From a sentence to a schedule
Cron expressions are compact and precise, but few people outside engineering read them comfortably. "0 8 * * 1-5" means every weekday at 8 AM, and getting a single field wrong can turn a weekly job into one that runs every minute. Crons removes that risk for non technical teams by doing the translation for you and showing the result in a form anyone can check.
When you type a job, Crons separates the timing part from the task part. The timing part becomes three things you see on screen before saving.
- Cron expression, the standard five field format, editable if you want to fine tune it.
- Timezone, taken from your sentence ("9 AM London time") or from your account setting if you do not name one.
- Next three runs, shown as real dates and times, so you can confirm that "first Monday of the month" means what you expect.
The task part becomes the agent's steps. You can try both on the homepage demo without creating an account.
Examples of phrases and the schedules they become
The table below shows how common phrases translate. Times use the timezone shown in the sentence or your account default.
| What you type | Cron expression | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Every weekday at 8 AM | 0 8 * * 1-5 | Monday to Friday at 08:00 |
| Every Monday at 9:30 AM New York time | 30 9 * * 1 | Mondays at 09:30, America/New_York |
| Every day at 6 PM | 0 18 * * * | Daily at 18:00 |
| Every hour during business hours | 0 9-17 * * 1-5 | On the hour, 09:00 to 17:00, weekdays |
| Every 15 minutes | */15 * * * * | Four times an hour, Pro and Teams |
| On the 1st of every month at 7 AM | 0 7 1 * * | Monthly on day 1 at 07:00 |
| Every Friday at 4 PM Berlin time | 0 16 * * 5 | Fridays at 16:00, Europe/Berlin |
| Twice a day at 8 AM and 5 PM | 0 8,17 * * * | Daily at 08:00 and 17:00 |
If a phrase is ambiguous, such as "every other week", Crons asks you to pick a start date and shows the next three runs so you can confirm the pattern.
Why timezones matter for scheduled agents
A schedule without a timezone is a common source of quiet errors. A sales digest meant for 8 AM in Chicago that runs at 8 AM UTC lands in the middle of the night. Crons stores the timezone with every cron and follows daylight saving changes automatically, so a 9 AM job stays at 9 AM local time in March and November. Teams spread across regions can give each cron its own timezone, for example a London report and a Sydney report in the same workspace.
What no code means in practice
No code does not mean no control. You can open any step, change the instructions for an AI reasoning step, swap a Slack channel, add a condition or move an approval gate. What you do not need is a server, a script, a scheduler or a place to store memory between runs. Crons provides those.
- 1Type the job in one sentence on the homepage or in your workspace.
- 2Check the cron expression, timezone and next three runs.
- 3Review the steps and connect the tools the cron delivers to.
- 4Run a dry run to see a sample result without sending anything.
- 5Save and switch it on. The schedule takes it from there.
Engineers on your team can still extend a cron with code steps on Pro and Teams, or trigger it through the API. See API, webhooks and MCP for those options.
How Crons reads tricky phrases
People describe time in many ways, and Crons is built to understand the common ones. Relative words like "weekday", "business hours", "end of the month" and "first Monday" are mapped to explicit fields. City names and region names such as "Chicago time" or "Central European time" become a named timezone rather than a fixed offset, which keeps the schedule correct across daylight saving changes.
Some phrases cannot be expressed as one standard cron expression, for example "the last business day of every month". In those cases Crons stores the rule you wrote, explains how it will be evaluated and still shows the next three run dates, so you never have to guess. If your sentence contains no timing at all, Crons asks when the job should run instead of picking a time for you.
Frequency limits by plan
Your plan sets how often a cron can run. If you type a phrase that is more frequent than your plan allows, Crons tells you before saving rather than failing later. Starter allows schedules down to every hour, Pro down to every 15 minutes and Teams down to every 5 minutes. Compare plans on the pricing page, or start from a scheduled template that already has a sensible timetable.
Frequently asked questions
Can I edit the cron expression by hand?
Yes. The parsed expression is shown in an editable field. If you change it, the next three runs update immediately so you can confirm the new pattern.
Which timezone is used if I do not mention one?
Crons uses the default timezone of your account. You can change it per cron at any time, and daylight saving shifts are handled automatically.
What if my sentence describes a schedule my plan does not allow?
Crons shows a notice before saving and suggests the closest allowed frequency. For example, "every 5 minutes" on Starter becomes an hourly schedule unless you upgrade.
Do I need any technical skills to build no code AI agents in Crons?
No. If you can describe the task to a colleague, you can describe it to Crons. Technical users can add code steps and API triggers on Pro and Teams.
Can one cron run on two different schedules?
A phrase like "8 AM and 5 PM" becomes a single expression with two times. For completely different patterns, duplicate the cron and give each copy its own schedule.