Scheduled Tasks

Use scheduled tasks for background automation: reminders, digests, monitoring summaries, and recurring operational checks.

How scheduled tasks run

  • Task runs execute in the background, not as an interactive foreground chat session.
  • Only the result message is delivered back to the target conversation/channel.
  • Results should be labeled clearly so users know they came from automation.
  • Task run history is available for inspection and troubleshooting.

Schedule formats

Dawn supports both one-time and recurring schedules.

One-time

Use a single future date and time for one follow-up or reminder.

Once tomorrow at 14:00

Recurring

Use a repeating schedule for regular checks, digests, or reminders.

Every weekday at 09:00

Start with one short test task before you schedule a long-running recurring workflow.

Prompt and destination behavior

  • The prompt should say exactly what the task should do when it runs.
  • Results are delivered back to the chosen conversation or channel as labeled scheduled-task messages.
  • Always test one short task first before scheduling long-running recurring jobs.
  • Use concise prompts that include source boundaries when needed.

Examples

# Weekday standup summary

Title: "Daily engineering summary"

Prompt: "Summarize open PRs and blockers for Team Alpha"

Schedule: Every weekday at 09:00
# One-time reminder

Title: "Review release notes"

Prompt: "Remind me to review release notes for sprint 24"

Schedule: Tomorrow at 14:00

Troubleshooting

  • No result message: verify task exists and next run time is in the future.
  • Unexpected channel delivery: confirm inherited conversation context was correct at creation time.
  • Repeated failures: inspect run logs and simplify prompt/tool requirements.
  • Cron confusion: validate expression externally before saving.