Cron Expression Generator

Describe your schedule in plain English (e.g. every weekday at 9am) and get a ready-to-use cron expression with an explanation.

Schedule description

Examples

No result yet — press Generate Cron.

About this Cron Expression Generator

Cron is a time-based scheduler used in Unix-like systems, GitHub Actions, AWS EventBridge, GCP Cloud Scheduler, and many other platforms. Writing cron syntax from scratch is error-prone — a small typo like 0 9 * * 1-5 vs 0 9 * * 1-5 can mean the difference between "every weekday at 9am" and something completely different.

This free Cron Generator lets you describe your schedule in plain English and instantly converts it to the correct 5-field cron expression, complete with a human-readable explanation so you can verify it before use.

Understanding cron field order

A standard cron expression has five fields separated by spaces:

┌─ minute (0–59)
│ ┌─ hour (0–23)
│ │ ┌─ day of month (1–31)
│ │ │ ┌─ month (1–12)
│ │ │ │ ┌─ day of week (0–6, 0=Sunday)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Common cron expression examples

* * * * * — every minute
0 * * * * — every hour on the hour
0 9 * * 1-5 — weekdays at 9:00 AM
0 0 1 * * — first day of every month at midnight
*/15 * * * * — every 15 minutes
30 18 * * 5 — every Friday at 6:30 PM

Platform compatibility

✅ Linux / macOS crontab
✅ GitHub Actions (schedule trigger)
✅ AWS EventBridge Scheduler
✅ GCP Cloud Scheduler
✅ Node.js node-cron and cron packages

FAQ

Is this cron generator free?

Yes — the cron expression generator on Dev Brains AI is completely free to use with no signup required.

What format is the output in?

The output is a standard 5-field cron expression: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week. This format is compatible with Unix cron, GitHub Actions, AWS EventBridge, and most schedulers.

Can I use the result directly in GitHub Actions or AWS?

Yes. The 5-field format works in GitHub Actions (schedule), AWS EventBridge, GCP Cloud Scheduler, and standard Linux/macOS crontabs.

What if my expression is not generated correctly?

Try a more specific prompt, e.g. "every Monday and Wednesday at 9:30am". If unsure, use the explanation field to verify the meaning before applying it.

Recent expressions

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More developer tools from Dev Brains AI

Already have a cron expression and need the reverse — a plain-English explanation and its next run times? Use the Cron Expression Explainer. Or try our AI Regex Generator to build regex patterns from plain English, or AI SQL Generator to convert natural language into SQL queries.