Cron explainer
Paste a cron expression and get the plain-words explanation and its next runs. In the browser, no data sent.
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minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week
Enter a 5-field cron expression, e.g. «*/15 9-17 * * 1-5».
What this tool cannot see
The next runs are in your browser's local time; a real cron server uses its own zone (often UTC). It supports the standard 5-field format, not the variants with seconds or year.
What it's for
Cron expressions are compact but hard to read: telling at a glance when «*/15 9-17 * * 1-5» fires isn't obvious. This tool translates it into words and, crucially, shows the real next runs, so you can confirm you wrote the right schedule before shipping it to production.
With the other tools: the Unix timestamp converter and the regex tester.
Frequently asked questions
›What cron format does it accept?
The standard 5-field format: minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week. It supports single values, lists (1,2,3), ranges (1-5) and steps (*/15). It doesn't include extended fields like seconds or year used by some variants.
›How does it compute the next runs?
It parses the five fields and steps through time minute by minute from now, showing the first matching times, in your browser's local time. It applies the standard cron rule: if both day-of-month and day-of-week are specified, it runs when at least one of them matches.
›Are the next runs in my time zone?
Yes, they're computed in your browser's local time. Remember a real cron server uses its own time zone, which may differ (often UTC): keep that in mind when scheduling.