Dev
Cron Expression Builder
Cron syntax looks simple until you realise you have swapped the hour and minute fields, or used `0` for Sunday in the day-of-week position when you meant Monday. This tool returns a shuffled set of common cron expressions, each paired with a plain-English description of exactly when it fires, so you can pick the closest match and adapt it with confidence. The only input is how many you want, from 1 to 10 (14 in the pool). The set covers the schedules developers reach for most: every minute, every 5 minutes, hourly, daily at midnight, weekdays at 9am, every Sunday, the first of the month, every 6 hours, business-hours-only (`*/15 9-17 * * 1-5`), and the first of January. Copy the expression closest to your need, read the English description to confirm it matches your intent, tweak a single field if needed, and paste it into your crontab, CI schedule, or Kubernetes CronJob spec.
How to use
- Choose your options above
- Click Generate
- Copy your result
Detailed instructions
- Choose how many cron expressions you want.
- Generate a set and read each explanation.
- Copy the schedule closest to your need.
- Tweak one field to match exactly.
Use Cases
- •Scheduling a recurring job or task
- •Writing a crontab entry correctly
- •Learning how cron fields work
- •Documenting a job schedule clearly
- •Checking a schedule before deploying it
Tips
- →Read the English explanation to confirm intent.
- →Remember the field order: minute, hour, day, month, weekday.
- →Use ranges and steps like 1-5 and */15.
- →Test the schedule before relying on it.
FAQ
what are the five cron fields 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 matches every value; ranges like `1-5` and steps like `*/15` express more specific schedules within a field.
how do I schedule a job on weekdays only
Use `1-5` in the fifth (day-of-week) field. For example, `0 9 * * 1-5` fires at 09:00 Monday through Friday. The pool includes this expression with an English description so you can verify the range before copying.
why show the English description alongside the expression
Cron syntax is easy to misread — a single transposed field can fire a job far more often than intended. The plain-English description lets you confirm the schedule matches your intent before putting it in production.
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