> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dialog.tools/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Setting Up Scheduled Tasks

> How to create and manage automated recurring research

Scheduled tasks let your agent run research automatically on a recurring basis and deliver results to you without lifting a finger.

## Creating a schedule

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open schedule settings">
    Navigate to your agent's schedule settings from the agent menu. This is where you create and manage all recurring tasks.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name your schedule and write a prompt">
    Give your schedule a descriptive name, then write the research prompt your agent will execute each time it runs. You have up to 2,000 characters — write it like you're briefing a research analyst.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose an interval">
    Select how often the task should run. Options include hourly, daily, and weekly intervals. The minimum gap between executions is 60 minutes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set your timezone">
    Choose the timezone that matches when you want results delivered. A daily task set to 9:00 AM will run at 9:00 AM in your selected timezone.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select delivery channels">
    Choose where results are sent: your **web inbox**, **Telegram**, or both. You'll get the full research output delivered to whichever channels you pick.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Writing good schedule prompts

Scheduled tasks run without your supervision, so clear prompts are critical. A few guidelines:

* **Be specific about scope** — "Summarize the top 5 posts in r/SaaS from the past 24 hours" works better than "What's new in SaaS?"
* **Include format preferences** — Tell the agent how to structure the output (bullet points, table, executive summary)
* **Define what matters** — Specify what you want prioritized: sentiment, trends, competitor mentions, engagement levels

| Interval          | Good for                                                   |
| ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| Every hour        | Fast-moving topics, breaking trends, competitor monitoring |
| Daily at 9 AM     | Morning briefings, overnight activity summaries            |
| Weekly on Mondays | Trend reports, weekly roundups, market overviews           |

## Limits and credits

Each account can have up to **5 active schedules**. Every execution consumes 1 credit from your balance, so factor frequency into your credit planning.

## Handling paused tasks

If a scheduled task fails 3 times in a row, it auto-pauses to prevent wasting credits. When this happens:

1. Review your prompt for issues — overly broad queries or references to unavailable data sources are common culprits
2. Check that your delivery channels are still connected
3. Edit the schedule if needed, then **resume** it from the schedule settings

<Warning>
  Paused tasks do not resume on their own. You need to manually review and restart them.
</Warning>

For more on how scheduling works, see [Scheduling](/core-concepts/scheduling). To configure delivery channels, see [Channels](/core-concepts/channels).