// register activation hook 
register_activation_hook( __FILE__, 'example_activation' );

// function for activation hook
function example_activation() {
    // check if scheduled hook exists
    if ( !wp_next_scheduled( 'my_event' )) {
         // Schedules a hook
         // time() - the first time of an event to run ( UNIX timestamp format )
         // 'hourly' - recurrence ('hourly', 'twicedaily', 'daily' ) 
         // 'my_event' - the name of an action hook to execute. 
         wp_schedule_event( time(), 'hourly', 'my_event' );
    }
}

add_action( 'my_event', 'do_this_hourly' );

// the code of your hourly event
function do_this_hourly() {
   // put your code here
}

// register deactivation hook 
register_deactivation_hook(__FILE__, 'example_deactivation');

// function for deactivation hook
function example_deactivation() {
    // clear scheduled hook
    wp_clear_scheduled_hook( 'my_event' );
}

Important: the WordPress cron runs only when some page of your website is hit. So, for website with low trafic you need to setup the cron on your hosting to hit pages.

// this function add custom interval (5 minutes) to the $schedules  
function five_minutes_interval( $schedules ) {
      $schedules['five_minutes'] = array(
            'interval'  => 60 * 5,
            'display'   =>  '5 minutes';
    );
    return $schedules;
}

// add a custom interval filter
add_filter( 'cron_schedules', 'five_minutes_interval' );

// Schedules a hook
wp_schedule_event( time(), 'five_minutes', 'my_event' );