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Cron Explainer

idoazacalls/cron-explainer

Parses cron expressions into plain English and returns the next N scheduled run times, with full timezone support via IANA names. Exposes a single tool, explain_cron, that handles 5-field POSIX cron syntax and clamps output to 100 future executions. Runs on Cloudflare Workers with a pay-per-call model at €0.01 per request, no subscription or expiration. Useful when you need to validate scheduling logic, debug cron strings in CI/CD pipelines, or surface upcoming job times to end users without bundling a parser into your own stack. Non-2xx responses are refunded automatically, and the service logs zero PII since inputs are just cron strings and timezone identifiers.

tool
1
transport
HTTP
last updated
Apr 23, 2026

Install

From registry metadata
$ npx add-mcp https://cron-explainer.cron-explainer-prod.workers.dev/mcp --name cron-explainer

Run in your terminal. add-mcp asks which agents to add it to (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and more). Add -g to install it for every project.

Review the command, arguments and environment values before installing. MCP servers run with your local permissions.

Other ways

Claude Code

$ claude mcp add --transport http cron-explainer https://cron-explainer.cron-explainer-prod.workers.dev/mcp

Run in your terminal. Add --scope user to make it available in every project.

Tools

Verified live · 1 tools

Verified live against the running server on Nov 6, 2026.

explain_cronParse a POSIX/Vixie cron expression and return the next N fire times plus an English description. Timezone-aware (IANA). Best-effort accuracy. Billed at 1 EUR cent per successful call; non-2xx responses are refunded.3 params

Parse a POSIX/Vixie cron expression and return the next N fire times plus an English description. Timezone-aware (IANA). Best-effort accuracy. Billed at 1 EUR cent per successful call; non-2xx responses are refunded.

Parameters* required
cron*string
POSIX/Vixie cron expression (5 fields, e.g. '*/15 * * * *').
ninteger
Number of upcoming fire times to return.default: 5
tzstring
IANA timezone (e.g. 'Europe/Lisbon'). Defaults to UTC.

Sponsors

Readme

cron-explainer

A tiny pay-per-call API that parses cron expressions, returns the next N fire times, and produces a short English description. Timezone-aware (IANA).

Live: https://cron-explainer.cron-explainer-prod.workers.dev/ Pricing: 0.01 EUR per successful call, prepaid via Stripe Checkout in packs of 500 / 5,000 / 50,000 calls. Non-2xx responses are refunded. No subscription. Keys never expire.

Quick start

  1. Get a key at https://cron-explainer.cron-explainer-prod.workers.dev/ (Stripe Checkout, €5 minimum).
  2. Copy the key — it's shown exactly once.
  3. Call the API:
curl -X POST https://cron-explainer.cron-explainer-prod.workers.dev/v1/explain \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: $YOUR_KEY" \
  -d '{"cron":"0 9 * * 1-5","tz":"Europe/Lisbon","n":3}'

Response:

{
  "input": {"cron":"0 9 * * 1-5","tz":"Europe/Lisbon","n":3},
  "valid": true,
  "description": "At 09:00, Monday through Friday",
  "next": ["2026-04-24T08:00:00.000Z","2026-04-27T08:00:00.000Z","2026-04-28T08:00:00.000Z"],
  "flags": {"dst_transition_ahead": false, "ambiguous": false, "notes": []},
  "errors": []
}

Check remaining balance:


View the full README on GitHub

Details

Repository
github.com/idoazacalls/cron-explainer
Website
cron-explainer.cron-explainer-prod.workers.dev
Category
Automation & Workflows
Transport
HTTP
Registry
MCP registry, active
Tools verified
Nov 6, 2026

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