> Agent-readable docs index: /llms.txt. Download /docs.zip to grep all markdown files locally.

---
title: Scheduled Tasks
description: Run the bot on a schedule, cron or a one-time future time, for digests, reminders, and recurring maintenance.
icon: lucide:calendar-clock
---

Kimaki can run a prompt **on a schedule**: once at a future time, or repeatedly on a cron expression. This turns the bot into an autonomous worker that wakes up, does a job, and posts the result as a Discord thread you can reply to.

## Scheduling with `--send-at`

Add **`--send-at`** to any `kimaki send` command. It accepts a one-time UTC ISO timestamp (ending in `Z`) or a cron expression:

```bash
# One-time: run at a specific UTC time
kimaki send --channel <channel-id> --prompt 'Review open PRs' \
  --send-at '2026-03-01T09:00:00Z'

# Recurring: every Monday at 9am UTC
kimaki send --channel <channel-id> \
  --prompt 'Run the test suite and summarize failures' \
  --send-at '0 9 * * 1'
```

<Aside>
  <Warning>
    All scheduling is in **UTC**. One-time dates must end with `Z`, and cron expressions fire in UTC too. Convert from your local time before scheduling.
  </Warning>
</Aside>

## Flagship example: a morning email digest

The pattern that makes scheduled tasks shine: a **morning email digest** you can act on from Discord.

```diagram
  cron 0 7 * * *
       │
       ▼
  ┌─────────┐      ┌──────────┐      ┌───────────┐
  │ read    │ ───▶ │ post     │ ───▶ │ you reply │
  │ inbox   │      │ digest   │      │ (mark)    │
  └─────────┘      └──────────┘      └───────────┘
```

Schedule a task that reads your inbox each morning with a CLI like **[Zele](https://github.com/remorses/zele)** (a multi-account email and calendar CLI) and posts a summary:

```bash
kimaki send --channel <channel-id> \
  --prompt 'Use the zele CLI to read my unread emails. Post a concise digest grouped by sender and importance. List the message IDs so I can act on them.' \
  --send-at '0 7 * * *'
```

When the digest lands as a thread, **reply to it** to resume the work: "mark the GitHub ones as read and unsubscribe from the newsletters." The agent runs the corresponding `zele` commands. The whole loop, read then act, happens from one Discord thread.

## Notify-only reminders

For a reminder that should **not** start an AI session, add `--notify-only`. It posts a thread you can reply to later:

```bash
kimaki send --session <session-id> \
  --prompt 'Reminder: <@user-id> the staging API key created today expires 2026-06-01. Renew it before it breaks prod.' \
  --send-at '2026-05-28T09:00:00Z' --notify-only
```

Make reminder prompts **detailed**: the future reader has no context, so include what, when, why, and the exact action needed.

## Other recurring patterns

* **Weekly QA** — run the full test suite, summarize failures, mention a user only if review is needed.
* **Maintenance cron** — rotate secrets, check dependency updates, clean stale branches on a `0 9 1 * *` monthly schedule.
* **Project memory** — have the task read and update a markdown file in the repo each run.

All other `send` flags (`--notify-only`, `--worktree`, `--agent`, `--model`, `--user`) work with `--send-at`. The exception is `--wait`, which is incompatible since the task runs in the future.

## Managing tasks

```bash
kimaki task list
kimaki task edit <id> --prompt "new prompt" [--send-at "new schedule"]
kimaki task delete <id>
```

The `/tasks` slash command lists scheduled tasks in Discord with cancel buttons. For the full `kimaki send` reference and CI usage, see [CI & Automation](/docs/ci-automation).


---

*Powered by [holocron.so](https://holocron.so)*