HeyRocky

Cron Jobs

What this page covers

This page covers Hermes scheduled tasks: recurring or one-shot agent runs, skill-backed jobs, no-agent script jobs, workdir-aware project jobs, and controlled delivery back to chat, files, or platform targets.

Hermes changes quickly, so treat the official documentation as the source of truth and use the built-in CLI to inspect the local install before editing config by hand.

Fast path

```bash

hermes cron list

```

```bash

hermes cron create "every 2h" "Check server status and summarize failures."

```

```bash

hermes cron create "0 9 * * *" "Send the morning brief." --skill public-source-research-workflows

```

```bash

hermes cron edit <job_id> --schedule "every 4h"

```

```bash

hermes cron pause <job_id>

hermes cron resume <job_id>

hermes cron run <job_id>

hermes cron remove <job_id>

```

Practical checklist

  • Pin provider/model for unattended jobs when cost or provider drift matters; unpinned jobs snapshot the current default and fail closed after global model changes.
  • Attach skills instead of pasting long workflow instructions into every scheduled prompt.
  • Use `--workdir` for project-specific jobs that need repo instructions and file tools rooted in that project.
  • Use no-agent mode for pure scheduled scripts whose stdout should be delivered verbatim.
  • Cron-run sessions cannot recursively create more cron jobs, which prevents runaway scheduling loops.

Common pitfalls

  • Creating broad unattended jobs with unclear delivery targets.
  • Letting scheduled jobs run in the wrong working directory.
  • Forgetting that cron output may go to a platform home channel and should be public-safe for that channel.
  • Assuming a cron command ran because it exists; always inspect status/logs.

Verification checklist

  • `hermes cron list` shows the job, next run, schedule, and enabled state.
  • A manual `hermes cron run <job_id>` produces the expected output.
  • Delivery lands in the intended destination.
  • The prompt, skills, workdir, and provider/model are explicit enough for unattended operation.

Official reference

https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs/user-guide/features/cron/

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