# scheduled tasks · InstaClaw docs

> your agent runs jobs on a schedule on its own machine, while you are asleep or busy. ask it to set one up, ask it what it is running, and ask it to stop. the dashboard shows the list too.

the difference between an assistant and an agent is what happens when you are not there. yours has a real machine that stays on, so a job you describe once can run every morning at seven without you asking again. this page is how to set one up, how to see what is running, and how to stop it.

## how do i set one up?

describe it, with a time. plain words work:

> every weekday at 7am, check my calendar and text me the three things that matter today

> every friday at 5pm, write up what i asked you for this week into a file called weekly.md

> every hour, check whether the price of that apartment listing has changed, and only tell me if it has

your agent turns that into a scheduled job on its own machine and confirms what it set. if the timing is ambiguous, it asks; if you did not say where to send the result, it tells you where it will go.

## how do i see what it is running?

two places, and they show the same list.

**ask it:**

> what do you have scheduled?

**the dashboard.** instaclaw.io/scheduled lists every scheduled job on your agent's machine, with its schedule, and lets you add one directly if you would rather type a schedule than describe it.

it is worth asking before you add something, because your agent is told to check the list first and update an existing job rather than create a second one that does the same thing. early on, before that rule existed, agents created dozens of duplicate morning jobs. it does not happen now, and asking for the list is how you can see that for yourself.

## how do i stop one?

tell it:

> stop the friday summary

> pause the price watcher until next month

it removes or updates the job and confirms. there is no separate off switch you have to find.

## what does a scheduled job cost?

the same as any message. each time a job runs and your agent thinks, it spends units from your daily allowance, like a conversation would. a small hourly watcher is cheap; a long daily research job is not. [plans and billing](/docs/plans-and-billing) explains units, and [heartbeat](/docs/heartbeat) explains the separate background check that is not a scheduled job.

## what does not work

a job cannot wake a machine that is off, and yours is never off, so that is not the limitation. the real ones: a job that needs a sign-in to a service needs that service connected first ([skills](/docs/skills)), and a job that runs while your daily allowance is exhausted waits for the reset like everything else. if a scheduled job is not running when you expected, ask your agent what it is scheduled to do and when it last ran; it can tell you.

## what next

- [heartbeat](/docs/heartbeat): the background check that runs whether or not you scheduled anything
- [files](/docs/files): where a job's output ends up
- [talking to your agent](/docs/talking-to-your-agent): how to describe what you want