Cron expression builder
Build a cron schedule visually or paste an existing expression to see a human-readable explanation and upcoming run times. Runs entirely in your browser.
What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a compact scheduling format used across the Unix ecosystem. It consists of five fields — minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week — that together define when a task should run. Cron powers everything from nightly database backups to hourly analytics jobs.
Cron expression syntax
*— every value (e.g. every minute, every hour)5— a specific value (e.g. minute 5)1,15— multiple values (e.g. the 1st and 15th)1-5— a range (e.g. Monday through Friday)*/10— a step (e.g. every 10 minutes)
Common cron expressions
* * * * *— every minute0 * * * *— every hour at minute 00 0 * * *— every day at midnight0 9 * * 1-5— weekdays at 9 AM0 0 1 * *— the 1st of every month at midnight*/15 * * * *— every 15 minutes
Schedule database tasks with Basedash
If you're building cron expressions for database maintenance, reporting, or data sync jobs, Basedash can handle the scheduling and the query. Connect your database, set up a scheduled report, and let Basedash deliver the results to Slack, email, or a dashboard — no manual cron management needed.
FAQ
What is a cron expression?
A cron expression is a string of five fields (minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week) that defines a recurring schedule. It's used by cron daemons on Linux/Unix, cloud schedulers (AWS EventBridge, Google Cloud Scheduler), CI/CD pipelines, and task queues to run jobs at specific times.
What do the five fields mean?
From left to right: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), day of week (0-6, where 0 is Sunday). An asterisk (*) means 'every value', a comma separates multiple values, a dash defines a range, and a slash defines a step (e.g. */5 means every 5th).
Is my data sent to a server?
No. The entire parsing, explanation, and next-run calculation runs in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is transmitted or stored.
Does this support 6-field or 7-field cron?
This tool supports the standard 5-field cron format. Some systems use a 6th field for seconds or a 7th for year — those are not supported here. If you have a 6-field expression, remove the seconds field before pasting.
How are next run times calculated?
The tool evaluates the cron expression against the current date and iterates forward minute-by-minute to find the next 5 matching times. The calculation uses your browser's local timezone.
What does 0 0 * * 0 mean?
It means 'at midnight (00:00) every Sunday'. The fields are: minute 0, hour 0, any day of month, any month, day of week 0 (Sunday).
Automate your data workflows
Connect your database and schedule reports, alerts, and dashboards — no cron jobs to manage.