Cron Generator
Build & explain cron expressions
*/15 9-17 * * 1-5
minute·hour·day·month·weekday
minute(s)
Runs on every day of month
Runs on every month
Presets
How to use Cron Generator
- Use Builder mode to select options for each field — minute, hour, day, month, weekday.
- Each field supports: every (wildcard), specific values (click to toggle), a range, or a step interval.
- Switch to Manual mode to type or paste a raw cron expression directly.
- The human-readable description and next 10 run times update automatically.
- Click a preset for common schedules, then tweak as needed.
What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a string of five fields that specifies when a scheduled job should run. The fields represent minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-6 where 0 is Sunday).
Each field can be a specific value, an asterisk for 'every,' a range (like 9-17 for 9 AM to 5 PM), a list (1,15 for the 1st and 15th), or a step (*/5 for every 5 units).
Cron expressions are used by Unix cron, most programming language schedulers (node-cron, Quartz, APScheduler), and cloud services (AWS EventBridge, Google Cloud Scheduler, Kubernetes CronJobs).
Frequently Asked Questions
What cron syntax does this use?
Standard 5-field Unix cron syntax: minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week. Many schedulers (Linux cron, Node.js node-cron, Kubernetes CronJob) use this format.
How is the "next run" calculated?
Using the cron-parser library. The times shown are calculated in UTC by default; you can switch to your browser's local timezone.
What do * and */5 mean?
An asterisk (*) means "every." */5 means "every 5" — so */5 in the minute field means every 5 minutes (0, 5, 10, 15, ..., 55).
How do day-of-month and day-of-week interact?
Both must be true for the job to run. Check your scheduler's exact behavior — some treat them with OR logic.