# Aayat AI Cron Expression Explainer

> Aayat AI Cron Expression Explainer is a paid API for AI agents from aayatai.com, paid per call via x402, $0.001/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-02).

Parses and explains a cron expression, returning a human-readable description, field breakdown, and upcoming scheduled run times

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://aayatai.com/cron/explain?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.001/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-02
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/aayat-ai-cron-expression-explainer-0b8fa80a
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_QhEnvxnLkoHzn2voHyWgi

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability aayat-ai-cron-expression-explainer-0b8fa80a
```

Example prompt: Explain the cron expression '*/15 9-17 * * MON-FRI' in plain English and show me the next 5 times it will run in the Europe/London timezone.

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when an agent needs to parse, validate, or explain a cron expression without any external scheduler infrastructure — especially useful for coding agents, DevOps automation, or scheduling tools that need to surface cron meaning to non-technical users. It requires no account or API key and charges only $0.001 USDC per call, making it ideal for lightweight, pay-per-use agent workflows.

## Known failure modes

- Invalid or malformed cron expression returns valid=false with no nextRuns
- Expression shorter than 5 characters rejected by minLength validation
- More than 20 count requested returns validation error
- Unrecognized IANA timezone string may cause error or fall back to UTC
- Missing required 'expression' query parameter returns 400-class error

## How this service works

Validate and explain a cron expression: plain-English meaning, each field expanded, and the next run times in any time zone (DST-aware). Standard 5-field cron, 6-field with seconds, names (MON, JAN) and @daily-style macros. ?expression=*/15 9-17 * * MON-FRI&tz=Europe/London

## Output

A JSON object containing: a boolean validity flag, the original expression, a plain-English description of the schedule, an array of field-level breakdowns (minute, hour, day, etc. with parsed values), and an array of upcoming ISO 8601 UTC timestamps for the next N runs.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "expression"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "tz": {
       "type": "string",
       "default": "UTC",
       "maxLength": 60,
       "description": "IANA time zone for the next runs, e.g. Europe/London."
      },
      "count": {
       "type": "integer",
       "default": 5,
       "maximum": 20,
       "minimum": 1,
       "description": "How many next run times."
      },
      "expression": {
       "type": "string",
       "maxLength": 120,
       "minLength": 5,
       "description": "e.g. 0 9 * * 1-5, */15 * * * *, @daily."
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string"
    },
    "example": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "valid",
      "description",
      "fields",
      "nextRuns"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "tz": {
       "type": "string"
      },
      "valid": {
       "type": "boolean"
      },
      "fields": {
       "type": "array",
       "items": {
        "type": "object"
       }
      },
      "nextRuns": {
       "type": "array",
       "items": {
        "type": "string"
       },
       "description": "UTC ISO times."
      },
      "expression": {
       "type": "string"
      },
      "description": {
       "type": "string"
      }
     }
    }
   }
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "tz": "Europe/London",
  "valid": true,
  "fields": [
   {
    "any": false,
    "field": "minute",
    "values": [
     0,
     15,
     30,
     45
    ],
    "expression": "*/15"
   }
  ],
  "nextRuns": [
   "2026-09-28T08:00:00.000Z",
   "2026-09-28T08:15:00.000Z",
   "2026-09-28T08:30:00.000Z"
  ],
  "expression": "*/15 9-17 * * MON-FRI",
  "description": "At every 15th minute past hours 9 through 17, on Monday through Friday."
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/aayat-ai-cron-expression-explainer-0b8fa80a/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from aayatai.com](https://www.zero.xyz/host/aayatai.com/llms.txt)