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Scheduled Tasks

Scheduled Tasks run automations on a recurring cadence with no triggering email, form, or event. You pick the schedule, the system fires a run at each tick, and the task's action list executes.

Use Scheduled Tasks when:

  • You need to periodically synchronise data between systems (for example, push a value from another source into Autotask custom fields).
  • You want a nightly housekeeping run that closes stale tickets, archives old records, or emails a report.
  • You are building a scheduled outbound notification (daily digest, weekly summary, end-of-month reminder).
  • You need to keep data fresh that would otherwise go stale until a user triggers a lookup.

If the trigger is an inbound email, see Email Processing. If it is a public form submission, see Forms. If it is a change inside your PSA, see Workflows.

How It Works​

A scheduled task has three parts:

PartPurpose
Name and descriptionHow the task appears in the console list and history.
ScheduleA cron-style cadence that controls when the task fires (for example, hourly, daily at 02:00, weekdays at 08:00).
Action stepsThe ordered work the task performs each time it fires. Tasks support the same action library as every other product.

When the schedule tick fires:

  1. The system creates a History entry with trigger type scheduler.
  2. The task's action list runs in order.
  3. Intermediate work is stored in the custom namespace.
  4. The history entry is marked complete or failed based on the result.

Because a scheduled task has no inbound payload, the starting point is always empty. Most tasks begin with a query (HTTP request, API call, or data lookup) that fetches the data the rest of the task iterates over.

Variables Available in Scheduled Tasks​

NamespacePopulated byPurpose
metaSystemProcessing run and schedule metadata (meta.history.id, meta.scheduler.id, meta.scheduler.name)
customYouWorking data within the task

Scheduled Tasks do not have an email, input, global, or output namespace. Each run is isolated; nothing carries over between ticks.

Full details: Variable Namespaces.

The Console​

Scheduled Tasks live under Scheduled Tasks in the console sidebar. From there you can:

  • Home: landing page with a snapshot of your tasks.
  • All Tasks: list, create, edit, and test tasks.
  • Task History: review every run, with the full execution log and replay.

Every task has a Test button that runs the action list once against a synthetic trigger so you can verify the logic without waiting for the next schedule tick.

Typical Patterns​

Iterate and update​

  1. Query the source system for records that need an update.
  2. Use the Iterate action to walk the list.
  3. For each record, run the write API call.

The Scheduled Banner Updates tutorial is a complete worked example.

Query and notify​

  1. Query a system for records matching some criteria.
  2. Use the result to render an email, Slack message, or Teams notification.
  3. Send the notification and stop.

Time-window cleanup​

  1. Query records older than N days/weeks/months.
  2. Close, archive, or flag each one.
  3. Record a summary in the history log.

Start Here​

  • Core Concepts: the mental model shared by every product.
  • Expression Builder: filter which iterations of a scheduled task do the real work.
  • Actions library: every action available inside a task, including HTTP, iteration, AI, and PSA actions.

Tutorials​