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Cron Next Run Calculator

Paste a cron expression to see its meaning and next 10 run times in your timezone.

Cron Expression

Common Presets

Description

Next 10 Runs

Times shown in your local timezone:

    Paste any standard cron expression and instantly see what it means in plain language plus the next 10 times it will fire, all in your own timezone. It is the fastest way to verify a schedule before deploying it to crontab, GitHub Actions, or a CI pipeline.

    How to Use

    • Paste an expression: Enter a 5-field cron expression like */15 * * * * into the input box.
    • Calculate: Click Calculate or press Enter.
    • Read the description: Check the plain-language summary to confirm the schedule means what you think it means.
    • Review the next runs: See the next 10 execution times in your local timezone, each with a relative countdown.
    • Copy the results: Use the copy button to grab all 10 times as text for tickets or documentation.

    Features

    • Human-readable description of any valid 5-field cron expression
    • Next 10 execution times computed with a real cron engine
    • Times shown in your browser’s local timezone, detected automatically
    • Relative time indicators (in minutes, hours, or days) for each run
    • One-click presets for common schedules
    • Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is sent to a server

    Understanding the 5-Field Cron Format

    A cron expression is five fields separated by spaces: minute, hour, day of month, month, and day of week. Each field accepts a specific value (30), a wildcard (*), a list (1,15), a range (1-5), or a step (*/10). The tricky part is that day of month and day of week are OR-ed together in most implementations, and day of week starts at Sunday = 0. Seeing the next 10 actual fire times removes all guesswork: if 0 9 * * 1-5 really means weekday mornings at 9, the calculated list will land on Monday through Friday and skip the weekend.

    Use Cases

    • Verifying crontab entries: Confirm a schedule fires when expected before adding it to a server.
    • CI/CD schedules: Check GitHub Actions or GitLab scheduled pipelines, which use cron syntax in UTC.
    • Debugging missed jobs: See whether a job skipped because of a day-of-week vs day-of-month mix-up.
    • Documentation: Copy the exact upcoming run times into runbooks and incident tickets.
    • Learning cron: Experiment with presets and watch how each field changes the schedule.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What cron format does this calculator accept?

    Standard 5-field cron expressions: minute (0-59), hour (0-23), day of month (1-31), month (1-12), and day of week (0-7, Sunday is 0 or 7). Wildcards, lists, ranges, and step values like */15 are all supported. Seconds and years are not part of the 5-field format.

    Which timezone are the next run times shown in?

    All times are calculated and displayed in your browser's local timezone, detected automatically. The timezone name is shown above the results so you always know which clock the times refer to.

    How many upcoming runs does it show?

    The calculator lists the next 10 execution times, each with an absolute date/time and a relative indicator such as in 3 hour(s) or in 2 day(s).

    What does the human-readable description tell me?

    It translates the cron fields into plain English — for example 0 9 * * 1-5 becomes At 09:00 AM, Monday through Friday — so you can sanity-check the schedule before trusting the calculated times.

    Why does my expression fail with an invalid error?

    The most common causes are the wrong number of fields (exactly 5 are required), values out of range (like minute 61), or unsupported special characters. The 5-field format does not include seconds, so expressions copied from Quartz or Spring schedulers need their leading seconds field removed.