Cron expression generator

What it does

The cron expression generator lets you build a schedule from a preset or by editing the five fields, then explains the result in plain English and lists the next ten run times with the gap between them. It uses the standard five-field format understood by Linux crontab, GitHub Actions, Vercel, Render, Kubernetes CronJobs and most queue schedulers. Invalid expressions are flagged with the reason, such as a sixth field or an hour of 24. A copy button gives you the finished expression. All parsing runs in the browser using the cronstrue and cron-parser libraries.

How to use it

1. Pick a preset that is close to what you need, such as "Weekdays at 09:30", or type an expression directly.
2. Adjust any of the five fields. The full expression and the explanation update as you type.
3. Read the next ten runs and confirm the gaps look right.
4. Copy the expression into your crontab, workflow file or scheduler config.

How to read the result

Take 30 9 * * 1-5. The description reads "At 09:30, Monday through Friday", and the run list shows five consecutive weekdays at 09:30 followed by a 3-day gap over the weekend. Check it on a Friday afternoon and the first run is Monday morning, about 2.7 days away, which is the quickest way to confirm the day-of-week field.

A gap column that alternates oddly points at the OR rule between day of month and day of week. 0 9 1 * 1 lists the first of each month and every Monday, so the gaps are uneven instead of a steady 7 days.

Steps count from the field's minimum, not from now. */10 * * * * runs at :00, :10, :20 and so on, regardless of when you installed it. 0 */6 * * * runs at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00 in the server's timezone.

Scheduled jobs are the backbone of the AI automation work we do: nightly syncs, report generation and queue clean-ups. To express the times they log, see the Unix timestamp converter.