Cron Expression Generator
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Build a cron schedule from simple presets, or paste an expression to decode it into plain English and preview the next run times. No more guessing what star slash five means.
Plain English
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Next 5 run times (local)
Runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
How Cron Fields Work
- Five fields, minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), day of week (0-6, Sunday is 0).
- Wildcards, an asterisk means every value for that field.
- Steps and ranges, use star slash 5 for every fifth value and 9-17 for a range.
- Lists, combine values with commas, such as 0,30 for the start and half of each hour.
Why It Matters
- Avoid mistakes, a misread field can run a job 60 times more often than intended.
- Confidence before deploy, plain English plus next run times confirm intent.
- Portable, the standard five-field format works across cron, CI, and cloud schedulers.
- Faster setup, presets cover the most common schedules in one click.
Next steps
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Cron Expression Generator: FAQ
What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a string of five fields that defines a recurring schedule: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. Cron daemons and schedulers use it to decide when to run a job, for example every night at 2am or every Monday morning.
What does this cron generator do?
It builds a valid cron expression from simple dropdowns and presets, and it also decodes any expression you paste into a plain-English description and a list of upcoming run times, so you can confirm a schedule does what you expect.
Which cron format does it use?
It uses the standard five-field Unix and Linux crontab format used by cron, Vixie cron, and most CI and cloud schedulers. It supports lists, ranges, steps, and wildcards such as 1,15, 9-17, and star slash 5.
Does it explain the schedule in plain English?
Yes. As you build or paste an expression, the tool shows a human-readable summary like at 02:30 on day-of-month 1, which helps you avoid scheduling mistakes before deploying a job.
Can it show the next run times?
Yes. It calculates and lists the next several run times based on your expression, so you can sanity-check frequency and timing at a glance.
Do special strings like @daily work?
Common shortcuts such as @hourly, @daily, @weekly, @monthly, and @yearly are recognised and expanded to their five-field equivalents so you can read and edit them.
Is my schedule data private?
Yes. Everything runs in your browser. Nothing about your jobs or schedules is uploaded to Web Aloha servers.
Is this cron generator free?
Yes. It is free, private, needs no signup, and works on desktop and mobile.
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