Routines: work on a schedule

A Routine is a standing job you set up once and let run on its own — your “every weekday at 8am, summarize the overnight inbox” worker.

What you’ll learn

• The three ingredients of every Routine: who, what, and when.
• The four trigger types, and which one to reach for.
• How to stand up a morning brief and a weekly report.

The three ingredients

Every Routine is just three choices:

1. Who — the worker that runs.
2. What — a saved prompt template, the instruction it runs each time.
3. When — the trigger that sets it off.

Pick a trigger

• Cron — a schedule, like “every weekday at 8am”. Cron Routines register the moment the app boots, so they fire on time without you touching anything.
• Watch folder — fires when a file lands in a folder you’re watching.
• Webhook — fires when an outside system calls a secret URL (wire in Zapier or n8n).
• Manual — no automation; you run it on demand.

Build a morning brief

1. Create a Routine, choose your assistant worker, and write a prompt like “Summarize my overnight email and flag anything urgent.”
2. Set the trigger to cron, weekdays at 08:00.
3. For a weekly report, repeat with a different prompt and a Monday-morning schedule.

Cron, in plain words

You don’t have to memorize cron syntax — the app shows a human-readable version (“every day at 08:00”) right alongside it.

Routine vs Plan

Reach for a Routine when the same job repeats. Reach for a Plan for a one-time effort with several dependent steps.

Recap

A Routine pairs one worker with one prompt and a trigger, then runs itself. Cron Routines are how you wake up to a finished brief. Next, meet the worker who reviews your workspace without even being asked.

➡️ Next: Proactive Theodor