Scheduled Tasks Reference

Scheduled tasks let Qoder CLI CN automatically trigger a prompt or slash command at a specified time. This page covers the cron expression format, storage location, and runtime limits. For the usage guide, see Scheduled Tasks.

Cron expression format

Scheduled tasks use standard 5-field cron expressions, interpreted in the local time zone of the machine running the CLI:

┌───────── minute (0-59)
│ ┌─────── hour (0-23)
│ │ ┌───── day of month (1-31)
│ │ │ ┌─── month (1-12)
│ │ │ │ ┌─ day of week (0-6, 0 = Sunday; 7 also treated as Sunday)
│ │ │ │ │
* * * * *

Supported field syntax:

Syntax	Meaning	Example
`*`	Wildcard, matches all	`* * * * *` (every minute)
`N`	Single value	`0 9 * * *` (every day at 9:00)
`*/N`	Step, every N units	`/15 * * *` (every 15 minutes)
`N-M`	Range	`0 9-17 * * *` (on the hour from 9 to 17)
`N,M,...`	List	`0 9,12,18 * * *` (at 9/12/18 daily)

L, W, ?, and name aliases are not supported. When both day-of-month and day-of-week are constrained, OR semantics apply — either match triggers (standard cron behavior).

Common examples:

Expression	Meaning
`/10 * * *`	Every 10 minutes
`0 * * * *`	Every hour on the hour
`0 9 * * *`	Every day at 9:00
`0 9 * * 1-5`	Weekdays at 9:00
`0 0 /2 *`	Every 2 days at 0:00

Storage location

Persistent scheduled tasks are stored in .qoder/scheduled_tasks.json under the project. File format:

{
  "tasks": [
    {
      "id": "a1b2c3d4",
      "cron": "0 9 * * *",
      "prompt": "/standup",
      "createdAt": 1700000000000,
      "recurring": true
    }
  ]
}

Task fields:

Field	Description
`id`	An 8-digit hexadecimal task identifier.
`cron`	A 5-field cron expression.
`prompt`	The prompt text or slash command enqueued when triggered.
`createdAt`	Creation timestamp (milliseconds).
`lastFiredAt`	Last trigger timestamp (milliseconds; written back for recurring tasks).
`recurring`	Whether the task is recurring.

Task types

One-shot tasks (recurring false or absent): deleted automatically after firing once.
Recurring tasks (recurring: true): fire repeatedly on the cycle, rescheduled from the current time, until explicitly deleted or automatically expired.

Runtime limits and expiry

Maximum task count: at most 50 tasks; once the limit is reached, existing tasks must be deleted before new ones can be created.
Auto-expiry: recurring tasks expire and are cleaned up automatically 7 days after creation (one-shot tasks are deleted after firing).
Jittered scheduling: to avoid multiple sessions firing at the same instant, the scheduler adds deterministic jitter — recurring tasks are delayed by up to 10% of their interval (capped at 15 minutes); one-shot tasks aligned to 30-minute boundaries may fire up to 90 seconds early. Jitter is derived from the task ID and stable across restarts.
Missed tasks: if a task's next scheduled run time is already in the past (missed while the process was not running), a notice is shown at startup.
Single-process driving: within the same project directory, a file lock ensures only one process drives the scheduler, avoiding duplicate triggers.

Creating and deleting

Create, list, and delete tasks through the Agent's scheduled-task tools (just ask in natural language in the conversation).
Recurring tasks can be created quickly with /loop — see Loop Command Reference.
Recurring tasks can be deleted manually before their 7-day auto-expiry.

Next steps

Scheduled tasks usage guide: Scheduled Tasks.
Looped execution: Loop Command Reference.

​Cron expression format

​Storage location

​Task types

​Runtime limits and expiry