Write a systemd service unit and matching timer unit on Linux to run a script on a schedule
domain: freedesktop.org · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
Create the service unit file at /etc/systemd/system/myjob.service with sections [Unit] (Description=), [Service] (Type=oneshot, ExecStart=/path/to/script.sh), and optionally [Install].
Create the paired timer file myjob.timer with [Unit], [Timer] (OnCalendar= using a calendar expression such as 'daily' or '*-*-* 02:30:00', Persistent=true to catch missed runs), and [Install] (WantedBy=timers.target).
Enable and start the timer: systemctl enable --now myjob.timer
Check timer status and next trigger: systemctl list-timers --all | grep myjob
View service output: journalctl -u myjob.service -n 50
Known gotchas
The timer and service unit files must share the same base name (myjob.timer activates myjob.service by convention); override this with Unit= in the [Timer] section if names differ.
Persistent=true causes a missed timer invocation to fire immediately at next boot/startup; omit it if you want skipped runs to be silently discarded.
User-level units go under ~/.config/systemd/user/ and are managed with systemctl --user; they do not require root and only run while the user is logged in unless loginctl enable-linger is set.
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