💻 Developer Tools

Cron Expression Helper

Paste a cron expression (minute hour day month weekday) and see what it means in plain English, plus up to 5 upcoming run times. You can also build one from a preset. Everything stays in your browser.

Examples (click to try)

Five fields separated by single spaces. Each field accepts numbers, *, , (list), - (range), and */n (step). Paste an expression like 0 9 * * 1 to see the meaning and next run times instantly.

How to Use the Cron Expression Helper

New to cron? Press one of the "Examples (click to try)" chips above the input (every minute, daily 9am, Mon 9am, and so on). The expression is filled in and the meaning plus upcoming run times appear right away. Once you are comfortable, paste your own expression and it is parsed instantly. Use it to check an expression before adding it to a crontab, or to read one someone else wrote.

  1. Enter a cron expression (minute, hour, day, month, weekday — five fields separated by spaces).
  2. Read the description to confirm the meaning (e.g. "runs every Monday at 9:00").
  3. Check the next run times to see exactly when it fires.
  4. Use Copy Expression to paste it into your crontab.

Worked example: run every Monday at 9am

Enter 0 9 * * 1 and the description shows "Runs at 09:00, on Monday.", while the next run times list the upcoming Mondays at 9:00, such as "Mon 2026/06/29 09:00". Read it left to right as "minute=0 / hour=9 / day=* (every day) / month=* (every month) / weekday=1 (Monday)"; since the minute and hour are single values, they collapse to 09:00. Handy for backups or report emails that should run at the start of the week.

Writing Each Field

  • Minute (0–59) / Hour (0–23) / Day (1–31) / Month (1–12) / Weekday (0–7, where 0 and 7 are Sunday)
  • *: every value. For example, * * * * * runs every minute.
  • ,: a list. For example, hour 9,18 means 9:00 and 18:00.
  • -: a range. For example, weekday 1-5 means Monday through Friday.
  • */n: a step. For example, minute */15 means every 15 minutes.

When This Comes in Handy

  • Confirming that an expression really does what you intend before it goes into a crontab
  • Working out when a cron job in an existing crontab actually runs
  • Building schedules for CI/CD pipelines or backup jobs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my cron expression sent to a server?
No. Parsing, building the description, and calculating the next run times all happen entirely in your browser. What you enter is never transmitted to or stored on any external server. You can use this tool with complete confidence.
Which cron expressions are supported?
Standard 5-field expressions (minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week) are supported. Each field accepts a number, * (all values), comma lists, hyphen ranges, and */n steps. A seconds field and special strings like @yearly are not supported.
Which time zone are the next run times based on?
The next run times (up to 5) are calculated from your device's current local time. If the server running your cron job uses a different time zone, its actual run times will differ from what is shown here.