Cron Expression Generator

How to use the Cron Expression Generator

1. Type a cron expression, pick a preset, or use Build a schedule.
2. Read the plain-English description to confirm it means what you intend.
3. Check the next run times in your server's time zone before deploying.

Cron syntax

A Linux crontab line has five fields: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week, followed by the command.

• * every value, 5 a single value, 1-5 a range, 1,15 a list
• */15 every 15th value, 9-17/2 every 2nd value between 9 and 17
• Names are allowed for months (JAN–DEC) and weekdays (SUN–SAT); Sunday is 0 or 7
• Shortcuts: @hourly, @daily, @weekly, @monthly, @yearly

The day-of-month and day-of-week trap

If you set both day fields, cron runs when either matches. 0 9 1 * 1 runs on the 1st of every month and on every Monday, not only on Mondays that fall on the 1st. This tool calculates runs the way cron actually does and warns you when this applies.

Frequently asked questions

Which time zone does cron use?

The server's system time zone, unless your cron implementation supports CRON_TZ. Pick that zone under Next runs to see exact times. Around daylight saving changes, times that don't exist are skipped.

Does this work for Kubernetes CronJobs and GitHub Actions?

Yes. Both use the same five-field syntax. GitHub Actions schedules always run in UTC; Kubernetes CronJobs use the controller's time zone unless you set spec.timeZone.

What about expressions with seconds?

Six-field expressions with a seconds field are used by Spring and Quartz. Use the Spring Cron Generator for those.