Scheduled Task

Scheduled Task Skill

Usage Scenarios

Use this skill when users want to:

• Set up tasks that run on a schedule (daily, weekly, monthly, custom cron)
• Create one-time tasks that run at a specific time
• Schedule automated checks, report generation, code backups, etc.
• Set up periodic monitoring or reminders

Creating Scheduled Tasks

Step 1: Gather Information

Confirm the following with the user (if not provided):

1. Task name (required) — Short description
2. Execution content (required) — The prompt/instructions Claude receives when the task runs
3. Execution frequency (required) — One-time, daily, weekly, monthly, or custom cron
4. Working directory (optional) — Defaults to current session working directory
5. Notification platforms (optional) — Send notifications after task completion

Step 2: Build JSON and Execute API Call

Schedule Types

One-time execution (at):

{ "type": "at", "datetime": "2026-03-15T09:00:00" }

Cron expression (cron) — 5-field format: minute hour day month weekday

{ "type": "cron", "expression": "0 9 * * *" }

Common cron examples:

Create Task via API

Use the backend API to create scheduled tasks. The API endpoint should support the following payload structure:

{
  "name": "Task name",
  "schedule": { "type": "cron", "expression": "0 9 * * *" },
  "prompt": "Detailed instructions Claude will execute when task runs...",
  "workingDirectory": "/path/to/project",
  "description": "Optional detailed description",
  "systemPrompt": "Optional custom system prompt",
  "executionMode": "auto",
  "expiresAt": "2026-12-31",
  "notifyPlatforms": ["dingtalk", "feishu", "telegram", "discord"],
  "enabled": true
}

Field Descriptions

Step 3: Confirm Results

API returns JSON response:

• Success: { "success": true, "task": { "id": "...", "name": "...", ... } }
• Failure: { "success": false, "error": "error message" }

Confirm the following with the user:

• ✅ Task name and ID
• ⏰ Execution frequency (human-readable format, e.g., "Every day at 9:00 AM")
• 📋 Execution content summary
• 💡 Remind user they can manage tasks in Settings → Scheduled Tasks

Important Notes

• Critical: Timezone Awareness: The system has a configured timezone (e.g., 'Asia/Shanghai'). ALWAYS get current time in THIS timezone for calculations. Using wrong timezone will cause schedules to fire at wrong times.

• One-time vs Recurring Tasks: This is CRITICAL - ask yourself: does the user want this to happen once or repeatedly?

  • One-time tasks (specific date/time mentioned like "明天下午5点去机场", "后天上午9点开会"): Calculate the EXACT date, use format 0 17 DD MM *, AND set max_calls: 1
  • Recurring tasks (words like "每天", "每周", "each day", "every week"): Use standard cron like 0 17 * * *, do NOT set max_calls
  • When in doubt, ask the user if this is a one-time or recurring task

• Natural language time conversion: When users specify times like "下午5点/5 PM", "明天上午9点", "5分钟后", "this afternoon":

  1. Get current time in system timezone using a system command with TZ set (e.g., TZ=Asia/Shanghai date or Node.js with timezone)
  2. Calculate the exact target time based on current time in that timezone
  3. Convert to cron expression:
     • "下午5点/17:00 每天" (recurring) → 0 17 * * * (no max_calls)
     • "明天下午5点去机场" (one-time) → Calculate tomorrow's date, use 0 17 DD MM * + max_calls: 1
     • "5分钟后" → Calculate target minute, use MM HH * * * + max_calls: 1
  4. DO NOT interpret "5点" as "5 minutes" - "点" means "o'clock" in Chinese

• Creation timing: For short-delay one-time tasks (e.g., "in 1 minute"), create the task immediately before performing any time-consuming operations. Don't fetch data or summarize content before creating the task.

• Prompt boundaries: The prompt should describe "what to do when the task triggers", not pre-execute the task and embed static results. Example: write "Fetch yesterday's AI news and send summary" instead of fetching news first and embedding the list in the prompt.

• Get current time (cross-platform):

  node -e 'const d=new Date();const p=n=>String(n).padStart(2,"0");console.log(`${d.getFullYear()}-${p(d.getMonth()+1)}-${p(d.getDate())}T${p(d.getHours())}:${p(d.getMinutes())}:${p(d.getSeconds())}`)'
  

• Auto-execution: Scheduled tasks run with auto-approve enabled for all tool calls (no manual approval needed)

• Independent execution: The prompt is the only instruction Claude receives when the task runs independently, so write it clearly and completely

• Auto-disable: Tasks that fail 5 consecutive times are automatically disabled

• One-time tasks: Tasks with type: "at" are automatically disabled after execution

• Execution sessions: Each execution creates a new session (with "[Scheduled]" prefix in title), viewable in the session list