How to run a cron job inside a docker container

Here is how I run one of my cron containers.

Dockerfile:

FROM alpine:3.3

ADD crontab.txt /crontab.txt
ADD script.sh /script.sh
COPY entry.sh /entry.sh
RUN chmod 755 /script.sh /entry.sh
RUN /usr/bin/crontab /crontab.txt

CMD ["/entry.sh"]

crontab.txt

*/30 * * * * /script.sh >> /var/log/script.log

entry.sh

#!/bin/sh

# start cron
/usr/sbin/crond -f -l 8

script.sh

#!/bin/sh

# code goes here.
echo "This is a script, run by cron!"

Build like so

docker build -t mycron .

Run like so

docker run -d mycron

Add your own scripts and edit the crontab.txt and just build the image and run. Since it is based on alpine, the image is super small.

crond works well with tiny on Alpine

RUN apk add --no-cache tini

ENTRYPOINT ["/sbin/tini", "--"]
CMD ["/usr/sbin/crond", "-f"]

but should not be run as container main process (PID 1) because of zombie reaping problem and issues with signal handling. See this Docker PR and this blog post for details.

@ken-cochrane's solution is probably the best, however, there is also a way to do it without needing to create extra files.

To do it without extra files:

The way to go is to set the cron within your entrypoint.sh file.

Dockerfile

...

# Your Dockerfile above


COPY entrypoint.sh /
RUN chmod +x /entrypoint.sh
ENTRYPOINT ["/entrypoint.sh"]

entrypoint.sh

echo "* * * * * echo 'I love running my crons'" >> /etc/crontabs/root
crond -l 2 -f > /dev/stdout 2> /dev/stderr &

# You can put the rest of your entrypoint.sh below this line

...