Create a routine by asking, then ask what else to schedule

How this helps you

You get a working schedule in one sentence, plus ideas for jobs you had not thought to automate.

✦ Try it

Every weekday at 9:00 am, look through my Slack and email and send me a short report of what needs me. Then tell me three other routines you think I should have, based on what you know about my work.

What they did

Charlie Chang's Bots mostly have routines, listed on the right of each chat. To make one he just types a schedule and a job, for example asking for a 9am report from Slack and email each morning, and the Bot creates it. His second tip is to ask the Bot what routines it would suggest. Tell it about your life, your work and your habits, and it proposes ways to help. He compares it to a real employee who works on a schedule.

Who it's for: Anyone who has a Bot working and wants it to run without being asked.

How to try it

In a Bot's chat, write one sentence with a time and a job.
Check the routine appears in the panel on the right.
Then ask the Bot what other routines it would suggest, after telling it about your week.
Approve only the ones you would actually read.

What to expect

A routine shows up in the right-hand panel and runs at the set time, sending a report into the chat.

Common mistakes

Accepting every suggestion. Each run uses usage.
Writing long recipe-style routines. Keep the routine short and put the method in a skill.

Related tips

Keep routines one line long: The schedule says when. The skill says how.
Write the outcome, not the recipe: Describe what you want; pasted tool calls break by week two.
Make routines cheaper: events, slow schedules, change checks: A 5-minute routine wakes 8,640 times a month. Use an event trigger, the slowest schedule that works, and a cheap change check.
Make an executive assistant your first Bot: Charlie Chang's beginner setup: one general helper Bot first, told plainly what it owns, before any specialists.
Ask which of your past prompts should be routines: One prompt makes a Bot look back over what you keep asking and say what should be a routine, a trigger, or its own Bot.
Find the tasks you repeat every week, ranked by time saved: One prompt makes your Bot read two weeks of your email, meetings, Slack and docs, list what you do over and over, and pick the top three to automate.