Cron Expression Builder
Build a cron expression without memorizing the syntax. Pick when your job should run using simple dropdowns for each field — minute, hour, day, month, and weekday — and watch the cron expression generate itself in real time, with a plain-English translation and the next scheduled runs.
Generates standard five-field cron syntax (minute hour day month weekday). Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is sent to any server.
Start from a common schedule
Build each field
Minute
Which minute of the hour (0–59).
0Hour
Which hour of the day, 24-hour clock (0–23).
9Day of month
Which day of the month (1–31).
*Month
Which month of the year (1–12).
*Day of week
Which weekday (0 = Sunday, 6 = Saturday).
1-5Got your schedule? Run it automatically.
Turn this cron expression into a fully managed scheduled job on Runhooks. Get automatic retries, real-time execution logs, failure alerts, and a dashboard to monitor everything — no servers to maintain.
Free tier included. No credit card required.
How Cron Expressions Work
A cron expression is a string of five fields separated by spaces that defines a recurring schedule. Each field controls one unit of time, and together they tell the scheduler exactly when to run a task:
┌───────────── minute (0–59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0–23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1–31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1–12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0–7, 0 and 7 = Sunday)
* * * * *A * in a field means "every" value of that unit. Use the builder above to replace any field with a specific value, a range, an interval, or a list — and the expression updates instantly.
Common cron patterns
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
* * * * * | Every minute |
*/5 * * * * | Every 5 minutes |
0 * * * * | Every hour (at minute 0) |
0 0 * * * | Every day at midnight |
0 9 * * 1-5 | Weekdays at 9:00 AM |
0 0 1 * * | First day of every month |
*/15 * * * 1-5 | Every 15 minutes, Monday to Friday |
0 */6 * * * | Every 6 hours |
Special characters
| Character | Description |
|---|---|
* | Any value (wildcard) |
, | List separator (e.g. 1,15) |
- | Range (e.g. 1-5 = Monday to Friday) |
/ | Step value (e.g. */10 = every 10 units) |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a compact string of five fields — minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week — that tells a scheduler when to run a recurring task. For example, "0 9 * * 1-5" means 9:00 AM every weekday.
How do I write a cron expression?
Decide the minute, hour, day, month, and weekday the job should run, then write each as a field separated by spaces. Use * for "any", */n for an interval, a-b for a range, and commas for a list. This builder assembles the expression for you from simple dropdowns so you do not have to memorize the syntax.
How do cron expressions work?
The scheduler checks the current time every minute and runs the job whenever all five fields match. A field set to * always matches, so only the fields you constrain limit when the job fires.
Is this cron expression builder free?
Yes. The builder runs entirely in your browser with no signup required. If you want to actually run the schedule, Runhooks offers a free tier for managed cron jobs with retries, logging, and failure alerts.
Stop babysitting your cron jobs
Runhooks is a managed cron job scheduler for HTTP endpoints. Define your schedule, set the target URL, and we handle reliable execution, automatic retries, structured logging, and instant failure alerts. Works with any API or webhook.
Free tier included. No credit card required.