Cron & Scheduled Jobs

Overview

The ArgentOS cron system enables scheduled, repeating, and one-shot jobs that run agent actions at specified times or intervals. Jobs can trigger system events, agent turns, audio alerts, nudges, email scans, and Slack signal scans. Unlike traditional cron (which runs shell commands), ArgentOS cron jobs interact with the agent runtime. A job might prompt the agent to generate a daily intel brief, scan for VIP emails, or run a periodic health check.

Schedule Types

Fixed Time (at)
Interval (every)
Cron Expression

Run once at a specific time each day:

{
  "schedule": {
    "kind": "at",
    "at": "06:00"
  }
}

Run at a fixed interval in milliseconds:

{
  "schedule": {
    "kind": "every",
    "everyMs": 1800000,
    "anchorMs": 1711000000000
  }
}

The optional anchorMs provides a reference timestamp so intervals stay consistent across restarts.

Standard cron expressions with optional timezone:

{
  "schedule": {
    "kind": "cron",
    "expr": "0 6 * * 1-5",
    "tz": "America/Chicago"
  }
}

Job Types (Payloads)

System Event

Sends a system event to the agent’s session:

{
  "kind": "systemEvent",
  "text": "Daily morning briefing: Check tasks, review calendar, report status."
}

Agent Turn

Triggers a full agent turn with a prompt, optionally delivering the response to a channel:

{
  "kind": "agentTurn",
  "message": "Generate the daily AI intelligence briefing.",
  "model": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
  "thinking": "medium",
  "timeoutSeconds": 300,
  "deliver": true,
  "channel": "telegram",
  "to": "user:123456",
  "bestEffortDeliver": true
}

Audio Alert

Plays an audio alert through the dashboard’s TTS system:

{
  "kind": "audioAlert",
  "message": "Time for your afternoon standup review.",
  "title": "Standup Reminder",
  "voice": "Jessica",
  "mood": "professional",
  "urgency": "info"
}

Nudge

Sends a silent prompt to the agent (no user-visible output):

{
  "kind": "nudge",
  "text": "Check if any execution worker tasks are blocked.",
  "label": "Worker Health Check"
}

VIP Email Scan

Scans Gmail for emails from important contacts:

{
  "kind": "vipEmailScan",
  "emitAlerts": true,
  "maxResults": 10,
  "lookbackDays": 1,
  "accounts": ["[email protected]"]
}

Slack Signal Scan

Monitors Slack channels for signals that need agent attention:

{
  "kind": "slackSignalScan",
  "emitAlerts": true,
  "createTasks": true,
  "accountId": "default"
}

Session Targets

Target	Behavior
`main`	Runs in the agent’s main session. Has full context and memory.
`isolated`	Runs in a fresh isolated session. No prior context. Used for autonomous grunt work.

Execution Modes

Mode	Behavior
`live`	Full execution with side effects (messages sent, tasks created)
`paper_trade`	Simulated execution. Actions are logged but not executed. Used for testing.

Wake Modes

Mode	Behavior
`now`	Execute immediately when the schedule fires
`next-heartbeat`	Queue for execution at the next heartbeat cycle

CLI Commands

# List all jobs
argent cron list

# Add a job (interactive wizard)
argent cron add

# Force-run a job immediately
argent cron trigger <job-id>

# Delete a job
argent cron remove <job-id>

Gateway API

Method	Description
`cron.list`	List all jobs (optionally include disabled)
`cron.status`	Get cron service status
`cron.add`	Create a new job
`cron.update`	Update an existing job
`cron.remove`	Delete a job
`cron.run`	Force-run a job
`cron.runs`	List recent run history

The Minion Pattern

The minion pattern is a cron-driven workflow for autonomous background work. See the dedicated Minion Pattern page for a deep dive.

An isolated cron session does grunt work (research, drafting, analysis), then hands off the result to the main session for delivery:

Cron job fires with sessionTarget: "isolated" and an agentTurn payload
Isolated session runs without prior context, does research using tools
Isolated session writes output to the doc panel and creates a handoff task
Main session picks up the handoff task during its next heartbeat
Main session adds personality — memory context, relationship awareness — and delivers the final output

Configuration

{
  "cron": {
    "enabled": true,
    "store": "~/.argentos/cron-jobs.json",
    "maxConcurrentRuns": 2
  }
}

Getting Started

Installation

Channels

Agents

Connectors

Tools

Concepts

Memory

Model Router

Overview

Schedule Types

Job Types (Payloads)

Session Targets

Execution Modes

Wake Modes

CLI Commands

Gateway API

The Minion Pattern

Configuration

​Overview

​Schedule Types

​Job Types (Payloads)

​Session Targets

​Execution Modes

​Wake Modes

​CLI Commands

​Gateway API

​The Minion Pattern

​Configuration

Overview

Schedule Types

Job Types (Payloads)

Session Targets

Execution Modes

Wake Modes

CLI Commands

Gateway API

The Minion Pattern

Configuration