Traditionally, if you wanted a command to run periodically (hourly, daily, weekly, and so on), then you would have to set up a Cron job in Linux-based environments, or a scheduled task in Windows environments. However, this comes with drawbacks. It requires the user to have server access and familiarity with creating such schedules. Also, in cloud-based environments, the application may not be hosted on a single machine, or the user might not have the privileges to create Cron jobs. The creators of Laravel saw this as something that could be improved, and have come up with an expressive way of scheduling Artisan tasks.

Your schedule is defined in app/Console/Kernel.php, and with your schedule being defined in this file, it has the added advantage of being present in source control.

If you open the Kernel class file, you will see a method named schedule. Laravel ships with one by default that serves as an example:

$schedule->command('inspire')->hourly();

If you've set...