Cron (Scheduled Task Management)

When to Use

Use this skill only when you need to automatically execute something at a future time or repeat execution on a schedule.

Should Use

• User asks to do something "daily / weekly / hourly"
• User asks for automatic reminders or execution "tomorrow at 9 AM / next Monday / at a specific time"
• Long-term periodic notifications, checks, or reports are needed

Should Not Use

• The task only needs to be executed once right now
• It is just a normal reply within the current session
• The user has not specified an execution time or schedule
• The target channel / user / session is still unclear

Decision Rules

1. Only use cron for future scheduled or periodic execution
2. If it only needs to be done once immediately, do not create a cron job
3. Before creating, confirm execution time/schedule, target channel, target-user, and target-session
4. All cron commands must explicitly include --agent-id
5. Do not rely on the default agent, or the task may end up in the default workspace
6. For an agent task that should run without channel output, add --silent; execution, session history, trace, and optional Inbox recording still continue

Hard Rules

Must Explicitly Specify --agent-id

All qwenpaw cron commands must include:

--agent-id <your_agent_id>

Your agent_id is found in the Agent Identity section of the system prompt (Your agent id is ...). Do not omit it, or the task may be incorrectly created in the default agent's workspace.

Common Commands

# List tasks
qwenpaw cron list --agent-id <agent_id>

# View task details
qwenpaw cron get <job_id> --agent-id <agent_id>

# View task status
qwenpaw cron state <job_id> --agent-id <agent_id>

# Create a task
qwenpaw cron create --agent-id <agent_id> ...

# Delete a task
qwenpaw cron delete <job_id> --agent-id <agent_id>

# Pause / Resume a task
qwenpaw cron pause <job_id> --agent-id <agent_id>
qwenpaw cron resume <job_id> --agent-id <agent_id>

# Run an existing task once immediately
qwenpaw cron run <job_id> --agent-id <agent_id>

# Update an existing task
qwenpaw cron update <job_id> --agent-id <agent_id> ...

Creating Tasks

Two types are supported:

• text: Send a fixed message on a schedule
• agent: Ask an agent a question on a schedule and send the reply to the target channel

Two schedule modes are supported:

• cron (--schedule-type cron): classic cron recurrence (for example, daily 09:00 or every 2 hours)
• scheduled (--schedule-type scheduled): calendar-style schedule starting from --run-at, either one-time or repeating by day

Schedule Selection Rules (Must Follow)

• If user intent is generic recurrence ("hourly/daily/weekly") without a specific start date, prefer cron
• If user intent includes a concrete start date ("tomorrow", "next Monday", "starting from ", "for the next two weeks"), prefer scheduled
• For one-time scheduled tasks: pass only --run-at and do not pass any --repeat-* options
• For repeating scheduled tasks: pass --repeat-every-days and choose an end condition:
  • fixed count: --repeat-end-type count --repeat-count N
  • end datetime: --repeat-end-type until --repeat-until <ISO8601>
  • no end: --repeat-end-type never

Timeout Settings

Default timeout is 120 seconds (2 minutes). For longer agent tasks, you must explicitly set a larger timeout to prevent premature cancellation:

--timeout 600   # 10 minutes
--timeout 3600   # 1 hour

Core Rules:

1. If the agent task involves web search, code execution, or multi-step tool calls, set --timeout 600 or higher
2. Timeout must be less than the scheduling interval to prevent overlap (a new run firing while the previous one is still executing). Examples:
   • Every 15 minutes: --timeout should not exceed 900 seconds
   • Every 10 minutes: --timeout recommend no more than 80% of interval (i.e. 480 seconds)
   • Daily: --timeout can be larger, no special restriction needed
3. For frequent tasks (interval ≤ 10 minutes), follow timeout ≤ 80% of interval; for infrequent tasks (hourly or above), set based on actual needs

Minimum Information Required Before Creating

• --type
• --name
• --schedule-type
• --cron (when --schedule-type cron)
• --run-at (when --schedule-type scheduled)
• --channel
• --target-user
• --target-session
• --text
• --agent-id
• --timeout (for agent-type tasks, set an appropriate timeout based on expected execution time)

If any of this information is missing, confirm with the user before creating the task.

