This guide will detail how to properly configure and enable systemd timers.

Many thanks to this source

As I went about trying to set them up, I had the hardest time, since it seems the required information is spread around in various places. I wanted to record what I did so firstly, I can remember, but also so that others don’t have to go searching as far and wide as I did.

There are additional options associated with the each step I mention below, but this is the bare minimum to get started. Look at the man pages for systemd.service, systemd.timer, and systemd.target for all that you can do with them.

Let’s say you have a script '/usr/local/bin/myscript' that you want to run every hour.

First, create a service file, and put it wherever it goes on your Linux distribution (on Arch, it is either /etc/systemd/system/ or /usr/lib/systemd/system).

[Unit]
Description=MyScript

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/myscript

Next, create a timer file, and put it also in the same directory as the service file above.

[Unit]
Description=Runs myscript every hour

[Timer]
# Time to wait after booting before we run first time
OnBootSec=10min
# Time between running each consecutive time
OnUnitActiveSec=1h
Unit=myscript.service

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Rather than starting / enabling the service file, you use the timer.

$ sudo systemctl start myscript.timer
$ sudo systemctl enable myscript.timer