MasterTool

Cron Expression Generator

Build a standard 5-field cron expression from dropdowns, read a plain-English description of the schedule, and preview the next five run times in UTC.

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What this tool does

Build a standard 5-field cron expression from dropdowns, read a plain-English description of the schedule, and preview the next five run times in UTC. Standard 5-field cron in UTC (no seconds field, no @daily aliases, no timezone conversion). Day-of-week 0 and 7 both mean Sunday. The preview searches at most one year ahead.

How to use the Cron Expression Generator

  1. Enter or select minute.
  2. Enter or select hour (utc).
  3. Enter or select day of month.
  4. Enter or select month.
  5. Enter or select day of week.
  6. Enter or select preview runs after (utc, iso 8601).
  7. Read the calculated result; change any measurement to compare alternatives.

Formula

Expression = minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week. A time matches when minute/hour/month match and the day matches: if both day fields are restricted, either may match (standard cron OR rule); a * field defers to the other.
minute
Minute
hour
Hour (UTC)
dom
Day of month
month
Month
dow
Day of week
start
Preview runs after (UTC, ISO 8601)

Standard 5-field cron in UTC (no seconds field, no @daily aliases, no timezone conversion). Day-of-week 0 and 7 both mean Sunday. The preview searches at most one year ahead.

Worked example

For cron expression generator, the following measurements illustrate the exact method: Minute: 0; Hour (UTC): 9; Day of month: *; Month: *; Day of week: 1-5; Preview runs after (UTC, ISO 8601): 2026-10-05T10:00:00Z.

Inputs

  • Minute0 (on the hour)
  • Hour (UTC)09
  • Day of monthEvery day
  • MonthEvery month
  • Day of weekMonday-Friday
  • Preview runs after (UTC, ISO 8601)2026-10-05T10:00:00Z

Result

  • Cron expression0 9 * * 1-5
  • DescriptionAt 09:00, Monday through Friday
  • Next run 1 (UTC)2026-10-06T09:00:00.000Z
  • Next run 2 (UTC)2026-10-07T09:00:00.000Z
  • Next run 3 (UTC)2026-10-08T09:00:00.000Z
  • Next run 4 (UTC)2026-10-09T09:00:00.000Z
  • Next run 5 (UTC)2026-10-12T09:00:00.000Z

Results explained

Cron expression
Cron expression from the formula above. Standard 5-field cron in UTC (no seconds field, no @daily aliases, no timezone conversion). Day-of-week 0 and 7 both mean Sunday. The preview searches at most one year ahead.
Description
Description from the formula above. Standard 5-field cron in UTC (no seconds field, no @daily aliases, no timezone conversion). Day-of-week 0 and 7 both mean Sunday. The preview searches at most one year ahead.
Next run 1 (UTC)
Next run 1 (UTC) from the formula above. Standard 5-field cron in UTC (no seconds field, no @daily aliases, no timezone conversion). Day-of-week 0 and 7 both mean Sunday. The preview searches at most one year ahead.
Next run 2 (UTC)
Next run 2 (UTC) from the formula above. Standard 5-field cron in UTC (no seconds field, no @daily aliases, no timezone conversion). Day-of-week 0 and 7 both mean Sunday. The preview searches at most one year ahead.
Next run 3 (UTC)
Next run 3 (UTC) from the formula above. Standard 5-field cron in UTC (no seconds field, no @daily aliases, no timezone conversion). Day-of-week 0 and 7 both mean Sunday. The preview searches at most one year ahead.
Next run 4 (UTC)
Next run 4 (UTC) from the formula above. Standard 5-field cron in UTC (no seconds field, no @daily aliases, no timezone conversion). Day-of-week 0 and 7 both mean Sunday. The preview searches at most one year ahead.
Next run 5 (UTC)
Next run 5 (UTC) from the formula above. Standard 5-field cron in UTC (no seconds field, no @daily aliases, no timezone conversion). Day-of-week 0 and 7 both mean Sunday. The preview searches at most one year ahead.

Frequently asked questions

Minute 0, hour 9, any day of month, any month, day-of-week 1-5: run at 09:00 Monday to Friday. After Monday 2026-10-05 10:00 UTC, the next run is Tuesday 2026-10-06 at 09:00 UTC — exactly what the preview shows.

Order is minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12) and day of week (0-7, where 0 and 7 are Sunday). Each field accepts *, a value, a range like 1-5, a step like */15, or a comma list.

Standard cron quirk: when both day-of-month and day-of-week are restricted, the schedule runs when EITHER matches (OR), not when both do. Leave one of them as * if you want a single day rule.

Whatever the scheduler's system timezone is — often UTC on servers. This generator previews in UTC; convert the hour if your server or CI runs in another zone, and beware daylight-saving shifts for local-time crons.

No. Classic cron's finest granularity is one minute. Sub-minute schedules need a different mechanism (a systemd timer, a queue, or a sleep loop in a long-running process).