Cron Expression Generator
Generate cron expressions with an intuitive visual builder. Select minute, hour, day, month, and weekday settings to create valid cron schedules. See human-readable explanations of your expression and choose from common presets like daily, weekly, or monthly. Perfect for setting up scheduled tasks, CI/CD pipelines, and automated jobs.
* * * * *Every minute
About Cron Expressions
- Format — minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week
- * — Matches every value for the field
- */n — Runs at every nth interval
- Ranges — Use start-end to match a range of values
- All processing happens locally in your browser
How to Use
- 1
Use the Visual Builder
Select settings for each cron field (minute, hour, day, month, weekday) using the dropdown menus.
- 2
Or Pick a Preset
Click a common preset like "Daily at midnight" or "Every 5 minutes" to start from a known schedule.
- 3
Read the Explanation
See a human-readable explanation of your cron expression to verify it matches your intent.
- 4
Copy the Expression
Copy the generated cron expression and paste it into your crontab, CI/CD config, or scheduler.
Examples by Niche
0 2 * * * - Run at 2:00 AM every day
0 9-17 * * 1-5 - Every hour from 9 AM to 5 PM on weekdays
0 0 1 * * - At midnight on the first day of every month
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a string of five fields (minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week) that defines a schedule. It is used by Unix-like systems and many tools to schedule recurring tasks.
What does the asterisk (*) mean in cron?
The asterisk means "every" value for that field. For example, * in the minute field means "every minute", and * in the hour field means "every hour".
Can I use this for cloud services like AWS or GitHub Actions?
Yes, standard cron syntax is widely supported by AWS CloudWatch, GitHub Actions, Kubernetes CronJobs, and most CI/CD platforms. Some platforms may have slight variations.
How do I schedule a job to run every 5 minutes?
Use the expression */5 * * * * which means "every 5th minute." The */N syntax works in any field — for example, */2 in the hour field means every 2 hours, and */15 in the minute field means every 15 minutes.
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