Cron Expression Generator — Build & Explain Cron Schedules
Schedule
Next 5 runs (local time)
Type a cron expression or build one with the dropdowns to see exactly when it runs. The tool turns the five crontab fields into a plain-English sentence and lists the next five run times in your local timezone. Common macros like @daily and @hourly are supported too.
How it works
- 1 Type or build an expression Paste a cron expression into the box, pick a preset, or set each field with the dropdowns. The expression updates as you go.
- 2 Read the plain-English schedule The tool explains the schedule in one sentence — for example, '0 9 * * 1-5' becomes 'At 09:00, on Monday through Friday.'
- 3 Check the next run times The next five run times are listed in your local timezone, so you can confirm the schedule fires when you expect before deploying it.
Your data stays private
All processing happens entirely in your browser. No files, text, or data are ever sent to our servers. You can disconnect from the internet and this tool will still work.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the five fields in a cron expression?
- In order: minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12), and day of week (0–6, where 0 is Sunday). An asterisk (*) means 'every'. So '30 8 * * 1' means 8:30 every Monday.
- What does */5 mean in cron?
- The slash is a step value. */5 in the minute field means 'every 5th minute' — so 0, 5, 10, 15, and so on. You can also use steps inside a range, like 0-30/10 for minutes 0, 10, 20, and 30.
- Why does the day-of-month and day-of-week combination behave oddly?
- When both the day-of-month and day-of-week fields are restricted (neither is *), cron runs the job if EITHER condition matches, not both. For example '0 0 13 * 5' runs on the 13th of every month AND on every Friday. This tool follows that OR rule when listing next run times.
- Are macros like @daily supported?
- Yes. @yearly, @annually, @monthly, @weekly, @daily, @midnight, and @hourly all expand to their five-field equivalents. @reboot is recognized too — it runs once when the system starts, so it has no scheduled times.
- What timezone are the next run times shown in?
- Run times are calculated in your browser's local timezone. Standard cron on a server uses the server's system timezone, so check the server clock if your job needs to fire at a specific wall-clock time elsewhere.
- Does anything get sent to a server?
- No. Parsing, the plain-English description, and the next-run calculation all happen in JavaScript in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or logged.