Cron Translator
REMOTE · CRONTOENGLISH.COM · SCANNED SEP 25
Explain cron expressions in English, list next run times, and catch scheduling gotchas.
Available components
How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically against the live server, and we only credit what we can confirm. How we score → Why this is hard to score →
Endpoint Security63
- The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key. View diagnostics → Pass
- Authorisation not fully verified: no authorisation is required to call this server, and 3 tool(s) never declared a destructiveHint. The MCP spec treats an absent hint as destructive by default, so we cannot call this surface safe. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Unverified
- HTTPS is enforced; there's no plaintext access path. View diagnostics → Pass
- The HSTS (Strict-Transport-Security) header is present. View diagnostics → Pass
- DNSSEC check failed: this domain isn't protected by DNSSEC. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Fail
Transport & Reachability100
- Verified streamable-http transport via a live MCP handshake. View diagnostics → Pass
Schema Quality & AI Usability69
- AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).Pass
- Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 951 tokens (~317/item across 3 items; 3 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params. See how to fix → Fail
- Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples. See how to fix → Fail
Stability & Change Management77
- Stability observed for 23 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.Partial
Tool Coverage100
- 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).Pass
- 100% of tool parameters carry a description.Pass
Tool Safety100
- No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.Pass
- We read all 3 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.Pass
- An AI judge read all 3 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.Pass
Capabilities100
- Implements a current MCP spec version (2026-07-28).Pass
How do I install the Cron Translator MCP server?
Cron Translator is a hosted endpoint at https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp, so there is nothing to install locally. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.
remote · crontoenglish.com
claude mcp add --transport http com-crontoenglish-cron-translator 'https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp'
{
"mcpServers": {
"com-crontoenglish-cron-translator": {
"url": "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp"
}
}
} {
"servers": {
"com-crontoenglish-cron-translator": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp"
}
}
} [mcp_servers.com-crontoenglish-cron-translator] url = "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp"
{
"$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
"mcp": {
"com-crontoenglish-cron-translator": {
"type": "remote",
"url": "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp",
"enabled": true
}
}
} openclaw mcp add com-crontoenglish-cron-translator --url 'https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp' --transport streamable-http
mcp_servers:
com-crontoenglish-cron-translator:
url: "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp" {
"McpServers": {
"com-crontoenglish-cron-translator": {
"Transport": "http",
"Url": "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp"
}
}
} assistant mcp add com-crontoenglish-cron-translator -t streamable-http -u 'https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp'
{
"mcpServers": {
"com-crontoenglish-cron-translator": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp"
}
}
} The mcpServers block is a cross-client convention. Remote transports vary, so check your client's docs.
Every change we have recorded for this component, newest first. Security-relevant changes are always shown. ▲ marks a change for the better, ▼ a change for the worse; unmarked changes are neutral.
- 25 Sept 26 0
- We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server See what changed → functional
- 24 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 70 to 73. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 21 days of observed history at the previous scan, 22 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 22 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 63 to 67. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 19 days of observed history at the previous scan, 20 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 19 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 53 to 57. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 16 days of observed history at the previous scan, 17 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 17 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 47 to 50. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 14 days of observed history at the previous scan, 15 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 15 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 40 to 43. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 12 days of observed history at the previous scan, 13 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 13 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 33 to 37. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 10 days of observed history at the previous scan, 11 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 11 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 27 to 30. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 8 days of observed history at the previous scan, 9 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
Diagnostic detail from the automated scan of this channel: what the scanner observed at each step, so you can see exactly where a check passed or failed. It is informational only and never changes the trust score.
Captured 25 Sept 2026 · Probed https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp
TLS valid
Negotiated TLS 1.3 with TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 .
| Subject | Issuer | Valid from | Valid until | Key | Signature | Serial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN=*.crontoenglish.com | CN=YR1,O=Let's Encrypt,C=US | 5 Sept 2026 | 4 Dec 2026 | RSA 2048 | SHA256-RSA | 5867fa8906131aaeaac23516a32a5db95f4 |
| SANs: *.crontoenglish.com, crontoenglish.com | ||||||
| CN=YR1,O=Let's Encrypt,C=US (CA) | CN=Root YR,O=ISRG,C=US | 3 Sept 2025 | 2 Sept 2028 | RSA 2048 | SHA256-RSA | a20253f15f2691c05dc1ce13b9bcca4e |
| CN=Root YR,O=ISRG,C=US (CA) | CN=ISRG Root X1,O=Internet Security Research Group,C=US | 13 May 2026 | 2 Sept 2032 | RSA 4096 | SHA256-RSA | f24b6d17f9d9ad7cb1c9fea78782699f |
Background: What to check on a remote MCP endpoint →
DNSSEC insecure
Validation of crontoenglish.com. — Not signed
| Zone | DS | Keys | Algorithms | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| . | trust_anchor | 20326, 38696 | 8, 8 | Verified |
| com. | present | 19718 | 13 | Verified |
| crontoenglish.com. | absent | Unsigned (proven) parent-signed NSEC/NSEC3 proves an unsigned delegation |
Authentication No authorisation required
The endpoint answered without asking for a token. Anyone who knows the URL can reach it.
