How to Set Up Repeating Tasks in ProductiveBot (And Keep Them Running)

ProductiveBot can run tasks for you automatically, without you having to ask every time.

Daily check-ins. Weekly reports. Alerts when something needs your attention. You set it up once, and it just works.

This guide shows you how in a few minutes, with real examples you can copy and use today.

What Are Scheduled Tasks?

ProductiveBot has two ways to run things automatically.

Heartbeat is a quick check your AI does every 30 minutes. It reads a short checklist you write and handles anything on it. Think of it like your assistant glancing at a sticky note every half hour.

Cron jobs are scheduled tasks that run at a specific time, every day, every week, or on whatever schedule you choose. They run separately from your regular conversations, which makes them reliable and consistent.

For anything you want to run on a real schedule, cron jobs are the right tool.

Setting Up Your First Scheduled Task

You create cron jobs by sending a message to ProductiveBot. Here's the format:

Set up a scheduled task that [what you want it to do] every [when]. Send me the result in Slack.

That's it. ProductiveBot handles the technical setup.

Examples You Can Use Right Now

Daily morning summary:

Set up a cron job that runs every day at 8am my time. Have it send me a quick summary of anything I should know about today. Send it to me in Slack.

Weekly report:

Create a scheduled task that runs every Monday at 9am Central time. Pull the latest Scout customer support stats and send me a summary in Slack. Include total conversations, any frustrated customers, and the top topics people are asking about.

Alert when something goes wrong:

Set up a daily check at 7am that tests whether my Scout support bot is responding. If it's working, do nothing. If it fails, message me immediately in Slack.

Reminder to review something:

Remind me every Friday at 4pm to review this week's customer conversations and flag anything that needs follow-up.

Choosing the Right Schedule

When you tell ProductiveBot when to run a task, you can use plain language:

"Every day at 8am"
"Every Monday at 9am"
"Twice a day, at 7am and 7pm"
"Every 3 days"
"Every hour"

Always mention your timezone if the time matters. For example: "8am Central time" or "9am Eastern."

What Makes a Good Scheduled Task Prompt

The clearest prompts have three things:

What to do: Be specific about what you want checked or fetched.
When to run: Include the day, time, and your timezone.
What to do with the result: Send to Slack, send only if there's a problem, etc.

Here are some more examples:

E-commerce check:

Every morning at 7am Central, check if there are any new orders from the last 24 hours that haven't been fulfilled. If there are, send me the order numbers and customer names in Slack. If everything is fulfilled, do nothing.

Team standup prompt:

Every weekday at 8:45am, send me a message in Slack asking for my standup update (what I did yesterday, what I'm doing today, any blockers). Save my response to my notes.

Content reminder:

Every Tuesday at 10am, remind me to post this week's community content to Skool. Include a list of any scheduled posts that are ready to go.

If a Scheduled Task Stops Working

Here are the most common reasons a task stops working, and how to fix each one.

It was set up in the wrong place. Simple reminders work fine in Heartbeat. But reports, health checks, and anything that needs to run at a specific time should be a cron job. If you set something up as a heartbeat task and it stopped firing, recreate it as a cron job.

The task lost its context. Tasks that run inside your main chat conversation can slowly lose track of what they're supposed to do over time. Cron jobs avoid this because they start fresh every run.

The delivery target wasn't set. If you asked for results in Slack but they're not showing up, the task may not have a clear destination. Recreate it and specifically say "send to me in Slack."

To check what's running: Ask ProductiveBot "Show me all my scheduled tasks" and it will list everything with the last run status.

To fix a broken task: Ask "Delete the [name] scheduled task and recreate it" and describe what it should do. Starting fresh almost always fixes it.

Common Questions

How many scheduled tasks can I run at once?
As many as you need. ProductiveBot can run several cron jobs at the same time. Just give each one a clear name so you can manage them easily.

Can I pause a scheduled task without deleting it?
Yes. Ask ProductiveBot to "disable the [name] scheduled task." You can re-enable it any time.

Can I set a task to run just once?
Yes. Say "Set a one-time reminder for [date and time] to [do something]." The task deletes itself after it runs.

Do scheduled tasks run even when I'm not using ProductiveBot?
Yes. Cron jobs run in the background whether you're active or not. That's the whole point.

Can I get notified only when something goes wrong?
Yes. Just add "only message me if there's a problem" or "send nothing if everything looks good." This keeps your Slack from filling up with all-clear messages.

Ready-to-Use Task Templates

Copy any of these and send them to ProductiveBot to get started:

Support health check (twice daily):

Set up a cron job that runs at 8am and 8pm Central every day. Check if the Scout support bot is responding by sending it a test message. If it responds normally, do nothing. If it fails or returns an error, message me immediately in Slack with what went wrong.

3-day customer insights report:

Create a scheduled task that runs every 3 days at 8am Central. Fetch the Scout analytics and send me a report in Slack. Include: total conversations, conversations in the last 7 days and last 24 hours, unique real customers, top 5 topics, and any customers who seem frustrated. Link to the admin dashboard at the bottom.

Daily morning brief:

Every weekday at 7:30am Central, check my calendar for today and send me a morning brief in Slack. Include my meetings, any messages I missed overnight that need a response, and one reminder about my top priority for the day.

Weekly wins summary:

Every Friday at 4pm Central, pull together a short summary of what got done this week. Check recent conversations, completed tasks, and any notable customer interactions. Send it to me in Slack.

Getting your AI to work while you're not watching is one of the biggest time-savers ProductiveBot offers. Start with one task, see it run, and add more from there.

Need help? Talk to Scout

Scout is our AI support assistant. It can walk you through this step by step, troubleshoot issues in real time, and answer any questions about your ProductiveBot.

Chat with Scout →

You can also contact us at support@productivebot.ai