SET SCHEDULE

Schedule a script or task to run at specified times using natural language or cron expressions.

Syntax

SET SCHEDULE expression

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`expression`	String	Natural language schedule or cron expression

The SET SCHEDULE keyword schedules the current script to run automatically at specified intervals. It supports natural language expressions that are automatically converted to cron format, making scheduling intuitive and readable.

Natural Language Patterns

Time Intervals

SET SCHEDULE "every minute"
SET SCHEDULE "every 5 minutes"
SET SCHEDULE "every 15 minutes"
SET SCHEDULE "every 30 minutes"
SET SCHEDULE "every hour"
SET SCHEDULE "every 2 hours"
SET SCHEDULE "every 6 hours"
SET SCHEDULE "every day"
SET SCHEDULE "every week"
SET SCHEDULE "every month"
SET SCHEDULE "every year"

Aliases

SET SCHEDULE "hourly"      ' Same as "every hour"
SET SCHEDULE "daily"       ' Same as "every day"
SET SCHEDULE "weekly"      ' Same as "every week"
SET SCHEDULE "monthly"     ' Same as "every month"
SET SCHEDULE "yearly"      ' Same as "every year"

Specific Times

SET SCHEDULE "at 9am"
SET SCHEDULE "at 9:30am"
SET SCHEDULE "at 2pm"
SET SCHEDULE "at 14:00"
SET SCHEDULE "at midnight"
SET SCHEDULE "at noon"

Day-Specific

SET SCHEDULE "every monday"
SET SCHEDULE "every friday"
SET SCHEDULE "every sunday"
SET SCHEDULE "every monday at 9am"
SET SCHEDULE "every friday at 5pm"

Weekdays & Weekends

SET SCHEDULE "weekdays"              ' Monday-Friday at midnight
SET SCHEDULE "every weekday"         ' Same as above
SET SCHEDULE "weekdays at 8am"       ' Monday-Friday at 8 AM
SET SCHEDULE "weekends"              ' Saturday & Sunday at midnight
SET SCHEDULE "weekends at 10am"      ' Saturday & Sunday at 10 AM

Combined Patterns

SET SCHEDULE "every day at 9am"
SET SCHEDULE "every day at 6:30pm"
SET SCHEDULE "every hour from 9 to 17"

Business Hours

SET SCHEDULE "business hours"                           ' Every hour 9-17, Mon-Fri
SET SCHEDULE "every hour during business hours"         ' Same as above
SET SCHEDULE "every 30 minutes during business hours"   ' Every 30 min, 9-17, Mon-Fri
SET SCHEDULE "every 15 minutes during business hours"

Raw Cron (Advanced)

You can still use standard cron expressions for maximum flexibility:

SET SCHEDULE "0 * * * *"       ' Every hour at minute 0
SET SCHEDULE "*/5 * * * *"     ' Every 5 minutes
SET SCHEDULE "0 9-17 * * 1-5"  ' Hourly 9AM-5PM on weekdays
SET SCHEDULE "0 0 1 * *"       ' First day of each month

Cron Expression Format (Reference)

┌───────────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌───────────── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌───────────── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌───────────── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌───────────── day of week (0-6, Sunday=0)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Quick Reference Table

Natural Language	Cron Equivalent	Description
`every minute`	`* * * * *`	Runs every minute
`every 5 minutes`	`/5 * * *`	Every 5 minutes
`every hour`	`0 * * * *`	Start of every hour
`hourly`	`0 * * * *`	Same as every hour
`every day`	`0 0 * * *`	Daily at midnight
`daily`	`0 0 * * *`	Same as every day
`at 9am`	`0 9 * * *`	Daily at 9 AM
`at 9:30am`	`30 9 * * *`	Daily at 9:30 AM
`at noon`	`0 12 * * *`	Daily at noon
`at midnight`	`0 0 * * *`	Daily at midnight
`every monday`	`0 0 * * 1`	Monday at midnight
`every monday at 9am`	`0 9 * * 1`	Monday at 9 AM
`weekdays`	`0 0 * * 1-5`	Mon-Fri at midnight
`weekdays at 8am`	`0 8 * * 1-5`	Mon-Fri at 8 AM
`weekends`	`0 0 * * 0,6`	Sat-Sun at midnight
`every week`	`0 0 * * 0`	Sunday at midnight
`weekly`	`0 0 * * 0`	Same as every week
`every month`	`0 0 1 * *`	1st of month
`monthly`	`0 0 1 * *`	Same as every month
`business hours`	`0 9-17 * * 1-5`	Hourly 9-5 weekdays
`every hour from 9 to 17`	`0 9-17 * * *`	Hourly 9 AM - 5 PM

