Schedule Recurring Work

Routines automate recurring work. Set an interval and work instructions, and the employee repeats that work without you asking.

TL;DR

Employees arrive with foundation and role routines. Review their timing and instructions in the Routines tab. A workflow routine marked Set up required stays off until you approve its scope, accounts and repeat limits. Team leaders can also coordinate work through team routines.

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.

Built-in routines. Every employee receives Pick up work, a protected Heartbeat, and routines for its role. Pick up work checks for a task it can actually claim. Heartbeat handles account-health follow-ups. Role routines check for relevant work before starting; they do not run simply because any task or file exists.

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 a reason to run. Board routines require actionable tasks. Other routines check their own sources, such as changed documents or content needing attention. Configured workflow routines use their saved scope and current account access, so an inbox review does not require an unrelated task on the board. A skipped check starts no employee turn.

New employees start quiet. First contact activates eligible defaults. Optional workflow routines remain off until you set them up. Run now still checks setup, access and approvals.

Access and credits. Unattended work requires an active paid plan, an activated trial, or complimentary access, plus available credits. Remaining Free or promotional credits alone do not enable routines. Trial daily limits still apply.

Time away. Optional automatic checks slow down after two weeks away, then become weekly after a month and monthly after two months. Assigned work and routines you configured can continue during a normal absence. After 90 days without a genuine sign of activity, unattended work rests until you return. Routines you switched off yourself stay off.

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

1. Go to your Workspace.
2. Click an employee in the sidebar.
3. 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

How to Set It Up

1. Open the Routines tab and click Add Routine.
2. Give it a clear Name (for example, "Morning email check").
3. Set the Interval using the frequency picker (15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, daily, weekly, or monthly).
4. Review the prefilled Work Instructions and edit them for this routine.
5. For a daily routine, set the time it should run.
6. Choose whether it should start active now or remain paused until you enable it.
7. 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.
• Match the routine to the job. Use board routines for assigned tasks and the inbox workflow for recurring email reviews. Its saved setup keeps the selected account and reply policy together.
• 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 for recurring work, such as "review this inbox every two hours this week and let me approve replies." Review the proposed limits before it starts.
• Use Run now after setup. It requests an immediate run while keeping required permissions in place.

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 have routines too. Every employee receives foundation and role routines. Leader-only coordination routines remain with the leader.
• 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: Check the card for setup requirements, pause reasons and recent runs. A routine may need first contact, current account access or relevant new work. Connecting an account does not automatically enable recurring work.

Q: What happens when the default routine runs and there are no tasks? A: The board check skips the employee turn when nothing can be claimed. Role routines have their own readiness checks.

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.