---
id: con-scheduled-tasks
schema: concept/1
layer: garden
status: emerging
name: Scheduled tasks
aka: ["Tasks", "scheduled actions", "recurring prompts", "routines", "reminders"]
summary: >
  Asking an AI to run a prompt or job automatically at a set time or on a repeat, such as a Monday
  news digest or a daily inbox summary, without you starting it each time.
first_seen: "2025-01"
relations:
  builds_on: [con-automation]
  evolved_from: []
  related: [con-agents]
  parallels:
    - idea: "a standing order"
      field: "banking"
      note: "Set it up once and it runs on schedule until you change or cancel it."
    - idea: "a recurring agenda item"
      field: "meetings"
implementations:
  - { provider: openai, name: "ChatGPT Tasks" }
  - { provider: google, name: "Gemini scheduled actions" }
  - { provider: anthropic, name: "Scheduled tasks in Claude Cowork" }
competencies: [cmp-make-it-repeatable, cmp-steering]
origin:
  kind: ai-proposed
  by: "seed agent 2026-10-16"
  rationale: "The most approachable entry to automation for nontechnical users; shipped by several providers under different names."
---

A scheduled task is a prompt with a timer. You tell the AI what to do and when: "every weekday at 8am, summarise new emails from our two biggest clients", or "every Friday, give me three articles about school funding policy from this week." It then runs on its own and leaves the result for you.

This is the gentlest way into automation, because the AI is still doing something you already know how to ask for. The new skill is writing the prompt so it works without you there to clarify. Spell out the sources, the format and what to do when there's nothing new.

Scheduled tasks also need a check-in habit. A summary that arrives every morning can get worse without anyone noticing, miss a source or keep running after you stopped needing it. Read it critically for the first couple of weeks, and prune ones you ignore.

## Example

An executive director sets a Monday 7am task: "List board-related emails from last week, any deadlines mentioned, and anything that needs my reply." She checks it against her inbox for two weeks, tightens the wording once, then relies on it.

## How it connects

- The simplest form of **automation**.
- Often runs as a small **agent** with tools such as search or email.
- Unattended output still needs **verification** and occasional **evals**.

## Try it

Write the exact prompt you'd want to run every Monday, including what to say if nothing new happened. Run it by hand once today before scheduling it.