Agent Scheduling

Run your agents automatically on a schedule without building workflows.

What is Agent Scheduling?

Agent scheduling lets you configure your agents to run automatically at specified times. Instead of manually triggering an agent or building a complex workflow, you can simply set a schedule and let the agent do its work on autopilot.

Common use cases:

• Daily standup prep — Have an agent summarize yesterday’s activity each morning
• Weekly reports — Generate competitor intel or pipeline reports every Monday
• CRM hygiene — Clean up stale contacts and dedupe records nightly
• Monitoring — Check for important changes or anomalies on a regular cadence

How It Works

When you set up a schedule:

1. The agent receives any inputs you’ve configured
2. It runs through its instructions and uses its tools
3. Results are saved and can be delivered to Slack, email or another destination

No workflow required. Scheduling is built directly into agent settings.

Setting Up a Schedule

1. Navigate to your agent and click the Add Trigger button.
2. Over in the right panel, select the schedule type, configure your instructions, and save.

Schedule Types

Daily Schedule

Run your agent once per day at a specific time:

• Select “Daily”
• Choose the time (e.g., 9 a.m.)
• Select the timezone

Use for: Daily summaries, morning prep, overnight tasks

Weekly Schedule

Run your agent on specific days:

• Select “Weekly”
• Choose the day(s): Monday, Wednesday, Friday, etc.
• Choose the time
• Select the timezone

Use for: Weekly reports, end-of-week wrap-ups, periodic reviews

Custom Cron Schedule

For advanced scheduling needs, use cron syntax:

• Select “Custom”
• Enter a cron expression
• Example: 0 */4 * * * runs every four hours

Common cron patterns:

Step 4: Configure Inputs

Provide any inputs the agent needs to run:

{
  "report_type": "weekly_summary",
  "date_range": "last_7_days",
  "recipient": "team@company.com"
}

These inputs are passed to your agent every time it runs on schedule.

Step 5: Save and Enable

Save your settings and enable the schedule. Your agent will now run automatically at the times you specified.

Scheduled Agent Outputs

When a scheduled agent runs, its output can be:

• Saved to Drive — Store reports, summaries or data files
• Posted to Slack — Send results to a channel
• Sent via Email — Deliver reports directly to inboxes
• Written to a Table — Log results for tracking and analysis

Configure output destinations in your agent’s settings under the Output or Delivery section.

Example Use Cases

Morning Briefing Agent

Schedule: Daily at 8 a.m.

Instructions:

Every morning, prepare a briefing for the sales team that includes:
- Today's calendar events from Google Calendar
- New leads added yesterday (from Salesforce)
- Any mentions of our company on social media
- Summary of overnight support tickets

Format as a concise, scannable summary.

Tools: Google Calendar, Salesforce, Web Search, Help Desk

Output: Post to #sales-team Slack channel

Weekly Competitor Monitor

Schedule: Every Monday at 7 a.m.

Instructions:

Research our top five competitors and identify:
- Any pricing changes
- New product announcements
- Press coverage or news mentions
- Job postings that might indicate strategic shifts

Create a summary report with links to sources.

Tools: Web Search, Exa

Output: Save to Drive as /reports/competitors/YYYY-MM-DD.md and email to leadership

CRM Hygiene Agent

Schedule: Nightly at 2 a.m.

Instructions:

Review contacts in Salesforce and:
- Flag duplicate records for manual review
- Mark contacts with outdated information (no activity 90+ days)
- Update company information for any contacts where data is stale
- Generate a summary of changes made

Tools: Salesforce

Output: Log to a “Hygiene Results” table

Hourly System Check

Schedule: Custom cron 0 */1 * * * (every hour)

Instructions:

Check the status of our key systems:
- API response times
- Database connection health
- Error rates in the last hour

Alert immediately if any metrics exceed thresholds.

Tools: Custom monitoring tools, Slack

Output: Post alerts to #ops-alerts only if issues detected

Managing Schedules

Editing a Schedule

You can modify schedule settings anytime:

1. Open your agent
2. Go to Settings → Schedule
3. Update time, frequency or inputs
4. Save changes

The new schedule takes effect immediately.

Pausing a Schedule

To temporarily stop a scheduled run:

1. Open Settings → Schedule
2. Toggle the schedule off
3. Save

Your configuration is preserved for easy reactivation.

Deleting a Schedule

To permanently remove a schedule:

1. Open Settings → Schedule
2. Click “Remove Schedule” or clear the configuration
3. Save

The agent can still be run manually or triggered by other means.

Viewing Schedule History

Check the Logs tab of your agent to see:

• When scheduled runs occurred
• What inputs were used
• Tool usage and execution trace
• Outputs and results

This helps you monitor whether scheduled agents are working as expected.

Best Practices

Start Simple

Begin with daily or weekly schedules before attempting complex cron patterns. You can always increase frequency later.

Test Before Scheduling

Run your agent manually with the same inputs you plan to use for scheduled runs. Make sure it produces the expected output before automating.

Monitor Early Runs

After setting up a schedule, check the logs for the first few runs to ensure everything works as expected.

Use Time Zones Wisely

Set schedules in the time zone where your team works, not UTC, to avoid confusion about when agents run.

Handle Failures Gracefully

Include instructions for what to do when things go wrong:

If the CRM is unavailable, retry after 30 minutes and send an alert 
if still failing. Continue with other data gathering even if one source fails.

Consider Rate Limits

If your agent calls APIs with rate limits, account for this in your schedule. Running every five minutes might exceed limits. Every hour is usually safer.

Common Questions

Do I need a workflow to schedule an agent?

No. Scheduling is built directly into agent settings. You can schedule any agent without creating a workflow.

Can I have multiple schedules for one agent?

Yes. Set up different schedules for different purposes, each with its own inputs and timing.

What happens if a scheduled run is still in progress when the next one starts?

Scout queues scheduled runs. If a previous run hasn’t completed, the next one will wait or be skipped depending on your configuration.

Can I trigger an agent manually if it’s scheduled?

Absolutely. Scheduled agents can also be triggered manually anytime. Scheduling just adds automatic triggers.

How do I see if a scheduled run failed?

Check the Logs tab for your agent. Failed runs are marked with error details showing what went wrong.

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