Creation Examples

# Recurring task (--schedule-type cron)
qwenpaw cron create \
  --agent-id <agent_id> \
  --type text \
  --schedule-type cron \
  --name "Daily Greeting" \
  --cron "0 9 * * *" \
  --channel imessage \
  --target-user "CHANGEME" \
  --target-session "CHANGEME" \
  --text "Good morning!"

# Recurring task (--schedule-type cron)
qwenpaw cron create \
  --agent-id <agent_id> \
  --type agent \
  --schedule-type cron \
  --name "Check Todos" \
  --cron "0 */2 * * *" \
  --channel dingtalk \
  --target-user "CHANGEME" \
  --target-session "CHANGEME" \
  --text "What are my pending tasks?" \
  --timeout 600

For a background agent task, add --silent to the command above. Do not use it for text tasks.

# Scheduled one-time: remind at 9 AM tomorrow (no repeat)
qwenpaw cron create \
  --agent-id <agent_id> \
  --type text \
  --schedule-type scheduled \
  --name "Tomorrow Morning Reminder" \
  --run-at "2026-05-13T09:00:00+08:00" \
  --channel dingtalk \
  --target-user "CHANGEME" \
  --target-session "CHANGEME" \
  --text "Standup starts at 9:00." \
  --save-result-to-inbox

# Scheduled repeating: next two weeks, every day at 9 AM (14 runs)
qwenpaw cron create \
  --agent-id <agent_id> \
  --type text \
  --schedule-type scheduled \
  --name "Two-week Standup Reminder" \
  --run-at "2026-05-13T09:00:00+08:00" \
  --repeat-every-days 1 \
  --repeat-end-type count \
  --repeat-count 14 \
  --channel dingtalk \
  --target-user "CHANGEME" \
  --target-session "CHANGEME" \
  --text "Standup starts at 9:00." \
  --save-result-to-inbox

Create from JSON

qwenpaw cron create --agent-id <agent_id> -f job_spec.json

Minimal Workflow

1. Determine whether this truly requires "future scheduling" or "periodic execution"
2. Confirm execution time/schedule
3. Confirm channel, target-user, target-session
4. Explicitly include --agent-id
5. Create the task with qwenpaw cron create
6. Manage tasks afterwards with list / state / pause / resume / delete

Cron Expression Examples

0 9 * * *      Every day at 9:00
0 */2 * * *    Every 2 hours
30 8 * * 1-5   Weekdays at 8:30
0 0 * * 0      Every Sunday at midnight
*/15 * * * *   Every 15 minutes

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Creating a cron job for a one-time immediate execution

If the task only needs to be done once right now, do not create a cron job.

Mistake 2: Not passing --agent-id

This causes the task to be assigned to the wrong agent / workspace. All cron commands must explicitly include --agent-id.

Mistake 3: Creating a task without complete information

If the user has not specified the time, schedule, target channel, or target session, ask for clarification first.

Mistake 4: Modifying existing tasks without checking first

Before pausing, resuming, or deleting, first run:

qwenpaw cron list --agent-id <agent_id>

to find the correct job_id.

Usage Tips

• When parameters are missing, ask the user before creating
• Before modifying/pausing/deleting, run qwenpaw cron list --agent-id <agent_id> first
• To troubleshoot issues, use qwenpaw cron state <job_id> --agent-id <agent_id>
• When showing commands to the user, provide complete, copy-pasteable versions
• If the user mentions "save to inbox" (or not), explicitly include --save-result-to-inbox or --no-save-result-to-inbox
• If the user asks for background or silent execution with no channel reply, use --silent on an agent task
• Before creating, you can run qwenpaw chats list --agent-id <agent_id> to get valid target-user and target-session

Help Information

qwenpaw cron -h
qwenpaw cron list -h
qwenpaw cron create -h
qwenpaw cron get -h
qwenpaw cron state -h
qwenpaw cron pause -h
qwenpaw cron resume -h
qwenpaw cron delete -h
qwenpaw cron run -h