Examples

Daily Report at 9 AM

SET SCHEDULE "every day at 9am"

data = GET "reports/daily.json"
summary = LLM "Summarize key metrics: " + data
SEND MAIL "team@company.com", "Daily Report", summary

Hourly Data Sync

SET SCHEDULE "every hour"

fresh_data = GET "https://api.example.com/data"
SET BOT MEMORY "cached_data", fresh_data
PRINT "Data refreshed at " + NOW()

Every 15 Minutes Monitoring

SET SCHEDULE "every 15 minutes"

status = GET "https://api.example.com/health"
IF status.healthy = false THEN
    SEND MAIL "ops@company.com", "Alert: Service Down", status.message
END IF

SET SCHEDULE "every monday at 10am"

subscribers = FIND "subscribers", "active=true"
content = LLM "Generate weekly newsletter with latest updates"

FOR EACH email IN subscribers
    SEND MAIL email.address, "Weekly Update", content
NEXT

Business Hours Support Check

SET SCHEDULE "every 30 minutes during business hours"

tickets = FIND "support_tickets", "status=open AND priority=high"
IF LEN(tickets) > 5 THEN
    TALK TO "support-manager", "High priority ticket queue: " + LEN(tickets) + " tickets waiting"
END IF

Weekend Backup

SET SCHEDULE "weekends at 3am"

PRINT "Starting weekend backup..."
result = POST "https://backup.service/run", { "type": "full" }
SET BOT MEMORY "last_backup", NOW()
SEND MAIL "admin@company.com", "Backup Complete", result

End of Month Report

SET SCHEDULE "monthly"

' Runs on 1st of each month at midnight
month_data = AGGREGATE "sales", "SUM(amount)", "month=" + MONTH(DATEADD("month", -1, NOW()))
report = LLM "Generate monthly sales report for: " + month_data
SEND MAIL "finance@company.com", "Monthly Sales Report", report

Best Practices

Use Natural Language: Prefer readable expressions like "every day at 9am" over cron syntax

Stagger Tasks: Avoid scheduling all tasks at the same time

' Good: Different times
SET SCHEDULE "every day at 2am"   ' Cleanup
SET SCHEDULE "every day at 3am"   ' Backup
SET SCHEDULE "every day at 4am"   ' Reports

Consider Time Zones: Schedule times are in server’s local time

Error Handling: Always include error recovery

SET SCHEDULE "every hour"

TRY
    PROCESS_DATA()
CATCH
    PRINT "Schedule failed: " + ERROR_MESSAGE
    SEND MAIL "admin@example.com", "Schedule Error", ERROR_DETAILS
END TRY

Idempotency: Make scheduled tasks safe to re-run

last_run = GET BOT MEMORY "last_process_time"
IF DATEDIFF("minute", last_run, NOW()) > 55 THEN
    PROCESS()
    SET BOT MEMORY "last_process_time", NOW()
END IF

Cancel Schedule

Schedules are automatically canceled when SET SCHEDULE is removed from the .bas file. Simply delete or comment out the line:

' SET SCHEDULE "every hour"   ' Commented out = disabled

Limitations

Maximum 100 scheduled tasks per bot
Minimum interval: 1 minute
Scripts timeout after 5 minutes by default
Time zone is server’s local time

Monitoring

Scheduled tasks are logged automatically:

Execution start/end times
Success/failure status
Error messages if any
Performance metrics

GET BOT MEMORY - Store schedule state
SET BOT MEMORY - Persist data between runs
LLM - Process data in scheduled tasks
SEND MAIL - Send scheduled reports
GET - Fetch data for processing

Implementation

Located in src/basic/keywords/set_schedule.rs

The implementation:

Uses a fast rule-based natural language parser (no LLM required)
Falls back to raw cron if input is already in cron format
Validates expressions before saving
Integrates with system scheduler
Persists schedules in database
Handles concurrent execution
Provides retry logic for failures

Keyboard shortcuts

General Bots Documentation