By name: task-scheduler description: Use when you need to schedule tasks to run at specific times or intervals - supports natural language timing like "every day at 9am" and manages job creation, listing, pausing, resuming, and deletion
Task Scheduler
Overview
Schedule and manage agent tasks with natural language timing. Create jobs that run at specific times or intervals with full lifecycle management.
Core principle: Simple natural language scheduling with comprehensive job management.
When to Use
- Need to schedule a task for specific time
- Want recurring jobs (daily, weekly, etc.)
- Need to manage scheduled tasks (pause, resume, delete)
- Track execution logs
- Create background automation
Quick Reference
| Action | Natural Language | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Create | "every day at 9am" | Job scheduled daily |
| Once | "tomorrow at 2pm" | Single execution |
| Interval | "every 6 hours" | Recurring interval |
| List | View all jobs | See all scheduled tasks |
| Pause | Temporarily stop | Job doesn't run |
| Resume | Start again | Job runs again |
| Delete | Remove job | Permanently stop |
Natural Language Examples
| Input | Scheduling |
|---|---|
| "every day at 9am" | Daily at 09:00 |
| "every weekday at 3pm" | Mon-Fri at 15:00 |
| "every Monday at 8am" | Weekly Monday 08:00 |
| "every 6 hours" | Repeat every 6 hours |
| "every 1 minute" | Repeat every 60 seconds |
| "tomorrow at 2:30pm" | Single run tomorrow |
| "in 30 minutes" | Single run 30 min from now |
⚠️ Minimum resolution: 1 minute. Do not schedule jobs with
every N second(s)— the scheduler parser does not support sub-minute intervals and will disable the job after the first run.
Features
- ✅ Natural language timing parsing
- ✅ Full job lifecycle (create, list, pause, resume, delete)
- ✅ Execution logging with timestamps
- ✅ Diagnostic tools for troubleshooting
- ✅ Cross-runtime support (Claude, Copilot, Gemini)
- ✅ Configurable storage (.env)
Job Management
Create Job:
Schedule: "every day at 9am"
Action: "Check email and triage high-priority messages"
List Jobs: View all scheduled tasks with status, next run time, and last execution.
Pause/Resume: Stop a job without deleting, then resume when ready.
Delete: Permanently remove scheduled job.
Storage
Job configuration stored in .env file:
SCHEDULER_DATABASE=/home/n8n/.claude/jobs.db
SCHEDULER_LOG_DIR=/home/n8n/.copilot/logs/scheduler
Diagnostics
Built-in doctor tool to verify:
- Scheduler service running
- Storage accessible
- Permissions correct
- Recent execution logs
Execution
When scheduled time arrives:
- Job executes in background
- Execution logged with timestamp
- Results stored or reported
- Next execution scheduled
See README.md for complete documentation.