# Crontab Generate — Natural Language to Cron Expression Converter

> Crontab Generate — Natural Language to Cron Expression Converter is a paid API for AI agents from api.strale.io, paid per call via x402, $0.054001/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-13).

Converts a natural language schedule description into a cron expression, or explains an existing cron expression, and returns next scheduled run times.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://api.strale.io/x402/crontab-generate
- Price: $0.054001/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-13
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/api-strale-io-223ea82a
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_nijjzlUEB1QpsxQEVXMpu

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 api-strale-io-223ea82a
```

Example prompt: What's the cron expression for 'every weekday at 8:30am', and when will it next run?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need to programmatically convert a human-readable schedule description into a machine-executable cron expression, or when you need to explain/document what an existing cron expression does. Ideal for DevOps automation, CI/CD pipeline configuration, and helping non-technical users set up scheduled jobs without learning cron syntax.

## Known failure modes

- Ambiguous or unparseable natural language schedule — returns error or best-guess cron with low confidence
- Invalid cron expression provided — returns parsing error
- Missing required 'description' query parameter — returns 400 bad request
- Overly complex or unsupported schedule patterns (e.g. 'last business day of month') may not convert accurately

## How this service works

Convert natural language schedule to cron expression, or explain an existing cron expression. Returns next run times.

## Output

Returns a valid cron expression derived from the natural language input (or an explanation if a cron expression was provided), along with the next several scheduled run times so the user can verify correctness.

## Example request

```json
{
 "description": "every weekday at 8:30am"
}
```

## 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",
      "HEAD",
      "DELETE"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "queryParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "description"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "description": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Schedule in natural language or cron expression"
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/api-strale-io-223ea82a/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from api.strale.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/api.strale.io/llms.txt)