scheduling-and-automation-routing

name	scheduling-and-automation-routing
description	Use when designing, auditing, or implementing scheduled jobs, cron tasks, webhooks, queues, event-driven workflows, background workers, always-on processes, recurring automations, monitors, reminders, data refreshes, or operational automations.
activation	Activate when the description trigger applies to the current task.
required_inputs	Task request, relevant repository context, constraints, and authority dependencies.
required_outputs	Skill-specific artifact, verification evidence, canonical verdict, and next action.
authority_dependencies	00_start_here/SOURCE_OF_TRUTH.md; 10_governance/APIVR_EXECUTION_LIFECYCLE.md; 10_governance/source_of_truth/Elite_Build_Goals_v3.md.
evidence_requirements	Executed checks or an honest Unknown, Not Run, or Blocked state for every material claim.

Scheduling And Automation Routing

Use this skill to decide how automation should run and how it should be verified.

Required Inputs

• Trigger source and timing requirement.
• Required freshness, latency, retry, idempotency, and failure behavior.
• Data writes, external API calls, cost limits, and user/business impact.
• Current hosting/runtime constraints.

Routing Workflow

1. Read 40_knowledge/AUTOMATION_AND_REPORTING_PATTERNS.md.
2. Select the automation shape:
   • cron/scheduled task;
   • webhook;
   • event-driven function;
   • queue/worker;
   • always-on process;
   • manual/admin-triggered job;
   • monitor/reminder/follow-up.
3. Define idempotency, retry, timeout, duplicate prevention, observability, and recovery behavior.
4. Decide whether the job requires deployment/hosting guidance or external API integration guidance.
5. If the trigger is a webhook, provider callback, cron route, or external scheduler hitting a deployed URL, load skills/external-integration-launch-gate/SKILL.md and require a route contract plus deployed-path verification.
6. Verify both technical execution and the intended operational/business outcome.

Decision Graph

flowchart TD
  A["Automation needed"] --> B{"What triggers it?"}
  B -- "Known time/window" --> C["Cron or scheduler"]
  B -- "External event" --> D["Webhook receiver"]
  B -- "Internal state change" --> E["Event-driven function"]
  B -- "Large/slow workload" --> F["Queue plus worker"]
  B -- "Continuous connection/watch" --> G["Always-on process"]
  C --> H["Define idempotency and retry"]
  D --> I["Verify signature, replay, idempotency"]
  E --> H
  F --> J["Define queue limits, poison handling, backfill"]
  G --> K["Define health checks, restart, cost ceiling"]
  H --> L["Verify outcome and observability"]
  I --> L
  J --> L
  K --> L

Guardrails

• Do not create unbounded retries, unbounded queues, or unbounded polling.
• Do not use always-on workers when scheduled or event-driven execution satisfies the objective.
• Do not process external webhooks without verification, replay protection, and safe logging.
• Do not require human login for machine-triggered cron, webhook, queue, or provider routes. Use the appropriate signature, shared secret, or platform auth and verify the deployed route does not redirect to login.
• Do not mark automation complete until failure handling and observability are addressed.

Worked Example

Scenario: Send a weekly customer-health report.