| Result | No authorisation required |
|---|---|
| HTTP status | 200 |
| Header | Value |
|---|---|
| strict-transport-security | max-age=63072000 |
Background: How OAuth 2.1 works in the 2026 MCP spec →
Transports 2 probes
| Transport | URL | Outcome | Status | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| streamable-http | https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp | Verified | 200 | |
| http (plaintext) | http://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp | HTTPS enforced | 308 | https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp |
The tools this component advertises to a client, with an estimated token cost for each. Expand a tool to see its parameters and schema. The per-tool counts are indicative and are not scored directly; the schema's total context footprint is one signal in Schema Quality & AI Usability. A tool's description is untrusted text the model reads on every call, which is what makes this list a security surface and not just an inventory: how tool poisoning works →
build_cron Build a cron expression from English ~272
Convert an English schedule description into a standard five-field cron expression, then explain and validate the result. Use this when a user describes a schedule in words and needs the expression. This is a RULE-BASED converter, not a language model: it handles a fixed grammar and returns an error listing the supported phrasings when a phrase falls outside it. That refusal is deliberate — a plausible-looking wrong schedule is worse than no answer. If a phrase is rejected, rephrase it into one of the supported shapes and call again. Returns the expression, which rule matched, any words the rules did not use (check these — leftover words may mean the phrase was misread), the English description of the result, warnings, and the next run times.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| phrase | string | yes | An English schedule description, for example "every weekday at 9am" or "on the 1st of every month at midnight". Times accept 24-hour ("14:30"), 12-hour ("2:30pm"), "midnight", and "noon". |
| timezone | string | – | IANA timezone name, for example "UTC", "America/New_York", or "Europe/Berlin". Cron expressions carry no timezone of their own, so this decides when the schedule actually fires. Defaults to UTC. |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
explain_cron Explain a cron expression ~372
Translate a cron expression into plain English, list its upcoming run times in a specific timezone, and report the gotchas that make schedules misfire. Use this whenever a cron expression needs to be read, verified, or explained — and prefer it over reasoning about the expression directly. Cron has several counter-intuitive rules that are easy to get wrong: day-of-month and day-of-week are combined with OR (not AND) when both are set, steps like */7 do not divide their field evenly, dates like February 30 never fire at all, and daylight-saving transitions skip or repeat runs. This tool checks all of them. Returns the normalised expression, a one-sentence description, a per-field breakdown, a list of warnings with severity and a fix for each, the next run times as both UTC ISO 8601 instants and local wall-clock strings, and an approximate runs-per-day figure.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| count | integer | – | How many upcoming run times to return. 1-25, default 5. |
| expression | string | yes | A standard five-field cron expression: "minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week", for example "0 9 * * 1-5". Accepts *, numbers, ranges (9-17), lists (1,15), steps (*/5), three-letter month and da… |
| timezone | string | – | IANA timezone name, for example "UTC", "America/New_York", or "Europe/Berlin". Cron expressions carry no timezone of their own, so this decides when the schedule actually fires. Defaults to UTC. |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
next_cron_runs Next cron run times ~307
List the next run times for a cron expression in a specific timezone, with no prose. Use this when the only question is "when does this next fire" — for example to check whether a job will run before a deadline, or to show a user their upcoming schedule. Do not compute these dates yourself: weekday arithmetic, month lengths, and daylight-saving shifts make manual calculation unreliable. Returns each run as a UTC ISO 8601 instant plus a local wall-clock rendering in the requested timezone. Refuses Quartz-only syntax (L, W, #, ?) rather than guessing.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| count | integer | – | How many upcoming run times to return. 1-25, default 5. |
| expression | string | yes | A standard five-field cron expression: "minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week", for example "0 9 * * 1-5". Accepts *, numbers, ranges (9-17), lists (1,15), steps (*/5), three-letter month and da… |
| timezone | string | – | IANA timezone name, for example "UTC", "America/New_York", or "Europe/Berlin". Cron expressions carry no timezone of their own, so this decides when the schedule actually fires. Defaults to UTC. |
No output schema declared.
No examples provided.
What is the Cron Translator MCP server?
Cron Translator is an MCP server listed in the public MCP registry as com.crontoenglish/cron-translator. Explain cron expressions in English, list next run times, and catch scheduling gotchas. This page covers its hosted endpoint (https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp).
Is the Cron Translator MCP server safe to use?
Cron Translator scores 76 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. That is a record of what we were able to check automatically, not an endorsement. The category breakdown on this page shows every signal behind the number, including the ones we could not confirm.
What tools does the Cron Translator MCP server expose?
Cron Translator exposes 3 tools: explain_cron, next_cron_runs, build_cron. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 951 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.
Does the Cron Translator MCP server require authentication?
No. We connected to Cron Translator without credentials and it answered, so anything it exposes is reachable by anyone who knows the address.
Is the Cron Translator MCP server still maintained?
Cron Translator is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 25 September 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.