# Automations: scheduled agent runs and scheduled squads

> A Tallos automation is a prompt that an AI coding agent runs on a schedule: hourly, daily, on weekdays, weekly or on a custom cron. Each run can open a fresh workspace from a branch or continue in an existing one. Prechecks skip runs with nothing to do, a grace window catches up missed runs, and saved squads can be scheduled the same way.

- Canonical: https://runtallos.com/features/automations
- Português: https://runtallos.com/pt/recursos/automacoes.md
- Updated: 2026-09-29
- Section: Features

## Key facts

- Hourly, daily, weekdays, weekly or custom cron
- New workspace per run, or reuse one workspace
- Shell precheck skips runs with nothing to do
- Run history with status, output, tokens and estimated spend
- Schedule a saved squad like any automation

## What is a Tallos automation?

A **Tallos automation** is a recurring agent task: a name, a prompt, an agent, a place to run and a schedule. When the time comes, Tallos starts the agent with that prompt and records the run. You open the result when you are ready and [review the diff](https://runtallos.com/features/diff-review) like any other [workspace](https://runtallos.com/features/parallel-workspaces).

Good automations are the work nobody wants to remember: triaging new issues every morning, reviewing the day's changes, checking dependencies, preparing a weekly release summary. Once saved, an automation runs until you pause it.

## How do I create an automation?

1. **Open Automations** — Open the Automations page and click **Add new**, or start from a template.
2. **Write the prompt** — Name the automation and write what the agent should do. Prompts support skills, file paths and the agent's built-in commands.
3. **Pick the agent and project** — Choose which agent runs it, and the project it works on.
4. **Choose where it runs** — **New run** creates a fresh workspace from the branch you pick, every time. **Worktree** runs inside one existing workspace.
5. **Set the schedule** — Pick hourly, daily, weekdays, weekly or custom cron, and the time.
6. **Save, then Run Now** — Save it and click **Run Now** once to check the prompt before the first scheduled run.

| Cadence | Runs | Typical use |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hourly | Every hour at the minute you choose | Queue checks, stuck-work sweeps |
| Daily | Every day at a set time | End-of-day change review |
| Weekdays | Monday to Friday at a set time | Morning triage, repo audits |
| Weekly | One day of the week at a set time | Release readiness, dependency upgrades |
| Custom cron | Any five-field cron expression | Anything else, e.g. `0 18 * * 1-5` |

_Schedule options_

## Which automation templates come with Tallos?

Four templates cover the most common recurring work. Each one fills in the prompt, schedule and catch-up window; you only pick the agent and project.

| Template | Schedule | What the agent does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Weekday repo audit | Weekdays, 09:00 | Checks dependency updates, failing tests, lint and typecheck status, and risky open changes |
| Release readiness | Weekly, Thursday 14:00 | Looks for blockers, risky unmerged changes, missing validation and doc gaps; ends with release or no-release |
| Daily change review | Daily, 16:30 | Reviews recent changes for correctness risks, UX regressions and missing tests |
| Hourly queue check | Hourly, at :15 | Reports stuck work, stale generated files and failing validation |


## Put recurring work on a schedule

> Pick a template, choose your agent and let the morning triage run itself. → https://runtallos.com/signup

## How do I keep scheduled agents from wasting runs?

Use a precheck, a missed-run grace window and session reuse. All three are per automation.

- **Precheck.** A cheap shell command that runs first, such as `gh pr list --json number -q '.[0].number'`. If it exits with an error, the run is recorded as skipped and no agent starts. The timeout ranges from 30 seconds to 10 minutes.
- **Missed-run grace.** If Tallos or the host was unavailable at the scheduled time, Tallos runs one missed occurrence when it comes back within the window you choose: no grace, 30 minutes, or 1, 3, 12, 24 or 48 hours. Older missed runs are skipped.
- **Session.** For automations that run in an existing workspace, **Fresh** starts a new terminal every run. **Reuse** sends later runs to the previous live automation session, and falls back to a fresh one if it is gone.
- **Pause and resume.** Stop an automation without deleting it. Deleting removes its run history, but never the workspaces earlier runs created.

## How do I see what an automation did?

Every automation has a run history. Each run shows its status, the workspace it used and the latest saved output. For Claude Code and Codex runs, Tallos also shows tokens and an estimated spend when usage data is available. A run that failed before it opened its workspace can be queued again with **Rerun**.

The list view scales to many schedules: search by name, project or prompt, filter by host, enabled or paused, last-run result (failed, succeeded, never ran) or agent, and sort by name or last run.

## Can I schedule a squad instead of a single agent?

Yes. Any saved [squad](https://runtallos.com/features/squads) can be scheduled. Open it in your saved squads, choose **Schedule**, pick the project, write the objective for each run, then set the frequency (every hour, every day, weekdays, every week or custom) and the time. Each run starts a full squad run from the saved definition: the leader splits the work, members build and review, and the result waits for you to accept or discard.

A classic example is [scheduled maintenance](https://runtallos.com/squads/scheduled-maintenance): every weekday morning, one member upgrades dependencies and another reviews the changelog risks and the test run.

## Can I manage automations from the terminal or on another machine?

Yes. The [`tallos` CLI](https://runtallos.com/features/tallos-cli-and-skills) creates, edits, runs and inspects automations, so an agent can set one up for you. The CLI also accepts RRULE strings and an IANA `--timezone`.

```bash
tallos automations create \
  --name "Weekday triage" \
  --trigger weekdays --time 09:00 \
  --prompt "Triage new issues and summarize blockers" \
  --provider codex --repo my-repo \
  --disabled --json
tallos automations run <automationId> --json
tallos automations runs --id <automationId> --json
```

Automations can also target [remote workspaces](https://runtallos.com/features/remote-workspaces). An SSH automation runs only while Tallos can reach the host; if reconnecting needs interactive credentials, the run is recorded as skipped instead of hanging.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can Tallos run an AI coding agent on a schedule?

Yes. An automation runs a prompt with the agent you choose on an hourly, daily, weekdays, weekly or custom cron schedule, in a new or existing workspace.

### Does Tallos need to be open for automations to run?

Local automations are scheduled by the Tallos app, so keep it running. If it was closed at the scheduled time, the missed-run grace window decides whether one catch-up run happens when it opens.

### How do I skip a scheduled run when there is nothing to do?

Add a precheck: a shell command that runs first. If it exits with an error, Tallos records the run as skipped and does not start the agent.

### Can I schedule a squad?

Yes. Choose Schedule on a saved squad, pick the project and objective, and set the frequency and time. Each run starts the squad from its saved definition.

### How much does an automation run cost?

Runs use the agent subscriptions or API keys you already have. For Claude Code and Codex runs, the run history shows tokens and an estimated spend when usage data is available.

### Can each run start from a clean branch?

Yes. Choose New run and Tallos creates a fresh workspace from the branch you pick for every run, so runs never pile changes on top of each other.

### Can I create an automation from the command line?

Yes. `tallos automations create` takes a name, prompt, agent, target and trigger such as `weekdays` or a cron expression. Add `--disabled` to test it with `tallos automations run` first.

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