Cron Expression Generator& Visual Builder
Build Cron expressions visually with real-time human-readable descriptions and next 10 execution previews. Bidirectional sync between expression input and field selectors.
Cron Expression
Edit directly — selectors sync automatically
MinuteHourDayMonthWeekday
Quick Presets
Minute
Hour
Day
Month
Weekday
Fromto
Schedule
At 09:00 on weekdays
0 9 * * 1-5Next 10 ExecutionsBased on your local time
1Fri, May 29, 09:00
now2Mon, Jun 1, 09:00
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in 12d 0h10Thu, Jun 11, 09:00
in 13d 0hDid this tool solve your problem?
What is a cron expression builder
A cron expression builder is a visual tool that helps developers construct complex cron scheduling expressions through simple clicks and selections, without memorizing cryptic syntax. Cron expressions consist of 5-6 fields representing minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week, and optionally year.
Common cron job use cases
Scheduled backups: run database backup scripts at 2 AM daily. Task scheduling: check email queue every 5 minutes. Report generation: generate weekly sales reports every Monday at 9 AM. Cache cleanup: purge expired cache data every hour. Data sync: synchronize data from external APIs on a daily schedule.
Code Examples
JavaScript (node-cron)
import cron from "node-cron";
// Run every weekday at 9:00 AM
cron.schedule("0 9 * * 1-5", () => {
console.log("Good morning!");
sendDailyReport();
});
// Run every 30 minutes
cron.schedule("*/30 * * * *", () => {
checkForUpdates();
});Python (APScheduler)
from apscheduler.schedulers.blocking \
import BlockingScheduler
from apscheduler.triggers.cron \
import CronTrigger
scheduler = BlockingScheduler()
# Every day at midnight
@scheduler.scheduled_job(
CronTrigger.from_crontab("0 0 * * *")
)
def nightly_cleanup():
clean_temp_files()
scheduler.start()GitHub Actions
# .github/workflows/scheduled.yml
name: Scheduled Task
on:
schedule:
# UTC time — runs daily at 01:00 UTC
- cron: "0 1 * * *"
workflow_dispatch: # manual trigger
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- run: npm run buildLinux Crontab
# Edit crontab: crontab -e # View crontab: crontab -l # Backup database daily at 3:30 AM 30 3 * * * /usr/local/bin/backup.sh # Rotate logs every Monday at midnight 0 0 * * 1 /usr/sbin/logrotate /etc/logrotate.conf # Check disk space every 15 minutes */15 * * * * df -h > /tmp/disk.log
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 5 fields in a Cron expression?
A standard Cron expression has 5 space-separated fields, from left to right: Minute (0-59), Hour (0-23), Day of Month (1-31), Month (1-12), and Day of Week (0-7, where both 0 and 7 represent Sunday). For example, "0 9 * * 1-5" means every weekday at 9:00 AM.
What's the difference between * and */5?
The asterisk * matches every possible value in that field — e.g., * in the minute field means every minute. The */5 syntax is a step value: starting from the minimum, execute every 5 units. So */5 in the minute field fires at 0, 5, 10, 15...55. You can also set a custom start: 2-30/5 means every 5 minutes from minute 2 through 30.
Can I specify both day-of-month and day-of-week?
Yes, but note the special Unix cron behavior: when both day-of-month and day-of-week are set (not *), they form an OR condition, not AND. For example, "0 9 15 * 1" runs at 9:00 on the 15th of every month OR every Monday — not only when the 15th falls on a Monday.
How do I schedule a task for 2:30 AM daily?
Use the expression "30 2 * * *". The first field (30) is the minute, the second field (2) is the hour (2 AM), and the three asterisks mean every day, every month, any weekday. Cron uses 24-hour time, so 2:30 PM would be "30 14 * * *".
What special characters can I use in Cron expressions?
Common special characters include: * (match all values), comma (list values like 1,3,5), hyphen (define range like 1-5), and slash (step values like */10). Some systems also support L (last day), W (weekday), and # (nth weekday), but standard 5-field cron uses only the first four.
Which systems are compatible with the generated expressions?
This tool generates standard 5-field Cron expressions compatible with virtually all major platforms: Linux/macOS crontab, Docker, Kubernetes CronJob, GitHub Actions (schedule trigger), CI/CD systems (Jenkins, GitLab CI), cloud providers (AWS CloudWatch, Google Cloud Scheduler, Azure Functions), and most task scheduling frameworks.