Cron Expression Generator
Build a cron schedule field-by-field with a plain-English readout
Quick presets
* = every · */n = every n · ranges like 1-5 · lists like 1,3,5
Cron Expression Generator — Complete Guide & Instructions
MakeCard Cron Expression Generator removes the guesswork from crontab syntax. Fill the five fields — minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week — or tap a preset like “Weekdays 9 AM” or “Every 15 min”, and the expression renders in a terminal-style panel with a plain-English sentence beneath it. Copy the result straight into crontab, GitHub Actions, AWS EventBridge or any scheduler that accepts standard five-field cron.
How to Use Cron Expression Generator
- 1 Tap a quick preset — Every minute, Hourly, Daily 9 AM, Weekly, Monthly, Weekdays 9 AM, Every 15 min, or Midnight daily — or skip this step.
- 2 Fine-tune the five fields: Minute, Hour, Day of month, Month, Day of week.
- 3 Use * for every, */n for every-n, ranges like 1-5, and lists like 1,3,5.
- 4 Read the expression and the plain-English translation beneath it to confirm intent.
- 5 Press Copy and paste the expression into your scheduler.
Key Features & Capabilities
- Eight one-tap presets for the most common schedules.
- Five-field builder: minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week.
- Live plain-English translation of the expression.
- Supports *, */n, ranges (1-5) and lists (1,3,5).
- Terminal-style expression display with one-click copy.
- Works for crontab, CI pipelines and cloud schedulers using standard cron.
Supported Formats & Specifications
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Format | Standard 5-field cron (min hour dom month dow) |
| Presets | 8 common schedules |
| Syntax | *, */n, ranges, lists |
| Output | Expression + human-readable description |
| Processing | Instant, in-browser |
Practical Everyday Use Cases
- Writing a crontab line for a nightly backup or cleanup script.
- Scheduling GitHub Actions / CI jobs with cron triggers.
- Building AWS EventBridge or cron-based cloud schedules.
- Converting “every weekday at 9 AM” into 0 9 * * 1-5 without memorising syntax.
- Verifying what an existing expression actually does via the English readout.
Pro Tips for Best Results
- Day-of-week and day-of-month are OR-ed in classic cron — restrict one, keep the other * to avoid surprises.
- The English readout is the sanity check — read it aloud before deploying a schedule to production.
- */15 in the minute field means every 15 minutes; a bare 15 would mean only at minute 15 of each hour.
- Remember 0 or 7 both mean Sunday in day-of-week — the readout shows the resolved day name.
Common Problems & Solutions
Check day-of-week vs day-of-month — classic cron triggers when EITHER matches, not both; set one to *.
Some systems (Quartz, AWS) use 6 or 7 fields — this tool builds the standard 5-field format; append the extra fields your scheduler requires.
Privacy & Security
100% Client-Side Execution
Expressions are built and translated in your browser — nothing is transmitted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about using Cron Expression Generator
Every minute — the five fields are minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week, and * means “every”.
Use */15 * * * * — the “Every 15 min” preset sets this in one tap.
Set day-of-week to 1-5 — e.g. 0 9 * * 1-5 runs at 9 AM Monday through Friday; the Weekdays preset does this.
In classic cron they are OR-ed — the job runs if either matches — so keep one as * when restricting the other.
GitHub Actions uses standard 5-field cron directly; AWS EventBridge uses a 6-field variant — generate here and append the year field AWS requires.
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