sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills · error · CronError

Expected 5 fields (got ${parts.length}). Format: minute hour

Error message

Expected 5 fields (got ${parts.length}). Format: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week

What it means

parseCron splits the expression on whitespace and requires exactly 5 fields: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week. Any other count is rejected immediately. This engine does not support a 6th seconds field, a year field, or @shorthands like @daily.

Source

Thrown at skills/cron-doctor/scripts/cron-engine.js:171

  values.add(v);
}

function addRange(values, lo, hi, fieldDef) {
  if (lo > hi) [lo, hi] = [hi, lo];
  if (lo < fieldDef.min || hi > fieldDef.max) {
    throw new CronError(`Range ${lo}-${hi} out of bounds for ${fieldDef.name} (${fieldDef.min}-${fieldDef.max})`, -1);
  }
  for (let v = lo; v <= hi; v++) {
    if (fieldDef.key === 'dow' && v === 7) { values.add(0); continue; }
    values.add(v);
  }
}

// ---- Full expression parser ----
function parseCron(expr) {
  const parts = String(expr).trim().split(/\s+/);
  if (parts.length !== 5) {
    throw new CronError(`Expected 5 fields (got ${parts.length}). Format: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week`, -1);
  }
  const parsed = {};
  for (let i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    parsed[FIELDS[i].key] = parseField(parts[i], FIELDS[i], i);
  }
  parsed.domRestricted = !/^\s*\*\s*$/.test(parts[2]);
  parsed.dowRestricted = !/^\s*\*\s*$/.test(parts[4]);
  parsed.parts = parts;
  return parsed;
}

// ---- Human-readable description ----
function describe(expr) {
  let parsed;
  try { parsed = parseCron(expr); } catch (e) { return { text: e.message, error: true }; }
  return { text: describeParsed(parsed), error: false, parsed };
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 58d857988f)

Solutions

Reduce to exactly 5 fields: drop a leading seconds field or trailing year
Replace @shorthands manually: @daily -> '0 0 * * *', @hourly -> '0 * * * *'
Count whitespace-separated tokens; the message reports how many were found

Example fix

// before
'0 30 9 * * *'  // 6 fields (seconds first)

// after
'30 9 * * *'    // 5 fields

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const n = String(expr).trim().split(/\s+/).filter(Boolean).length;
if (n !== 5) throw new Error(`Expected 5 fields, got ${n}`);
const parsed = parseCron(expr);

Try / catch

try { parseCron(expr); } catch (e) { if (e instanceof CronError && /Expected 5 fields/.test(e.message)) promptForFiveFieldCron(expr); else throw e; }

Prevention

Normalize @daily/@hourly to 5-field equivalents before parsing
Strip a leading seconds field when importing Quartz/Spring cron
Validate user-entered schedules client-side before saving

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a 6-field expression with seconds ('0 0 0 * * *'), a 7-field Quartz-style cron, '@daily'/'@hourly'/'@reboot' strings, or an expression with a missing field ('0 0 * *').

Common situations: Copying a Quartz (7 fields) or Spring (6 fields) cron into a standard 5-field tool; assuming @ macros exist; accidentally deleting a field while editing.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of sickn33/agentic-awesome-skills@58d857988f (2026-08-26). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1b6f4a060e7b06dd. Report an issue: GitHub.