Cron Expression Builder

Developer Tools

Build cron expressions visually with next-run previews and human-readable output.

0 9 * * 1-5

At 00:09, on days Mon through Fri

Minute

* = any, */5 = every 5

Hour

0 = midnight, 12 = noon

Day of Month

* = any day

Month

JAN=1, DEC=12

Day of Week

0=Sun, 1=Mon...6=Sat

Presets

Next 5 Executions

Mon, Jun 1, 09:00 AMin 20h

Tue, Jun 2, 09:00 AMin 2d

Wed, Jun 3, 09:00 AMin 3d

Thu, Jun 4, 09:00 AMin 4d

Fri, Jun 5, 09:00 AMin 5d

What is Cron Expression Builder?

A Cron Expression Builder lets you construct valid cron schedule expressions visually — without memorising the syntax. Enter values for minute, hour, day, month, and weekday, and the tool generates the cron string plus a human-readable description and the next 10 execution times.

How to use Cron Expression Builder

Use a preset or start fresh

Choose a common preset (every hour, daily, weekdays at 9am) as a starting point, or clear all fields to build from scratch.

Set each field

Fill in the Minute, Hour, Day of Month, Month, and Day of Week fields. Use * for "any", */5 for "every 5", and ranges like 1-5.

Read the description

The green description bar shows a plain-English interpretation of your expression so you can confirm it means what you expect.

Preview next runs

The Next Executions list shows the next 5 or 10 times the job will fire, in your local timezone.

Copy the expression

Click Copy to put the cron string on your clipboard, ready to paste into crontab, GitHub Actions, AWS EventBridge, or any scheduler.

Who uses Cron Expression Builder?

CI/CD scheduling

DevOps engineers

Build cron expressions for nightly builds, scheduled deployments, or cache-warming jobs in GitHub Actions and GitLab CI.

Database maintenance

Database administrators

Create precise schedules for vacuum, backup, and index rebuild jobs without consulting cron documentation every time.

Automated reporting

Business intelligence teams

Schedule report generation and email delivery jobs that run on complex recurring schedules like "first Monday of every month".

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FAQ

What cron format is used?+

Standard 5-field Unix cron format (minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week) plus an optional 6th field for seconds.

Can I use special characters like *, /, -, ?+

Yes. All standard cron special characters are supported: * (any), / (step), - (range), , (list), ? (no specific), L (last), and W (weekday).

What timezone is used for the next-run preview?+

The next-run times are shown in your local browser timezone.