--- title: Automations description: An automation has an assistant run a standing instruction on a schedule. Each run opens a conversation you can read and continue. url: https://agentlab.cresclab.com/docs/en/studio/automations language: en updated: 2026-11-06 --- # Automations An automation has an assistant run a standing instruction on a schedule. Each run opens a conversation you can read and continue. ## Not the same as scheduled jobs Each automation is a routine. When it comes due, the assistant receives the instruction you wrote and answers it as if someone had sent it a message. **Scheduled jobs** in the Deployment product are something else. They call one of your projects over HTTP on a clock, with no assistant involved. To call your own service on a schedule, see [Scheduled jobs](https://agentlab.cresclab.com/docs/en/deploy/scheduled-jobs.md). ## Create a routine 1. **Open Automations** In the console's left-hand menu, choose **Studio › Automations**. 2. **Fill in New schedule** Choose an assistant, enter a **Name** and **What it should do each time**, and set **When**. 3. **Create it** Select **Create schedule**. It appears in the **Schedules** list below, and **Next run** shows when it first runs. | Field | Description | | --------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Assistant | A published assistant, or one of your own private assistants. A draft has no live instructions, so it isn't offered. | | Name | Shown in the list, and used as the title of each conversation a run opens. Up to 80 characters. | | What it should do each time | Sent word for word as the first message of every run. Up to 4,000 characters. | | When | **At a clock time** or **Every so often**. See [Set the timing](https://agentlab.cresclab.com/docs/en/studio/automations.md#timing). | If there is no assistant to choose, the form asks you to publish one first. See [Assistants](https://agentlab.cresclab.com/docs/en/studio/assistants.md). ## Set the timing **At a clock time** takes a **Schedule expression** and a **Time zone**: - The expression has five fields: minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week. The starting value, `30 7 * * 1-5`, means 07:30 on weekdays. - **Time zone** starts as the workspace time zone (set in **Workspace settings › General**), and you can pick another from the list. Runs keep to that zone's clock across daylight-saving changes. - The zone is saved with the routine. Changing the workspace time zone later doesn't move routines that already exist. | Expression | Runs | | -------------- | ------------------------------ | | `30 7 * * 1-5` | Weekdays at 07:30 | | `0 9 * * *` | Every day at 09:00 | | `0 18 * * 5` | Fridays at 18:00 | | `0 8 1 * *` | 08:00 on the 1st of each month | | `0 */4 * * *` | Every 4 hours, on the hour | **Every so often** takes **Minutes between runs**, from 1 to 1439. Use it for polling where the time of day doesn't matter. For anything daily or longer, use a clock time. A member's routine runs at most once an hour. With a clock time, the minute field must name a single minute (`*/15` or `0,30` is refused). With an interval, the gap must be at least 60 minutes. ## What happens on each run When a routine comes due, Agent Lab opens a new conversation as the person who created it, sends the instruction to the assistant, and the reply runs like any other conversation. Tool calls that need approval still wait for someone to approve them. - These conversations appear under **Automatic** in **Conversations**, apart from your own. - Open one to read the result, or keep the conversation going. - Deleting the routine leaves the conversations it produced in place. If runs were missed, for example while the platform was down, only one runs when things recover. After that the routine goes back to its schedule; the missed runs aren't all replayed at once. > [!NOTE] The LINE task summary is set elsewhere > When the LINE task summary is sent, and its monthly allowance, are set on the **Channels** page. ## Run history Select **Runs** on a row to list that routine's runs, newest first. Select **Load older runs** for earlier ones. | Result | Meaning | | -------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Running | Still in progress. | | Answered | The conversation was opened. **Open conversation** takes you to it. | | Skipped | This run didn't happen. **Detail** gives the reason, such as the workspace reaching its token limit or the assistant no longer being published. | | Failed | Three attempts couldn't open the conversation. **Detail** gives the reason. | Once whatever blocked a skipped run is cleared, the next run goes ahead as usual. ## Edit, pause and delete Each row has four buttons: | Button | What it does | | -------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Edit | Change **Name** and **What it should do each time**, then select **Save changes**. The timing can't be changed here. | | Pause / Resume | A paused routine stops running and its **State** reads **Paused**. **Resume** starts it again from its next due time. | | Runs | Opens the run history. | | Delete | Asks **Delete “…”?** first; nothing is deleted until you select **Delete schedule**. See below. | A deleted routine stops running and its run history is deleted. The conversations it already produced stay. To change the timing, create a new routine and delete the old one. When an assistant is archived, its routines stop running, and **State** reads **Stopped — the assistant is archived**. ## Who can do what | Role | Can | | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Member | Create routines of their own, and edit, pause, resume and delete them. Sees only their own. | | Admin and owner | See every routine in the workspace, and manage anyone's. | Limits for members: | Item | Limit | | --------------- | ------------------------------ | | Active routines | 10 per person | | All routines | 30 per person, paused included | | How often | At most once an hour | Going past a limit refuses the create or resume, and the form says why. The list shows at most 100 routines. Past that, a notice says so, and a routine missing from the list can't be paused from this page. ## When a member leaves the workspace A routine runs as the person who created it. When that person leaves the workspace, their routines stop; they don't carry on under someone else's name. Admins and owners see a **Stopped, needs an owner** section on the Automations page: - **Take it on** makes you its owner, and it runs as you from then on. - **Remove** discards it. ## Create one in a conversation You can also ask an assistant to set up a routine for you in a conversation, for example "every weekday at 9 a.m., summarize yesterday's complaints". Say a time and which days, or every few hours (1 to 23). You confirm the details before it's created. The routine then shows up on the Automations page, under the same rules and limits. For more on conversations, see [Conversations](https://agentlab.cresclab.com/docs/en/studio/conversations.md).