Cron Expression Builder
Build a standard 5-field cron expression from a friendly schedule picker, with a plain-English explanation.
Pick how often you want something to run - this tool builds the matching 5-field cron expression and explains it in plain English.
This is a general-purpose cron builder for crontab, systemd timers, or any cron-compatible scheduler - for GitHub Actions specifically (which uses this same cron syntax under `schedule:`), see the GitHub Actions Cron Helper.
What Is a Cron Expression?
A cron expression is 5 space-separated fields - minute, hour, day-of-month, month, and day-of-week - that describe a recurring schedule, used by the Linux cron daemon and many cron-compatible schedulers.
Why Use This Tool?
Cron syntax is compact but easy to get subtly wrong (mixing up "every N" with "at N", for example). This tool builds a valid expression from friendly options and explains exactly what it means before you use it.
How to Use It
- Choose how often you want the schedule to run (e.g. every hour, daily at a specific time, or a specific day of the week).
- Review the generated cron expression and its plain-English explanation.
- Copy the expression into your crontab, systemd timer, or scheduler of choice.
Limitations
This covers standard 5-field cron syntax - some schedulers support non-standard extensions (like @reboot or 6-field seconds-level cron), which are outside standard cron and not generated here.