# Cron Translator (remote · crontoenglish.com)

Explain cron expressions in English, list next run times, and catch scheduling gotchas.

- Trust score: 76/100 (medium)
- Change this week: +3
- Registry status: active
- Liveness: live
- Owner verified: no
- Last scored: 2026-09-25

## Components

- remote · `crontoenglish.com`: 76/100 (this document), [markdown](https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-crontoenglish-cron-translator/api-mcp.md), [page](https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-crontoenglish-cron-translator/api-mcp)

## Channel facts

- Endpoint: `https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp`
- Transports: `streamable-http`
- Auth: `none`
- Version: `0.1.0`

## Trust breakdown

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. Scores are 0–100 per category. Scoring method: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring (what has changed: https://verifymcp.io/docs/scoring/changelog)

Scored 2026-09-25.

- **Endpoint Security**: 63/100
  - The endpoint's TLS certificate is valid, in date, and uses a strong key.
  - 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.
  - HTTPS is enforced; there's no plaintext access path.
  - The HSTS (Strict-Transport-Security) header is present.
  - DNSSEC check failed: this domain isn't protected by DNSSEC.
- **Transport & Reachability**: 100/100
  - Verified streamable-http transport via a live MCP handshake.
- **Schema Quality & AI Usability**: 69/100
  - AI-judged instruction clarity (excellent).
  - 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.
  - Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples.
- **Stability & Change Management**: 77/100
  - Stability observed for 23 of 30 days with no destabilising changes; credit accrues until the full window elapses.
- **Tool Coverage**: 100/100
  - 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).
  - 100% of tool parameters carry a description.
- **Tool Safety**: 100/100
  - No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.
  - We read all 3 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.
  - An AI judge read all 3 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.
- **Capabilities**: 100/100
  - Implements a current MCP spec version (2026-07-28).

## Install

### 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.

### Claude

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http com-crontoenglish-cron-translator 'https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp'
```

### Cursor

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "com-crontoenglish-cron-translator": {
      "url": "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "com-crontoenglish-cron-translator": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Codex

```toml
[mcp_servers.com-crontoenglish-cron-translator]
url = "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp"
```

### opencode

```json
{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "com-crontoenglish-cron-translator": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}
```

### OpenClaw

```bash
openclaw mcp add com-crontoenglish-cron-translator --url 'https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp' --transport streamable-http
```

### Hermes

```yaml
mcp_servers:
  com-crontoenglish-cron-translator:
    url: "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp"
```

### Netclaw

```json
{
  "McpServers": {
    "com-crontoenglish-cron-translator": {
      "Transport": "http",
      "Url": "https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### Vellum

```bash
assistant mcp add com-crontoenglish-cron-translator -t streamable-http -u 'https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp'
```

### Other

```json
{
  "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.

## Changelog

Every change recorded for this component, newest first. Days that predate change tracking, or that we cannot explain, say so: "we were watching and nothing happened" and "we were not watching" are different claims.

### 2026-09-25 (score 76, 0)

- [functional] We updated how we score, so this day's move reflects our rubric, not a change to the server

### 2026-09-24 (score 76, +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.

### 2026-09-22 (score 75, +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.

### 2026-09-19 (score 74, +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.

### 2026-09-17 (score 73, +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.

### 2026-09-15 (score 72, +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.

### 2026-09-13 (score 71, +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.

### 2026-09-11 (score 70, +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.

## MCP tools (3)

### `explain_cron` (~372 tokens)

Explain a cron expression

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.

Input parameters:

- `count` (integer): How many upcoming run times to return. 1-25, default 5.
- `expression` (string, required): 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.

### `next_cron_runs` (~307 tokens)

Next cron run times

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.

Input parameters:

- `count` (integer): How many upcoming run times to return. 1-25, default 5.
- `expression` (string, required): 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.

### `build_cron` (~272 tokens)

Build a cron expression from English

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.

Input parameters:

- `phrase` (string, required): 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.

## Diagnostics

Captured diagnostic sections: TLS, DNSSEC, Authorisation, Transports. The full working is on the page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-crontoenglish-cron-translator/api-mcp#diagnostics

## Score history

- 2026-09-25: 76
- 2026-09-24: 76
- 2026-09-23: 75
- 2026-09-22: 75
- 2026-09-21: 74
- 2026-09-20: 74
- 2026-09-19: 74
- 2026-09-18: 73
- 2026-09-17: 73
- 2026-09-16: 72
- 2026-09-15: 72
- 2026-09-14: 71
- 2026-09-13: 71
- 2026-09-12: 70
- 2026-09-11: 70
- 2026-09-10: 69
- 2026-09-09: 69
- 2026-09-08: 68
- 2026-09-07: 68
- 2026-09-06: 67
- 2026-09-05: 67
- 2026-09-04: 67
- 2026-09-03: 66
- 2026-09-02: 65

## Common questions

### 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.

## Links

- Remote endpoint: https://crontoenglish.com/api/mcp
- Repository: https://github.com/bwalvoord/gumball
- Website: https://crontoenglish.com/
- Changelog RSS feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-crontoenglish-cron-translator/api-mcp.xml
- Changelog JSON feed: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-crontoenglish-cron-translator/api-mcp.json
- HTML version of this page: https://verifymcp.io/servers/com-crontoenglish-cron-translator/api-mcp