Cron Expression Generator

Compose cron fields and see exactly when they will run.

Processed locally — nothing is uploaded

About Crontab Schedule Creator

The field pairing that catches people is day-of-month with day-of-week: set both and most cron implementations fire on either match rather than only when both agree. Reading the plain-English output back is the fastest way to catch that before it ships.

Build a cron expression field by field and see it explained in plain English with a preview of the next run times, so you commit exactly the schedule you intend. Everything is parsed in your browser.

Build cron schedules field by field, or paste an existing expression to decode it into plain English with a preview of upcoming run times. Cron syntax — five fields for minute, hour, day of month, month and day of week — is powerful but easy to get wrong, and this tool makes it readable.

Everything is parsed locally in your browser, so it works as a fast, private alternative to crontab.guru. Confirm exactly when a job will fire before you commit it to your server, CI pipeline or scheduler.

Learn how this works

Frequently asked questions

What do the five fields mean?

Minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week, in that order. So 30 2 * * 1 is 02:30 every Monday. Reading them right to left often makes an unfamiliar expression easier to parse.

What does */5 actually mean?

A step value: every fifth unit of that field. In the minute position, */5 fires at :00, :05, :10 and so on. It is not 'five minutes after the last run' — it is fixed to the clock.

Which timezone does cron use?

The server's local timezone, which is a classic source of jobs firing an hour out after a daylight-saving change. Many teams run servers in UTC specifically to avoid this.

Common Use Cases

  • Scheduling a nightly backup or database cleanup
  • Setting up a recurring CI job or report
  • Checking an expression before committing it to a crontab

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