Cron jobs
How WordPress Cloud replaces WP-Cron with a real scheduled task, how to add your own jobs, and why editing crontab from the container is off by default.
Scheduled tasks run from the panel rather than from inside WordPress. Applies to all WordPress Cloud packages.
Go to Advanced → Developer tools → Cron jobs.
The job you already have
Every WordPress site is provisioned with one:
wp-cli cron event run --due-now --path=public_htmlIt runs every hour, at 0 * * * *.
This replaces WP-Cron. By default WordPress checks for due tasks when someone visits the site, which means scheduled posts, backups and emails fire late on a quiet site and add work to every page load on a busy one. Running WP-CLI from a real system cron removes both problems.
Because the schedule is hourly, a task scheduled for an exact minute runs at the next hour boundary. If you need finer timing than that, add a second job with a shorter interval rather than editing this one.
Add your own
Add cron job takes a command or a request URL and an interval. Paths are
relative to the website's home directory, so public_html reaches your
document root.
Editing crontab from inside the container
The Allow editing of cron from website container toggle is off by
default. With it off, processes running as the website — PHP and SSH sessions —
cannot use the crontab binary.
Leave this off. Compromised WordPress installations routinely install cron jobs to reinstate themselves after you clean them up, and this toggle is what stops them. Turn it on only if you have a specific tool that needs it, and turn it back off afterwards.
Verify
- In WordPress, Tools → Site Health should not report a WP-Cron problem.
- Scheduled posts publish on time.
- A job you added appears in the table with the interval you expect.