| name | schedule-setup |
| description | Walk the user through creating the packaged Cowork scheduled tasks (morning briefing, inbox sweep, meeting-prep watcher, follow-up watcher, weekly review). Activate on "/assistant:schedules", "set up my scheduled tasks", "automate my briefing", or "run this every morning". |
Schedule setup
Turn the plugin's recurring jobs into scheduled tasks. The canonical job list lives in scheduled/schedules.yaml — five jobs, stable job_id slugs, shared prompts across local Cowork schedules, Claude Code cloud schedules, and managed-agent cookbooks.
Walk the user through the decision tree, then help them create each job they want.
How to create a scheduled task in Cowork
Type /schedule (or use the Scheduled sidebar), paste the prompt, pick the cadence. Each run is a full Cowork session with access to files, connectors, plugins, skills, and the web.
Platform note: local surface requires Claude Cowork desktop (/schedule). Cursor plugin users without Cowork should use cloud-code (Claude Code at claude.ai/code/scheduled) or managed cookbooks for always-on jobs.
Read this to the user before they start
Three honest caveats — say them up front:
- The machine must be awake. Scheduled tasks on the
local surface run on the desktop: Claude Desktop must be open and the computer not asleep. Missed runs fire when the machine wakes — there's no cloud catch-up. If a job is mission-critical (the 8am brief must land), consider cloud-code or the managed-agent version in managed-agents/ which runs on Anthropic's infra.
- Pre-approve the tools. So a run doesn't stall on a permission wall while unattended, approve the tools it needs ahead of time (e.g. Gmail draft creation, calendar read, file write).
- Each run uses quota. Batch related work into one task rather than many small ones. After the first run, Cowork may rewrite the prompt from what it learned — expected.
Decision tree
Read scheduled/schedules.yaml and walk the user through surface selection per job. Default is always local — managed agents are opt-in when reliability outweighs local-first.
- Ask: "Does any job need to run while your laptop sleeps?"
- If no — recommend
local (Cowork scheduled tasks) for all chosen jobs. State the machine-awake caveat once.
- If yes — for each job they want always-on:
reliability_tier: critical (morning-briefing): explicitly recommend managed (managed-agents/morning-briefing/agent.yaml) or cloud-code when sleep is common. Do not imply the whole setup must move — only this job.- Jobs with a managed cookbook (
inbox-triage-am, inbox-sweep, follow-up-watcher): offer managed or cloud-code as the reliability upgrade.
- Jobs without a managed cookbook (
meeting-prep-watcher, weekly-review): recommend cloud-code (Claude Code scheduled tasks at claude.ai/code/scheduled) — same packaged prompt, Anthropic infra, no new cookbook required.
- When recommending
managed, include the cost caveat from managed-agents/README.md (~$0.08/session-hour runtime; burst schedules are cheap; 24/7 polling is not).
- Never imply My Assistant hosts schedules — the user deploys Cowork, Claude Code, or managed-agent cookbooks themselves.
Record the user's chosen surface per job_id — you will write it to the health ledger below.
Full user-facing copy of this tree: docs/guide/07-always-on-reliability.md.
Initialize schedule health ledger
After the user picks jobs and surfaces, create or update one file per job at {working-folder}/scheduled/{job_id}.yaml:
version: "0.1"
job_id: <job_id>
updated_at: <ISO-8601 now>
surface: local | cloud-code | managed
cadence: "<cron from catalog>"
last_run_at: null
last_run_status: missed
expected_artifact: null
artifact_present: false
miss_count_7d: 0
notes: null
- Create
scheduled/ on first write in the working folder only — never under the plugin directory.
- Write one YAML file per configured job; filename must match
job_id (e.g. morning-briefing.yaml).
- Include only jobs the user actually set up.
- If a job file already exists, merge updates; do not wipe existing heartbeat history.
The packaged tasks
Prompts below match scheduled/schedules.yaml. Anchor headings are stable packaged_prompt_ref targets.
Morning briefing {#morning-briefing}
Weekdays 8:00am · job_id: morning-briefing · reliability_tier: critical
Each weekday at 8am, give me a short, scannable briefing: today's
calendar with attendees, important unread emails or messages, follow-ups
going cold, and anything needing my attention before noon. Read my
profile per rules/paths.md first. Run
/assistant:brief. Keep it under 400 words. Save it as brief-YYYY-MM-DD.md.
