How can you schedule a recurring task with AI?

A task that runs itself on schedule

Some things follow the same pattern every week: finding updates in your field, summarizing the week’s messages, or preparing a report. You can let AI do them automatically at a time you choose and send you the result. These are called scheduled actions.

A doctor: Every Sunday at 8 in the morning, the most important new research and updates in their specialty.
An employee: Every Thursday, a summary of the week’s emails and items still awaiting a reply.
A freelancer: At the start of each month, new job opportunities in their field with links.
Teacher: Every Thursday, 5 review questions on the week's lesson.

Try it manually once first

Before scheduling, write the prompt and run it normally once. If the result is generic or includes things you do not need, refine the prompt: narrow the topic, specify sources, and state how many results you want. Scheduling repeats the prompt as it is, so a weak prompt will deliver the same weak result every week.

Scheduling in each tool

In ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, the process is roughly the same: write the prompt with a time, such as “Every Sunday at 8 a.m.…” and the tool turns it into a scheduled action. You can find all your tasks in the scheduled actions list and edit or stop them there.

Scheduling is usually in paid plans, and the list's location may change with updates, but the idea stays the same: a prompt and a time.

Write the prompt with the time and format

A scheduled prompt needs three things beyond a regular prompt: the time and time zone, the format of the message you will receive, and what to do if there is nothing new.

Scheduled action

Copy the prompt as it is, or tailor it with your details first.

Tailor the prompt to your workOptional: add your details and the prompt adjusts itself

DayTimeTaskTopicWhat I do not wantMessage format

View full prompt

Every [day] at [time] Cairo time, [task]. Focus on [topic] and do not include [what I do not want]. Send the result as [message format], with a source link for every piece of information. If there is nothing new worth sharing, write only “Nothing new this week.”

If you are missing information that would change the result, ask me first.
Before you deliver: state whether the schedule was actually created or you only prepared the instructions.

Confirm it was created

After requesting scheduling, check that the task appears in the scheduled actions list and that the time is correct in Cairo time. Open and review the first result: do the links work? Are the results relevant to you? If not, edit the prompt from the same list.

If the task stops being useful, turn it off. A task sending things you do not read will make you ignore important messages too.

Try it in your work

Schedule your first task

Choose something you look for every week. Try the prompt once, refine it, then schedule it. Review the first two results before relying on it.