Scheduling Assistants

Introduction

Scheduling assistants allows you to automate assistant actions at specific times, whether you are online or offline. Each schedule posts a prompt message to your chosen assistant, letting it perform tasks using its unique capabilities and keeping you in the loop.

TaskLift provides a flexible scheduling system that supports one-off and recurring schedules, including sophisticated schedules such as different times on multiple days of the week or month. You can define all of these using either natural language descriptions or cron expressions, catering to both casual users and those familiar with cron syntax.

Scheduled assistants may benefit from the  Working With Notifications feature in order to notify you about their actions and results. This opens up possibilities such as daily summaries, alerts on important events, or notifications when specific tasks are completed.

Creating and Managing Schedules

You can manage all your schedules from the Assistants section by clicking the Schedule button. This leads to the Schedule Assistants page, where you can view, create, and edit schedules for your assistants.

To create a new schedule, click the New Schedule button on the schedule index page. You can also click on any existing schedule to edit its settings.

• Name – Give your schedule a descriptive name to identify it later. This field is optional.
• Enabled – Enable or disable the schedule as needed. Disabled schedules will not run until re-enabled. Schedules without upcoming runs will also be disabled automatically.
• Cron Expression(s), Schedule Description, and Timezone – Define when and how often the schedule should run. Learn more in the section below.
• Assistant and Prompt Message – Select which assistant should run on this schedule. Enter the message that will be sent to it each time the schedule runs.

Defining the Schedule

You can define when and how often your assistant should run in two ways:

• Schedule Description – Describe the schedule in plain text (e.g., "Every day at 8am"). Press Enter or click Convert to Cron Expressions to convert it into a cron expression.
• Cron Expression(s) – If you are familiar with cron syntax, you can enter one or more cron expressions directly (separated by semicolons).

Make sure the Timezone is correct. The selected timezone determines the local time offset. By default, your current timezone is preselected, but you can choose any timezone from the list.

Previewing Upcoming Runs

As you define your schedule, up to 10 upcoming run times are displayed. This helps you verify that your schedule matches your intent. If no upcoming runs are shown, adjust your schedule or timezone to ensure it is set for the future.

Viewing and Managing Scheduled Runs

On the schedule index page, you can see all your schedules, including their names, assistants, creation dates, last run, and next run times. Click an assistant's name to view its chat, and use the History button to preview all scheduled and manual chats with that assistant.

You can edit or delete schedules at any time. Changes to the schedule, cron expression, or timezone will immediately update the upcoming runs and assistant behavior.