explain_cron
Parse a 5-field cron expression and return a human-readable description plus the exact next run times. Prefer this over reasoning about cron semantics yourself: it correctly handles ranges, lists, steps, month/day names, and the tricky day-of-month OR day-of-week rule. Next runs are computed in UTC.
Parameters
| expression | string | required | 5-field cron, e.g. "*/15 9-17 * * 1-5" (minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week). |
| count | integer | optional | How many upcoming run times to return (default 5). |
| now | string | optional | Optional ISO timestamp to compute next runs from (default: current time). |
Raw schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"expression": {
"type": "string",
"description": "5-field cron, e.g. \"*/15 9-17 * * 1-5\" (minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week)."
},
"count": {
"type": "integer",
"minimum": 1,
"maximum": 20,
"description": "How many upcoming run times to return (default 5)."
},
"now": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Optional ISO timestamp to compute next runs from (default: current time)."
}
},
"required": [
"expression"
],
"additionalProperties": false
}