diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 9e6625a..06eb7af 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -97,6 +97,15 @@ version = "0.8.6"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "06ea2b9bc92be3c2baa9334a323ebca2d6f074ff852cd1d7b11064035cd3868f"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "croner"
+version = "2.0.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "516aad5374ea0ea75a0f0f4512fb4e7ad46c5eeff9971cb8ebc8fd74f1cd16c1"
+dependencies = [
+ "chrono",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "eyre"
 version = "0.6.12"
@@ -169,6 +178,7 @@ version = "0.0.5"
 dependencies = [
  "bitflags",
  "chrono",
+ "croner",
  "eyre",
  "log",
  "num-traits",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 4fc3d41..1d84e94 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@ path = "lib/lib.rs"
 # scheduling
 "sched" = ["dep:chrono", "dep:log"]
 "sched.tokio" = ["dep:tokio", "tokio?/time", "tokio?/rt", "sched"]
-"sched.rule-recurrence" = ["sched"]
-"sched.rule-cron" = ["sched"]
+"sched.rule-recurrence" = ["sched", "dep:num-traits"]
+"sched.rule-cron" = ["sched", "dep:croner"]
 # utils
 "utils" = []
 "utils.threads" = ["macros", "utils", "dep:log"]
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ bitflags = { version = "2.5.0", optional = true }
 chrono = { version = "0.4.37", optional = true }
 log = { version = "0.4.21", optional = true }
 tokio = { version = "1.37.0", optional = true }
-num-traits = "0.2.18"
+croner = { version = "2.0.4", optional = true }
+num-traits = { version = "0.2.18", optional = true }
+
 
 
diff --git a/lib/sched/rules.rs b/lib/sched/rules.rs
index 77edb7b..7a38039 100644
--- a/lib/sched/rules.rs
+++ b/lib/sched/rules.rs
@@ -1,11 +1,18 @@
-#[cfg(feature = "sched.rule-cron")]
-mod cron;
 #[cfg(feature = "sched.rule-recurrence")]
 mod recurrent;
 #[cfg(feature = "sched.rule-recurrence")]
 pub use self::recurrent::{many, range, ranges, ruleset, val, RecurrenceRuleSet, Rule};
 
-use chrono::{DateTime, Local};
+#[cfg(feature = "sched.rule-cron")]
+mod cron;
+#[cfg(feature = "sched.rule-cron")]
+pub use self::cron::Cron;
+
+use {
+    chrono::{DateTime, Local},
+    eyre::Result,
+    std::fmt::Debug,
+};
 
 /// 🧉 » a scheduling rule
 ///
@@ -24,7 +31,7 @@ pub enum SchedulingRule {
 
     /// 🧉 » a scheduling rule expressed in cron format
     #[cfg(feature = "sched.rule-cron")]
-    Cron(String),
+    Cron(Cron),
 }
 
 impl SchedulingRule {
@@ -48,9 +55,9 @@ impl SchedulingRule {
             SchedulingRule::Repeat(rule) => rule.next_match_from(base),
 
             #[cfg(feature = "sched.rule-cron")]
-            SchedulingRule::Cron(_cron) => {
-                // TODO: implement cron scheduling rule
-                unimplemented!()
+            SchedulingRule::Cron(pattern) => {
+                let next = pattern.find_next_occurrence(&base, false);
+                next.ok()
             }
         }
     }
@@ -58,8 +65,9 @@ impl SchedulingRule {
 
 /// 🧉 » create a new `SchedulingRule` that runs at specific intervals defined by a cron expression
 #[cfg(feature = "sched.rule-cron")]
-pub fn cron(cron: &str) -> SchedulingRule {
-    SchedulingRule::Cron(cron.to_string())
+pub fn cron(pattern: &str) -> Result<SchedulingRule> {
+    let cron = Cron::new(pattern)?;
+    Ok(SchedulingRule::Cron(cron))
 }
 
 /// 🧉 » create a new `SchedulingRule` that runs at specific intervals defined by a `RecurrenceRule`
diff --git a/lib/sched/rules/cron.rs b/lib/sched/rules/cron.rs
index 100dcbb..639bcb8 100644
--- a/lib/sched/rules/cron.rs
+++ b/lib/sched/rules/cron.rs
@@ -1 +1,40 @@
-// TODO: cron based scheduling
+use {
+    core::fmt,
+    croner::Cron as Croner,
+    eyre::Result,
+    std::{
+        fmt::Debug,
+        ops::{Deref, DerefMut},
+    },
+};
+
+#[derive(Clone)]
+pub struct Cron(Croner);
+
+impl Cron {
+    /// 🧉 » create a new `Cron` scheduling rule
+    pub fn new(pattern: &str) -> Result<Self> {
+        let cron = Croner::new(pattern).parse()?;
+        Ok(Self(cron))
+    }
+}
+
+impl Debug for Cron {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
+        f.debug_struct("Cron").field("expression", &self.0.pattern).finish()
+    }
+}
+
+impl Deref for Cron {
+    type Target = Croner;
+
+    fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
+        &self.0
+    }
+}
+
+impl DerefMut for Cron {
+    fn deref_mut(&mut self) -> &mut Self::Target {
+        &mut self.0
+    }
+}