Enabling the Linux Cron for you WordPress website

What is the Cron feature?

The Cron toggle on the WordPress website's Application panel makes running cron jobs (or scheduled tasks) on your website much more reliable.

When enabled, the DISABLE_WP_CRON setting in the wp-config.php file will be set to TRUE, and this new line will be added to the crontab for the website user on the server.

"* * * * * wp cron event run --due-now"

What are the benefits of this?

Imagine you own a bakery, and every morning at 6 AM, you need to turn on the ovens so they’re hot when you start baking. You have two ways to do this:

WordPress Cron (WP-Cron) – This is like asking your first customer of the day to turn on the ovens when they walk in. If no one shows up right at 6 AM, the ovens won’t start heating until someone finally arrives, which could be late.
System Crontab (Linux Cron) – This is like installing a timer that automatically switches on the ovens at exactly 6 AM, whether or not anyone is there.

The benefits of using Linux Crontab is reliability and precision. WP-Cron only runs when visitors access your site, which means scheduled tasks (like posting an article or sending emails) could be delayed if there's low traffic. With a proper server-side cron job, the task runs exactly when scheduled, ensuring consistency.

Will I need to make any changes to my Website?

No! Your website will continue to run exactly as it did before.