Schedule Recurring Work
Routines automate recurring work. Set an interval and work instructions, and the employee repeats that work without you asking.
TL;DR
Create a routine with a name, interval, and editable work instructions. Every employee gets a default 1-hour board-check routine on hire, up to 50 routines per employee. Team leaders can create team-level routines that coordinate work across members.
How It Works
Routines send work instructions to the employee at regular intervals.
- You define the routine. Set a name, interval (15 minutes up to monthly), and work instructions.
- The system starts the work. At the set interval, the employee receives the instructions as if you sent them in chat.
- The employee does the work. They follow their skills, respect their duties, and use their tools. It uses the same execution pipeline as a chat message.
- Results are logged. Each routine card shows recent runs and their status.
Default board-check routine. Every solo employee and team leader gets a default "Heartbeat" routine on hire, checking hourly. It checks the task board for pending tasks, reviews duties for proactive work, or reports nothing to do and stops. Once you add a custom routine for that employee, the default routine steps aside so both don't duplicate the same work.
Team routines. Team leaders can create routines that target the team. When a team routine runs, the leader receives the instructions and delegates to members as needed. Only leaders can create team routines.
Routines need work waiting. Before a routine fires, the system checks whether the employee has an actionable task on its board. An empty board means the routine is skipped that cycle, no run, no credits spent. This is why a routine works best when it is tied to something that puts tasks on the board, such as a duty or a standing instruction to check the board itself. It resumes automatically the moment a task appears.
New employees start quiet. A routine produces no runs until a real person has messaged the employee or created a task for it at least once. Run now counts as that first contact.
Smart skipping. If the employee is onboarding, training, or suspended, the routine skips silently and remains enabled. It resumes automatically when the employee is active again. The same applies when credits are exhausted.
Where to Find It
- Go to your Workspace.
- Click an employee in the sidebar.
- Open the Routines tab.
You will see that employee's routines. At team and company level, the Routines tab lets you manage routines across members.
What You Can Do
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| View routines | Open the Routines tab. Each routine appears as an expandable card. |
| Create a routine | Click Add Routine. Set its name, interval, and work instructions. |
| Create one with your employee | In the same drawer, click Create with AI. Whatever you have already filled in comes along, and your employee shapes the rest with you in chat. |
| Enable or disable | Toggle any routine on or off. Active routines show a countdown to the next run. |
| Edit a routine | Expand a routine card and modify the interval or work instructions. Changes auto-save. |
| View run history | Each routine card shows recent runs with status. |
| Run now | Click Run now on a routine card to run it immediately. |
| Delete a routine | Open the 3-dot menu on a routine card and select Delete. |
| Let the employee create one | In chat, say "check my email every 30 minutes" and the employee creates the routine. |
How to Set It Up
- Open the Routines tab and click Add Routine.
- Give it a clear Name (for example, "Morning email check").
- Set the Interval using the frequency picker (15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, daily, weekly, or monthly).
- Review the prefilled Work Instructions and edit them for this routine.
- For a daily routine, set the time it should run.
- Choose whether it should start active now or remain paused until you enable it.
- Done. Active routines start running once the employee has had its first human contact. Changes auto-save.
Tips and Tricks
- Write clear, self-contained instructions. The employee does not carry over conversation context from your last chat.
- Give it something to act on. A routine only fires when there is an actionable task on the board, so pair it with a duty or a task you keep populated, not a bare "check my email" with nothing feeding the board.
- Start with the default. The board-check routine handles task-board review automatically; add routines for specific recurring work.
- Combine with tools. A routine that checks an inbox needs the relevant email tool connected.
- Let the employee manage routines. Ask in chat for recurring work, such as "check my email every 30 minutes."
- Use Run now for a first check. It both confirms the routine works and counts as the human contact that lets future automatic runs happen.
Good to Know
- Multiple routines. Each employee can have multiple routines running independently, up to 50 per employee and 200 per organization.
- Minimum interval. The shortest allowed interval is 5 minutes. Values below that are raised to 5 minutes.
- Employees cannot delete routines. They can create, update, enable, and disable routines. Only you can delete one from the UI.
- Same billing. Routine work uses the same execution pipeline as chat messages. AI processing, runtime, and task credits apply.
- Team members skip default routines. In pre-built teams, only the leader gets a default routine. Members wake up when the leader delegates work to them.
- Long employer silence slows things down. If you go quiet for a while and a routine keeps firing on a stuck backlog, the system eventually skips further runs until you engage again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can an employee have multiple routines? A: Yes. Each routine runs independently at its own interval, up to 50 per employee.
Q: Why isn't my new routine running yet? A: Two common reasons: the employee has not had its first human contact yet (message it or click Run now), or its board has no actionable task for the routine to act on.
Q: What happens when the default routine runs and there are no tasks? A: The employee checks the board, reviews duties for proactive work, and stops if nothing is actionable. It does not invent work.
Q: What if a routine fails? A: The run is marked as failed on the routine card. The routine continues at its next interval.
Q: Can I set a specific daily time? A: Yes. Set the interval to daily and choose a specific time, such as 09:00 AM.
Q: What happens when credits run out? A: Routine runs skip silently and resume automatically when credits become available.