

wp cron event unschedule <hook>

Parameters

Parameter Description
<hook> Name of the hook for which all events should be unscheduled.

Examples

$ wp cron event unschedule cron_test
Success: Unscheduled 2 events for hook 'cron_test'.

wp cron schedule

Gets WP-Cron schedules.

Subcommands

Command Description
wp cron schedule list List available cron schedules.

Examples

# List available cron schedules
$ wp cron schedule list
+------------+-------------+----------+
| name       | display     | interval |
+------------+-------------+----------+
| hourly     | Once Hourly | 3600     |
| twicedaily | Twice Daily | 43200    |
| daily      | Once Daily  | 86400    |
+------------+-------------+----------+

wp cron schedule list

List available cron schedules.

Synopsis

wp cron schedule list [--fields=<fields>] [--field=<field>] [--format=<format>]

Parameters

Parameter Description
[--fields=<fields>] Limit the output to specific object fields.
[--field=<field>] Prints the value of a single field for each schedule.
[--format=<format>] Render output in a particular format. Default: table. Options: table, csv, ids, json, yaml

Available Fields

  • name
  • display
  • interval

Examples

# List available cron schedules
$ wp cron schedule list
+------------+-------------+----------+
| name       | display     | interval |
+------------+-------------+----------+
| hourly     | Once Hourly | 3600     |
| twicedaily | Twice Daily | 43200    |
| daily      | Once Daily  | 86400    |
+------------+-------------+----------+

# List id of available cron schedule
$ wp cron schedule list --fields=name --format=ids
hourly twicedaily daily

wp cron test

Tests the WP Cron spawning system and reports back its status.

This command tests the spawning system by performing the following steps:

  • Checks to see if the DISABLE_WP_CRON constant is set; errors if true because WP-Cron is disabled.
  • Checks to see if the ALTERNATE_WP_CRON constant is set; warns if true.
  • Attempts to spawn WP-Cron over HTTP; warns if non 200 response code is returned.

Synopsis

wp cron test

Examples

$ wp cron test
Success: WP-Cron spawning is working as expected.

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