⏰Cron Expression Builder & Parser
Build a cron expression with weekday checkboxes, time pickers, and recurrence intervals — or switch to Parse mode to decode any expression into plain English.
- Configure the schedule above
- Enter a cron expression above
Cron Expression Builder & Parser — Create and Decode Cron Expressions Online
This free cron expression builder lets you create any recurring job schedule without memorising cron syntax. Pick a recurrence — every N minutes, every N hours, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly — then fine-tune the exact time with hour and minute dropdowns. For weekly schedules, toggle individual weekday chips to run on specific days (e.g. Monday, Wednesday, Friday). For monthly or yearly schedules, choose the day of month and month. The tool generates the five-field cron expression (* * * * *) instantly and copies it to your clipboard with one click.
Need to decode an existing expression instead? Switch to Parse mode and paste any cron expression to get a plain-English description and a preview of the next 10 run times. Cron expressions use five whitespace-separated fields — minute (0–59), hour (0–23), day of month (1–31), month (1–12), and day of week (0–7) — with support for wildcards (*), step values (*/n), ranges (n-m), and lists (n,m). Everything runs in your browser — no sign-up, no data sent to a server.
About the Cron Expression Parser
How it works
Plain-English Descriptions
Translates any valid cron expression into a clear English sentence — from "Every minute" to "Every weekday (Mon–Fri) at 09:00".
Next Run Times
Calculates the next 10 scheduled fire times from the current moment, displayed with date, time, and UTC offset.
Field Breakdown
Highlights each of the five fields (Minute, Hour, Day, Month, Weekday) individually, making it easy to spot which fields are restricted.
Instant Validation
Detects syntax errors and out-of-range values immediately, displaying a helpful message pointing to the specific field that's wrong.
Preset Expressions
Eight common schedules (every minute, hourly, daily, weekdays, weekly, monthly, yearly) are one click away to get you started quickly.
100% Client-Side
All parsing and scheduling logic runs entirely in your browser. Your cron expressions are never sent to any server.
Who it's for
Backend developers and DevOps engineers who write or review cron jobs for CI/CD pipelines, cloud schedulers (AWS EventBridge, GitHub Actions, Kubernetes CronJobs), and traditional Unix crontab. It's also useful for anyone who needs to quickly verify that a schedule they've been handed actually fires when expected.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a compact string of five whitespace-separated fields that defines a recurring schedule for automated jobs. The fields represent, in order: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. For example, 0 9 * * 1-5 means "every weekday at 09:00".
What do the five fields in a cron expression mean?
The five fields are: 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). Each field can be a specific value, a wildcard (*), a range (1-5), a list (1,3,5), or a step (*/15).
How do I run a job every 5 minutes?
Use */5 * * * *. The */5 in the minute field means "every 5th minute starting from 0", so the job runs at :00, :05, :10, :15, and so on every hour.
What is the difference between * and */1?
They are functionally identical. * means "every valid value", and */1 means "every 1 step starting from the minimum", which resolves to the same set of values. Using * is the conventional shorthand.
Can I use day-of-week and day-of-month together?
Yes, but the POSIX standard specifies that when both fields are restricted (neither is *), the job runs when either condition is true (OR logic). For example, 0 0 1 * 1 fires on the 1st day of every month AND on every Monday — not just on Mondays that fall on the 1st.
How do I schedule a job for weekdays only?
Use the day-of-week field with the range 1-5 (Monday through Friday). For example, 0 9 * * 1-5 runs every weekday at 09:00. Sunday is 0 (or 7), Monday is 1, and Saturday is 6.
What does 0 0 1 * * mean?
0 0 1 * * means "at midnight (00:00) on the 1st day of every month". It is a common schedule for monthly maintenance tasks such as clearing logs or generating monthly reports.
Are month and weekday names supported?
Yes. You can use three-letter abbreviations for months (jan, feb, mar, apr, may, jun, jul, aug, sep, oct, nov, dec) and weekdays (sun, mon, tue, wed, thu, fri, sat). For example, 0 0 * jan mon runs every Monday in January at midnight.
Is this cron parser tool free and private?
Yes. The Cron Expression Parser on Computezy is completely free with no account required. All parsing and run-time calculations happen entirely in your browser — no data is ever sent to a server.
What is the valid range for each cron field?
Minute: 0–59. Hour: 0–23. Day of month: 1–31. Month: 1–12 (or jan–dec). Day of week: 0–7 (both 0 and 7 mean Sunday; 1 = Monday through 6 = Saturday).