Cron Expression Skill

Overview

Cron Expression Generator works by analyzing natural language schedule descriptions and using AI to generate accurate cron expressions. Perfect for setting up automated tasks and scheduled jobs.

Live Test Cron Expression Skill Skill →

The tool

Once your client is connected to the VerveKit server, this appears in its tool list as CronExpressionSkill. It is read-only and open-world — it fetches and never mutates anything on your side — so most clients call it without asking you to confirm.

Tool call

{
  "name": "CronExpressionSkill",
  "arguments": {
    "schedule": "every weekday at 9am"
  }
}

You do not name the tool yourself; the model picks it. Asking about every weekday at 9am in the terms this skill covers is enough for it to reach for CronExpressionSkill on its own — naming it explicitly also works, and is the way to force the call.

Connecting

One server URL covers every skill in the catalog, including this one. Authorization is OAuth: the client opens a browser once, and there is no key to paste into a config file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vervekit": {
      "url": "https://api.vervekit.com/v1/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Per-client setup — Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT — is on the MCP setup page.

Arguments

These are the properties on the tool's inputSchema, so a well-behaved client validates them before the call is made. Premium arguments are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

Argument	Type	Description
`schedule`Required	string	Natural language description of the schedule (max 200 characters) length 0–200

What the model gets back

The result carries a structuredContent object matching the tool's declared outputSchema, so a client reads fields without parsing prose. status is "ok" and error is null on success; a null field means the value was not available for that input, not that the call failed.

Result

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "schedule": "every weekday at 9am",
    "expression": "0 9 * * 1-5",
    "description": "Runs every weekday at 9:00 AM."
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Field	Type	Example	Description
`schedule`	string	`every weekday at 9am`	Original natural language schedule description provided
`expression`	string	`0 9 * * 1-5`	Generated cron expression in standard 5-field format
`description`Premium	string	`Runs every weekday at 9:00 AM.`	Human-readable explanation of the cron expression behavior

Failure modes

Errors come back as tool errors carrying a sentence the model can act on, not a bare status code. Error handling covers the full list.

Status	What it means
`400` / `422`	The arguments did not validate. The message names the offending one.
`401`	The OAuth session is invalid or expired — reconnect the server.
`403`	Blocked by a key restriction or an IP allow-list. Never a bad identity.
`404`	This skill is not part of VerveKit. Check the catalog.
`429`	Out of credits, or a brief rate limit. The message tells them apart.

A call costs 10 credits each time the tool actually runs; a model that reasons about the tool without calling it costs nothing.

Use cases

Task Automation: Convert natural language schedules into cron expressions for automated task scheduling in Linux, Jenkins, or CI/CD pipelines
Backup Scheduling: Generate cron expressions for automated backup schedules without memorizing complex cron syntax
Report Generation: Create cron expressions for scheduled report generation and email delivery tasks
System Maintenance: Generate cron expressions for maintenance windows, cleanup tasks, and system health checks

Other ways to use Cron Expression Skill

Set up Cron Expression Skill on VerveKit, or reach the same source a different way. Your VerveKit account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.

Call it as a REST APIOne HTTPS endpoint and an x-api-key header, with SDKs for Node, Python and .NET.APIVerve →Reference →