⏰ Scheduled Tasks

👤 Who it's for: Developers / DevOps
⏱️ Read time: ~6 minutes
💡 In one line: Tasks run on time, results arrive on time — no need to sit at the computer.

YingClaw has a built-in Cron scheduling system supporting Shell commands and AI Agent task execution on a schedule, with delivery to multiple messaging channels.

Task Types

Type	Description	Use Case
shell	Execute Shell commands	System checks, data backups, scheduled scripts
agent	Execute AI prompts (Agent tasks)	Intelligent reports, data analysis, content creation

Three Scheduling Methods

1. Cron Expression

The most flexible scheduling method, supporting standard cron syntax:

# Daily at 9 AM
schedule: { kind: "cron", expr: "0 9 * * *" }

# Every hour
schedule: { kind: "cron", expr: "0 * * * *" }

# Weekdays at 6 PM
schedule: { kind: "cron", expr: "0 18 * * 1-5" }

2. Fixed Time (at)

Execute once at a specific moment:

schedule: { kind: "at", at: "2026-06-15T08:00:00Z" }

3. Interval (every)

Repeat at fixed intervals:

# Every 30 minutes
schedule: { kind: "every", every_ms: 1800000 }

# Every hour
schedule: { kind: "every", every_ms: 3600000 }

Delivery Channels

Task execution results can be pushed to the following channels:

Channel	Configuration
Telegram	Set delivery.channel: "telegram" and Chat ID
Discord	Set delivery.channel: "discord" and Channel ID
Slack	Set delivery.channel: "slack" and Channel ID
WeChat	Set delivery.channel: "weixin"
QQ	Set delivery.channel: "qq"

Core Tools

Tool	Function
cron_add	Create a new scheduled task
cron_list	List all scheduled tasks
cron_update	Modify an existing task's configuration
cron_remove	Delete a specified task
cron_run	Manually trigger a task execution immediately

Use Cases

Scenario	Task Type	Example
Scheduled reports	agent	Daily 9 AM: generate yesterday's summary and send to Telegram
Data monitoring	shell	Hourly: check server CPU/memory/disk, alert on anomalies
Notifications	agent	Weekly Friday PM: push project progress summary
Automated ops	shell	Daily 3 AM: clean up expired log files

Examples

Create a Scheduled Task

# Daily 9 AM report to Telegram
cron_add \
  name="daily-report" \
  job_type="agent" \
  schedule='{"kind":"cron","expr":"0 9 * * *"}' \
  prompt="Generate yesterday's work summary" \
  delivery='{"mode":"announce","channel":"telegram","to":"YOUR_CHAT_ID"}'

Manage Scheduled Tasks

# List all tasks
cron_list

# Modify a task's schedule
cron_update job_id="xxx" patch='{"schedule":{"kind":"cron","expr":"0 10 * * *"}}'

# Trigger manually
cron_run job_id="xxx"

# Delete a task
cron_remove job_id="xxx"

Notes

• 📋 Task results are logged by default, not pushed. Configure delivery for push notifications
• ⏱️ Agent tasks have execution timeout limits — set timeout_secs parameter
• 🔁 Avoid overly frequent tasks (e.g. every second) as they may impact performance
• 🧹 Periodically clean up unused scheduled tasks to keep the list tidy

Next Steps

Scheduled tasks automate your operations. Next, explore 🌐 Browser Automation for web interaction capabilities.