# bunkat/later

A javascript library for defining recurring schedules and calculating future (or past) occurrences for them.  Includes support for using English phrases and Cron schedules.  Works in Node and in the browser.

Repository: https://github.com/bunkat/later
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/later
Homepage: http://bunkat.github.io/later/
Language: HTML
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2018-04-10T16:05:03+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5320, "days_push": 3067, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2406, forks 240 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:44.154774+00:00)

## What it is
Later is a zero-dependency JavaScript library for defining recurring schedules and calculating their future or past occurrences. Schedules can be built via a chainable API, Cron expressions, or English text expressions, and work in both Node and the browser.

## Use cases
- calculate next occurrences of a recurring schedule in javascript
- parse cron expressions and compute future run times
- define schedules like '2nd Tuesday of every month at 4am'
- convert english phrases like 'every 5 mins' into schedules
- compute past occurrences of a recurring event
- build composite schedules with exceptions in node or browser

## When to choose
- you need to compute occurrences of complex recurring schedules (not fire them)
- you want cron parsing plus flexible constraints like nth weekday or month exceptions
- you need a small, dependency-free library that works in Node and the browser
- you need serializable schedule definitions to store in a database

## When to avoid
- you just need to run tasks on a timer - use a cron scheduler or job runner instead
- you need a maintained library with active bug fixes and security updates
- you need timezone-aware scheduling
- your project requires long-term support

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: abandoned
- function: scheduling, parser, date-time
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: browser, cross-platform
- tags: recurring-schedules, cron, schedule-parser, no-dependencies, unmaintained, automation, algorithms, nodejs, javascript

## Member repositories
- bunkat/later (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:44.154774+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:34:06.351546+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/bunkat/later (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:44.154774+00:00, sha 5ccbfaf01aed)
  - homepage: http://bunkat.github.io/later/ (fetched 2026-08-29T10:14:20.305656+00:00, sha e74bc8ee2fbe)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.