Automations: run it on a schedule · AI Tools Field Guide

Grok Automations

The Automations page in Grok: a New Automation button, tabs for Automations and Runs, and template cards grouped under News, Productivity and Research, such as Morning Brief daily at 7:30 AM, Weekly Review on Fridays at 4:00 PM, Task Extractor daily at 5:00 PM and Paper Watch on Wednesdays at 9:00 AM. — The Automations page: New Automation, a Runs tab, and templates such as Weekly Review on Fridays at 4 PM and Task Extractor daily at 5 PM.

The idea: a job you describe once. Grok runs it on a schedule or when triggered, saves a conversation for each run, and can notify you. Every run is a real conversation under the same retention rules as any other chat.

The New Automation dialog in Grok: a name field, a Triggers section with Add Trigger, an Instructions box, counters for Connectors and Skills, the Auto mode selector, a Notification setting of App only, and Cancel and Save buttons. — New Automation: a name, a trigger, the instructions, optional connectors and skills, the mode, and how you are notified.

Automations, then New Automation
Name it and write the instructions like a good prompt
Add Trigger: once, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly
Save, then Run now to test
Read the run in the Runs tab

Most triggers are time-based. Email triggers exist but need a paid SuperGrok tier; check what your plan includes before you build around one.

ChatGPT: Scheduled

ChatGPT's Scheduled page: Ask ChatGPT to schedule tasks, set reminders, or monitor for updates; a Schedule a task box; and three recommended tasks: Daily brief, Email monitor and a weekly research digest. — Scheduled, in ChatGPT's sidebar: "Ask ChatGPT to schedule tasks, set reminders, or monitor for updates." Type the job in plain words, or start from a recommended one such as a daily brief.

The page is a chat box: you write the schedule into the request ("every Friday at 8, list the open items in my project"), and the Active filter at top right lists what you have set up. The Email monitor suggestion needs a mail plugin connected, and then it reads your mailbox, so the rules for what you paste apply to what it can reach.

Gemini: schedule an agent

The agent's Schedule tab in Gemini Enterprise: Automate your agent (Preview), set a time for your agent to run, visible only to you and active after the agent is created, with an Add schedule button. — The Schedule tab of a Gemini agent: "Automate your agent (Preview). Set a time for your agent to run."

The Add schedule form: repeat frequency from minutes to yearly, a start time, a timezone, and the triggering prompt the agent receives at the scheduled time, with a note that actions involving others pause for approval while actions involving only you run automatically. — Frequency, start time, timezone and the triggering prompt. Gemini's note: actions involving others pause for approval; actions involving only you run automatically.

What to hand to a schedule

Good candidates	Poor candidates
A Monday summary of last week's saved notes in a project	Anything that needs today's message traffic it cannot see
A Friday "what did I leave open" pass over a project's chats	A decision, a signature or a send
A monthly reminder that drafts the routine memo from the template	Anything you would not want run and stored while you are on leave

An automation only sees what is attached to it, what is in its project, and whatever you connected it to, such as a mail plugin in ChatGPT or a connector in Grok. Connect nothing it does not need. Write the prompt precisely, because nobody is there to answer its questions.

Vendor facts checked 25 Sep 2026; re-verify before relying on them.