Cron: 0 8 * * 1-5
Inbox triage (morning) {#inbox-triage-am}
Weekdays 8:00am · job_id: inbox-triage-am
Full triage of new mail since the last sweep: bucket into needs-reply / FYI /
marketing / VIP using /assistant:inbox triage and my profile. Draft replies
for needs-reply + VIP via email-drafting (Gmail drafts when connected).
Extract non-reply actions per actions.policy.md (calendar holds, tasks).
Summarise long threads. Use batch digest tables when FYI or marketing count >= 3.
Run Pass B lingerers scan (read mail older than 3 days with action heuristics).
Save the report as sweep-YYYY-MM-DD-0800.md in my working folder.
Run: python3 scripts/update_ledger.py --job-id inbox-triage-am --status success
--artifact sweep-YYYY-MM-DD-0800.md --working-folder {working-folder}
Before ending, confirm last_run_at in scheduled/inbox-triage-am.yaml matches
this run. List what you propose archiving.
Cron: 0 8 * * 1-5
Inbox sweep (midday/afternoon) {#inbox-sweep}
Weekdays 12:00pm, 4:00pm · job_id: inbox-sweep
Light sweep of new mail since the last run into needs-reply / FYI / marketing /
VIP using /assistant:inbox sweep and my profile. Summarise long threads.
Use batch digest tables when FYI or marketing count >= 3. Skip reply drafting
except Tier 1 VIP needing immediate attention. Skip Pass B lingerers unless asked.
Save the report as sweep-YYYY-MM-DD-{slot}.md in my working folder
(slot 1200 or 1600 by local time). Run: python3 scripts/update_ledger.py
--job-id inbox-sweep --status success --artifact sweep-YYYY-MM-DD-{slot}.md
--working-folder {working-folder}
Before ending, confirm last_run_at in scheduled/inbox-sweep.yaml matches this run.
List what you propose archiving.
Cron: 0 12,16 * * 1-5
Meeting-prep watcher {#meeting-prep-watcher}
Weekdays 7:00am · job_id: meeting-prep-watcher · no managed cookbook — cloud-code fallback
For each meeting today with an external attendee, run /assistant:meeting prep:
who they are, what they do, our last contact, and what I should prepare.
Read my profile and memory first.
Cron: 0 7 * * 1-5
Follow-up watcher {#follow-up-watcher}
Daily 5:00pm · job_id: follow-up-watcher
Check mail I sent that's awaiting a reply using /assistant:email review.
For anything silent 3+ business days, draft a polite nudge (do not send)
in my voice and list it. Cross-check the Blocked section of TASKS.md.
Cron: 0 17 * * *
Weekly review {#weekly-review}
Friday 4:00pm · job_id: weekly-review · no managed cookbook — cloud-code fallback
Run /assistant:report: summarise the week — what closed, open loops,
stale tasks (untouched 14+ days), and what to line up for Monday. Update
TASKS.md and prune stale memory with my confirmation. Save as
review-YYYY-MM-DD.md. Keep it scannable.
Cron: 0 16 * * 5
Suggested starter set
If the user wants a minimal setup, recommend just two: Morning briefing and Inbox sweep. Add the others once those prove useful.
Health recording on scheduled runs
When a scheduled run completes (any surface), the target skill updates scheduled/{job_id}.yaml for its job via scripts/update_ledger.py — do not hand-edit the ledger:
python3 scripts/update_ledger.py \
--job-id {job_id} \
--status {success|partial|failed} \
--artifact {artefact-path-if-any} \
--working-folder {working-folder} \
[--notes "optional context"]
The script sets:
last_run_at to now (ISO-8601)last_run_status to success only when required artefacts exist or the skill's completion criteria are met; otherwise partial or failedexpected_artifact and artifact_present when an artefact path is suppliedupdated_at on the job file
Preserves existing surface, cadence, and miss_count_7d. Interactive runs do not reset miss_count_7d unless they complete the scheduled job's artefact contract.
Handoff
Point the user to docs/guide/07-always-on-reliability.md for the full reliability story, escalation triggers, and cost caveats.
Approval frame
Follow rules/approval-frame.md when a scheduled run surfaces reviewable work.
Queue mappings:
- Cron configuration alone does not create queue items.
- Inbox sweep runs that propose archives write
archive-proposal items (one batched item per sweep) per inbox-triage conventions.
Append the observability footer when queue items are written.
