A daily news brief or weekly update follows a familiar pattern: collect the relevant information, organize it, and deliver it at a useful time. Once you know what the output should contain, repeating the same request becomes routine.
AutoClaw scheduled tasks let you define that routine through conversation. An agent can run a one-time reminder or recurring work at a specified time and send the result to a chosen conversation or connected IM channel.
This guide explains how to create a task, check its configuration, and keep it useful over time. The prompts are examples for you to adapt.
What can you schedule?
Scheduled tasks support both one-time actions and recurring work. A one-time reminder needs a date, time, message, and destination. A recurring report also needs a repeat pattern and a clear description of the work performed on each run.
Typical uses include daily industry news, periodic market information, and monitoring tasks. For a useful report, define the sources, the reporting window, and the format. That gives each run a consistent purpose.
A weekly industry brief, for example, can review a named set of official announcement pages and summarize items published in the preceding seven days. A monitoring task can check a specified page for a defined kind of update.
Give the agent four scheduling essentials
You create scheduled tasks by asking the agent in a conversation. You do not need to write scheduling rules manually. Include the execution time, repeat pattern, action, and delivery destination.
| Essential | Example |
|---|---|
| Time and time zone | 9:00 AM, America/New_York |
| Repeat pattern | Every weekday |
| Action | Summarize official AI product announcements from the previous 24 hours |
| Destination | This conversation, or a named authorized IM destination |
Use an explicit time zone when working across regions. A clear repeat pattern also helps distinguish a weekday routine from one that runs every day. For a one-time action, provide the exact date as well as the time.
Create a daily news task
Start with a bounded source list and a report you already find useful. For example, supply the official announcement pages you want to follow and ask for a short brief:
Every weekday at 9:00 AM in the America/New_York time zone, review the official announcement pages in my attached source list. Summarize relevant AI product announcements published in the previous 24 hours. Include the product name, what changed, publication date, and source link. Separate announcements from commentary. Send the result to this conversation. If there are no qualifying updates, send a brief note saying so. Identify any sources you could not access. Confirm the schedule, destination, and next run time after creating it.
The time window and source list help control the scope. The instructions also define what should happen when there is little news or a source cannot be reached. These cases are part of a recurring routine, so it is useful to address them at creation.
To send the brief to an IM channel, name the destination and ensure the relevant connection is authorized. Confirm the intended conversation or group before relying on delivery.
Create a one-time reminder
A reminder can be much shorter because the action is already defined. State the date, time zone, message, and where you want to receive it.
On November 6, 2026, at 3:00 PM in the Europe/London time zone, remind me in this conversation to review the draft launch brief and check its source links. Confirm the reminder time after creating it.
Use this structure for a deadline or a single follow-up. If the activity becomes a routine, ask for an explicit repeat pattern rather than leaving the recurrence implied.
Check the first run and the schedule
For a report or monitoring task, first ask the agent to perform the work once. Inspect the source access, content, time range, and output format. This gives you a chance to improve the task before repeating it.
After the scheduled task is created, verify its time zone, next execution time, and destination. Open the scheduling section to review the task. Tasks are grouped by agent, and their cards show information including the model and execution status.
When the first scheduled result arrives, check whether it matches the intended routine. A report can be correctly timed while still using an unsuitable source or including items outside the requested period. Update the instructions when you find a specific issue.
For workflows using connected services, check that access remains valid and the destination is still available. The tools and execution environment required by the task need to be available when it runs.
Pause, update, or remove a task
The task card’s switch lets you pause or resume a routine. Use the delete control to remove a task you no longer need. Pausing is useful when the routine may return; deleting is appropriate when it has ended.
To change the timing or content, return to the agent conversation where the task was created and describe the update. Specify what should change and what should stay consistent.
Update the daily AI announcement brief to run every Monday at 9:00 AM in the same time zone. Cover the previous seven days and use the same source list and destination. Confirm the revised schedule and next run time.
After requesting a change, inspect the resulting configuration. If you choose to recreate a task, remove the obsolete version so the same routine does not produce duplicate reports.
Keep recurring output useful
A recurring task should have a stable format and a clear relevance rule. For a news brief, that might be official product announcements only. For monitoring, it might be changes to a specific section of a page. Broad instructions tend to produce output that is harder to assess consistently.
Review the routine periodically. Source pages move, team priorities change, and a report that once mattered can become unnecessary. Update the source list and criteria, or pause the task when the output no longer serves a purpose.
Can I schedule a task without an IM connection? You can choose the agent conversation as the destination. Delivery through an external IM channel depends on the relevant authorized connection.
Can I change a recurring task later? Yes. Return to the conversation where it was created to request a change, and check the updated timing and instructions.
To set up your first routine, download AutoClaw, define one useful action, and specify when and where its result should arrive. Check the work once, verify the schedule, and adjust the routine as your needs change.
