Tell Bob once. He keeps doing it.

Set one up

Ask in a channel, for example “set up a daily 9am digest in this channel”. Bob confirms the schedule in plain words and says when it runs next.

• It posts in the channel where you asked, unless you name another.
• It uses your own Slack time zone, unless you name one.
• Ask for quiet hours, such as “but not between 10pm and 7am”. Any run that falls inside them is skipped, so an hourly check stays silent overnight. If a once a day job would always land inside them, Bob moves it later that day to when quiet hours end, and tells you. If that would push it past midnight, he asks you instead.

He says what the job may touch

Nobody is there to press Approve when a schedule runs. So Bob tells you which apps the job may use, and whether it may change things in them. That is your permission, given up front. Inside the list it acts. Outside it, it refuses and says so. Ask him to change the list any time.

He also recommends a model for the schedule and says why. More on models.

Quiet when there is nothing to say

By default, the job itself decides whether there is anything worth posting. You can make that a rule.

• Ask him to post only when something changes. A check with nothing to report stays out of the channel. It still runs and still costs credits. After 7 quiet days he posts one line saying he is still watching.
• Ask him to post every time and you get an answer on every run, even “nothing new”.

He offers, you answer in words

After some jobs, Bob asks “Want me to just handle that for you from now on, on a regular schedule?” He asks at most once a week. Say yes in a reply and he sets it up.

Check on it, change it, stop it

• Ask “what ran this week” to see what each schedule did, whether it spoke or stayed quiet, and what it cost.
• Say “move the digest to 8am” to change it, or “pause the digest” and “resume the digest” to stop and restart it. A paused schedule is kept, ready to resume. To remove one for good, use Delete on the Schedules page in the HeyBob console, the website where you sign in with Slack to see and manage Bob. Members can delete their own schedules, and admins can delete any.
• Type /bob schedules for a list of the running ones, and /bob schedules show for a numbered list that includes paused ones. /bob schedule disable 2 stops the second.
• The Slack commands and the Schedules page in the console follow the same rule. Members see, and can switch off, only the schedules they made. Admins see all of them and can switch off any.

If a schedule fails three runs in a row, Bob pauses it and tells the channel. Say “resume” and its name to turn it back on.

What it costs

Each run uses credits. With no model chosen, a run costs about what the same request would cost if you asked it yourself. Choose a cheaper model when you set it up and it costs less. Scheduled runs count against the workspace cap, not against a person’s allowance. A workspace can have up to 25 active schedules. How caps work.

One-time reminders

For a single moment, say “remind me Friday to follow up with the client”. A reminder arrives as a fresh message with a link back to the thread. Reminders belong to the person who set them.