Free shift pattern calendars and schedules

Panama Schedule

Pick a start date to see the Panama schedule for four crews on a calendar, with hours per week and a calendar file.

The Panama schedule tool shows how a Panama shift pattern works for four crews and calculates the hours, days off and weekend coverage for any start date you choose. It runs in your browser, is free, and needs no account or sign-up.

This page uses one widely used version of the Panama schedule: a 2-2-3 pattern on 12-hour shifts, where each crew swaps between days and nights every 14 days and the full cycle repeats every 28 days. Use the tool to see how a crew’s time falls across a month or two, or to create a calendar file for one crew. Other published versions of the Panama schedule swap at different points, so this tool shows exactly one of them.

Panama schedule example

How to use the Panama schedule tool

  1. Type a start date in the yyyy-mm-dd format. The page opens with 2026-10-05, which is a Monday. A date that does not exist, such as 2026-02-30, gives an error message.
  2. Choose the number of months to show. Calendar files run from the start date to the last day of the last month shown.
  3. Choose a crew. Select All crews to see every crew, or pick Crew A, B, C or D to focus on one.
  4. Check the shift times. They use the 24-hour clock and default to 07:00 to 19:00 for days and 19:00 to 07:00 for nights. If the times you type last a different number of hours, a warning appears.
  5. Read the results: cycle length, days worked and off per cycle, hours per cycle, average hours per week, most hours in any 7 consecutive days, longest runs of work and time off, weekends fully off, and whether every day is covered.
  6. Click Download .ics to get a calendar file for the chosen crew. With All crews selected, there is one button for each crew.

Copy link copies the page address, which holds your inputs, so you can reopen the same schedule later. Printing uses your browser’s print dialog, where you can choose Save as PDF to keep a copy.

The Panama schedule is built from a 2-2-3 block: 2 days on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, 3 off. That block is 14 days with 7 work days. Crew A works this pattern on day shifts for days 1 to 14, then the same pattern on night shifts for days 15 to 28. Crew B follows crew A’s pattern shifted by 7 days within each half. Crew C starts on nights and moves to days, and crew D is crew C shifted by 7 days.

Each crew works 14 shifts of 12 hours, which is 168 hours in 28 days. Dividing by 4 weeks gives an average of 42 hours per week. Because exactly one day crew and one night crew are on duty every day, the schedule covers all 24 hours of every day.

Weekly totals vary. With a Monday start, crew A’s calendar weeks alternate 60, 24, 60 and 24 hours. The most hours in any 7 consecutive days is 60, which is five 12-hour shifts.

What does the cycle table show?

Under the calendar, the cycle table lists every day of one full cycle, with the date of its first occurrence from your start date and the code each crew works that day. D is a day shift, N a night shift and a dash is a day off. If you choose one crew in the crew selector, that column is outlined.

How do I use the calendar file?

Download .ics builds a calendar file in your browser with one timed event for each work day of the chosen crew, from the start date to the end of the last month shown. Open the file in your calendar program to import the events. The times are plain clock times with no time zone, so a calendar app shows them in your own zone. Nothing is uploaded.

Worked examples

InputResult
Start 2026-10-05, 2 month(s), All crews28 days cycle, 42 h per week on average, 14 of 28 days worked
Start 2026-10-05, 2 month(s), Crew C28 days cycle, 42 h per week on average, 14 of 28 days worked
Start 2027-02-01, 3 month(s), Crew B28 days cycle, 42 h per week on average, 14 of 28 days worked

Calculated by the tool above; open it with the same values to see each step.

Frequently asked questions

What does 2-2-3 mean?

It describes the pattern of work days in each 14-day half: 2 days on, 2 off, 3 on, 2 off, 2 on, then 3 off. Each block contains 7 work days.

Why do the weekly hours change from week to week?

Calendar weeks start on fixed days, but the work pattern repeats every 28 days. Some weeks catch five shifts and others catch two, so hours alternate, even though the average is 42 hours per week.

Why does every crew show 14 of 28 days worked?

Each crew works 14 shifts in every 28-day cycle, since the pattern gives each crew the same amount of work. The tool shows the same totals for every crew because the cycle is the same for all four.

What happens if I type a date that doesn’t exist?

The page shows an error message and does not calculate a schedule until you enter a real date in yyyy-mm-dd format.

Does the tool confirm that a schedule follows labor rules?

No. The tool only does arithmetic on the pattern and does not state any working-time, rest or pay rule. Check any pattern against your own agreement and local rules.

Is this tool free, and is anything I type uploaded?

Yes, it is free and needs no account or sign-up. Everything is calculated in your browser, and nothing you type is uploaded.

Can I print it or share it?

Yes. Print / save as PDF prints the page as you see it; choose Save as PDF in the print dialog to keep a file. Copy link copies a page address that stores your inputs, so the same schedule can be reopened later or sent to someone else.