Scheduled Tasks

Fenno can run AI tasks on a schedule. This is useful for daily summaries, recurring code checks, knowledge base maintenance, and other routine workflows.

You can create scheduled tasks in two ways:

Portal: create and manage tasks manually in the console
In-repo config: declare schedule: tasks in .fennoai.yml on the default branch

Good Use Cases

Generate a daily summary of issues or PRs
Check TODOs, failing tests, or stale dependencies on a schedule
Maintain docs or internal knowledge bases regularly
Run recurring analysis without waiting for a manual comment

Option 1: Create Tasks in the Portal

On the Portal Scheduled Tasks page, you can create a task directly. The current form exposes these fields:

Task Name: unique task name within the same repository
Repository: target repository
Branch: branch to run against
Agent: AI provider
Model: optional, you can keep auto
Cron Expression: 5-field cron expression
Prompt: instructions for the AI agent

Example:

Task Name: Daily review summary
Repository: acme/platform
Branch: main
Agent: claude
Model: auto
Cron Expression: 0 9 * * *
Prompt: Summarize the last 24 hours of merged PRs and open issues, then draft a short engineering update.

After creation, the Portal lets you:

view tasks
trigger a run immediately
inspect run history
open the latest log
edit, pause, or delete manually created tasks

Option 2: Declare Tasks in `.fennoai.yml`

If you want automation to live with the repository, add a .fennoai.yml file on the default branch:

default_ai_provider: claude

schedule:
  - name: Daily issue triage
    cron: "0 9 * * *"
    prompt: "Review newly opened issues in the last 24 hours, group them by theme, and draft a triage summary."

  - name: Weekly dependency check
    cron: "0 10 * * 1"
    branch: main
    agent: codex
    prompt: "Check dependency updates merged in the last 7 days and summarize any follow-up work needed."

Each schedule item supports:

name: required, unique within the repository
cron: required 5-field cron expression
prompt: required task prompt
agent: optional, falls back to default_ai_provider
branch: optional, falls back to the repository default branch

Supported Config Paths

.fennoai.yml is the recommended filename. Fenno also supports these legacy paths:

.xgopilot.yml
.codeagent.yml
.github/fennoai.yml
.github/xgopilot.yml
.github/codeagent.yml
.fenno/fennoai.yml
.codeagent/xgopilot.yml
.codeagent/codeagent.yml

Fenno reads the first file it finds according to path priority.

Cron Rules

Uses a standard 5-field cron format: minute hour day month weekday
Minimum interval is 1 hour
Second-level cron expressions are not supported

Common examples:

0 9 * * *    Every day at 09:00
0 */6 * * *  Every 6 hours
0 10 * * 1   Every Monday at 10:00
0 9 1 * *    The 1st day of each month at 09:00

Sync and Activation Behavior

Tasks created in the Portal take effect as soon as you save them.

In-repo schedule: tasks work differently:

Fenno reloads the repository config after a push to the default branch
after adding or updating schedule, you need to commit that change to the default branch
removing a schedule entry removes the corresponding in-repo task

If you only change the config on a feature branch, production scheduled tasks will not update yet.

Portal vs In-Repo Ownership

Tasks created from .fennoai.yml can be viewed and triggered from the Portal, but they cannot be:

edited
paused or resumed
deleted

Their source of truth is always the repository config file.

Limits and Notes

up to 20 schedule tasks per repository
task names can be at most 200 characters
agent must be a supported AI provider
keep .fennoai.yml limited to model and scheduling config, not API keys or other secrets

FAQ

Why did my `.fennoai.yml` change not take effect immediately?

Because schedule: tasks are synchronized after a push to the default branch. Make sure the config change has landed on the default branch and that a new push event has happened.

Why can't I edit some tasks in the Portal?

Those tasks come from .fennoai.yml. The Portal only provides visibility and manual triggering for them.

Which approach should I use?

Use the Portal when you want faster setup and centralized task management
Use .fennoai.yml when you want automation rules versioned with the repository

Repository Config

FAQ