scheduler

name	scheduler
description	Natural language task scheduling for Kite. Create, list, and cancel scheduled jobs in plain English with a human-readable registry of what's running and why.
category	system
maturity	stable
tags	["cron","crontab","scheduling","natural-language","registry"]

Scheduler Skill

Natural language task scheduling for Kite. Create, list, and cancel scheduled jobs in plain English with a human-readable registry of what's running and why.

Quick Trigger Phrases

User says	Kite does
"Schedule X every Y"	node scheduler.cjs add --name "X" --every "Y" --command "..." --why "..."
"Remind me to X at Y"	node scheduler.cjs add --name "X" --at "Y" --command "..." --why "..."
"What's scheduled?" / "List scheduled tasks"	node scheduler.cjs list
"Cancel the morning brief" / "Remove X"	node scheduler.cjs remove morning-brief
"Check scheduler health" / "Any drift?"	node scheduler.cjs status
"Sync the scheduler"	node scheduler.cjs sync

Files

• Registry: ~/.openclaw/schedule.json — human-readable source of truth
• CLI: ${SCHEDULER_HOME:-$HOME/projects/scheduler}/scheduler.cjs — manages registry + crontab
• Skill copy: ${CLAUDE_SKILLS_DIR:-$HOME/.claude-agent/.claude/skills}/scheduler/scripts/scheduler.cjs

Usage

# Add a recurring task
node ${SCHEDULER_HOME:-$HOME/projects/scheduler}/scheduler.cjs add \
  --name "Morning brief" \
  --every "9am Monday-Friday" \
  --command "/usr/bin/node $HOME/scripts/brief.cjs" \
  --why "Daily summary of overnight events"

# Add a one-shot reminder
node ${SCHEDULER_HOME:-$HOME/projects/scheduler}/scheduler.cjs add \
  --name "Check deployment" \
  --at "2026-02-21 18:00" \
  --command "/usr/bin/node $HOME/scripts/check-deploy.cjs" \
  --why "Verify prod deploy went smoothly"

# List all tasks
node ${SCHEDULER_HOME:-$HOME/projects/scheduler}/scheduler.cjs list

# See what's in crontab vs registry
node ${SCHEDULER_HOME:-$HOME/projects/scheduler}/scheduler.cjs status

# Remove a task
node ${SCHEDULER_HOME:-$HOME/projects/scheduler}/scheduler.cjs remove morning-brief

# Fix drift (sync registry → crontab)
node ${SCHEDULER_HOME:-$HOME/projects/scheduler}/scheduler.cjs sync

# Show all supported time formats
node ${SCHEDULER_HOME:-$HOME/projects/scheduler}/scheduler.cjs help-times

How It Works

1. Registry (schedule.json) is the source of truth — stores name, cron, command, why, status
2. Crontab is the executor — scheduler adds tagged comment blocks so it knows what it manages
3. sync reconciles any drift between the two
4. status shows what's managed vs unmanaged, and flags missing entries

Crontab Format

Scheduler entries look like this in crontab:

# [scheduler] id=morning-brief name="Morning Brief"
0 9 * * 1-5 /usr/bin/node $HOME/scripts/brief.cjs

The comment tag lets the CLI track its own entries without touching others.

References

• references/time-formats.md — all supported natural language patterns
• references/cron-reference.md — quick cron syntax reminder