# Grok Bot routines: schedule a job without burning usage

Ask a Bot in chat to run a job on a schedule or when something happens. Each run spends usage, so pick how often with care. Covers pausing and late runs.

*From Learn Grok Bot, an independent guide (not affiliated with SpaceXAI or Cursor). Web version: https://learngrokbot.com/routines Last verified: 2026-10-06.*

*Step 5 of 9 on the path "Learn Grok Bot, step by step". Before it: [Connect plugins](https://learngrokbot.com/plugins.md). After it: [Approvals and rules](https://learngrokbot.com/approvals.md).*

To set up a routine, ask a Bot in its chat: say what to do and when. The Bot creates the routine, and from then on the job runs in the cloud at that time, with your laptop closed.

**In short**

- You create and change a routine in words. The app has no form for it.
- The routine's page shows **Instruction** and **When to run**. Read both, because the Bot writes them itself.
- Each run spends usage. An hourly schedule can use a week of usage in a day.
- A run's result arrives in the Bot's normal chat, and can come a few minutes after the set time.
- A Bot's routines are listed under its **Details** tab, each with a switch that pauses it.

You need three things.

**What you need**

- [ ] A Bot that has already done the job once, the way you want it. [Create your first Bot](https://learngrokbot.com/first-bot) gets you there.
- [ ] The desktop app, because a phone can pause a routine but can't change one.
- [ ] Any [plugin](https://learngrokbot.com/plugins) the job uses, connected and signed in.

## Ask for a routine in chat

A routine belongs to one Bot, and you create it by asking that Bot. The walkthrough follows one request from the message to its first change.

**Walkthrough: Create a routine, then change it**

### Step 1: Ask the Bot in its chat

Say what the job is, what to hand back and when to run it. Ask for the result once now as well, so you see today what every run will send.

![A sent message that asks for a five-bullet news digest right now, then says: set up a routine, every weekday at 8:00 AM, post the same kind of digest in this chat](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/routines-ask.png)

*The schedule is the last sentence, in plain words.*

Here is the same request with blanks for your own job.

```prompt title="A request that sets up a routine"
Check [what to look at] and give me [what you want back, and how long]. Do it once now. Then set up a routine: every weekday at 8:00 AM, send the same thing in this chat. If nothing is new, say so in one line.
```

### Step 2: Click the routine's chip

Within seconds a grey line appears in the chat: **Created routine**, then a chip with a clock and the routine's name. Click the chip.

![The Bot's reply, then a grey line that reads Created routine beside a chip with a clock icon and the name AI coding assistants weekday digest](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/routines-created-chip.png)

### Step 3: Check Instruction and When to run

The routine opens in a panel on the right. Read it before you trust it, because the Bot wrote both parts.

![The routine's panel. Under Instruction, a paragraph that describes the digest in detail. Under When to run, a clock and Weekdays at 8:00 AM](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/routines-panel.png)

1. **Instruction** is what the Bot does on every run. It's the Bot's rewrite of your request, so check what it added and what it dropped.
2. **When to run** is the schedule as saved. A Bot sometimes picks a time a few minutes off the hour, or saves weekdays when you said every morning.

### Step 4: Click Edit to change the routine

**Pause**, **Edit** and a bin sit at the foot of the panel. Click **Edit**. No form opens: the message box fills with **Edit your routine:** and the routine's name.

![The foot of the routine's panel: a Pause button, an Edit button and a bin icon](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/routines-edit-button.png)

### Step 5: Finish the sentence and send it

After the routine's name, type what should change, then send. The schedule and the instruction both change this way.

![A sent message that reads: Edit your routine: AI coding assistants weekday digest. Change the time to 8:30 AM on weekdays and keep everything else. Below it the Bot's reply, a grey line that reads Updated routine, and a second reply confirming 8:30 AM](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/routines-edit-sentence.png)

1. The app wrote the first sentence. The second is the one you add.
2. **Updated routine** confirms the change, and the open panel shows the new schedule.

> **You should see**
>
> **When to run** shows the schedule you asked for, and the routine is listed under the Bot's **Details** tab. Nothing has run yet: a new routine waits for its next scheduled time.

A routine can also start when something happens: a message in Slack or Microsoft Teams, an email, or an event in GitHub, Linear, Sentry or PagerDuty. You ask for one the same way, and **When to run** then shows the trigger in words. [Slack](https://learngrokbot.com/slack) covers the Slack trigger.

If the job has fixed steps, save them as a [skill](https://learngrokbot.com/skills) first and name the skill in your request. Every run then follows the same steps.

## Pick how often it runs

Each run spends usage from the same weekly pool as your chats, so the schedule decides what a routine costs you. Slide the dial from once a week to every 5 minutes and watch the week fill up.

**Interactive: How many runs is that?**

Open it: https://learngrokbot.com/widgets/routines-schedule-dial.html

What it does: Slide how often a routine runs, from once a week to every 5 minutes, and see the runs in a week, around the clock or on weekdays from 9 to 5. It counts runs only, and marks the schedules Cursor warns can use a week of usage in a day.

Its content as text:

### How many runs is that?

Slide how often the routine runs, then count the week.

Up to three times a day. Each run spends usage. What one run costs isn't published: it follows how much work the job takes.

Every hour, or more often. Cursor's warning starts here: an hourly schedule or a short interval can use a week of usage in a day.

Every 5 minutes. The team that builds Grok Bot says never to run a routine this often. A schedule like this can use a week of usage in a day.

**Every schedule on the dial**

| The routine runs | Runs a week, every day | Runs a week, weekdays 9 to 5 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Once a week | 1 | 1 |
| Once a day | 7 | 5 |
| Three times a day | 21 | 15 |
| Every hour | 168 24 a day | 40 8 a day |
| Every 30 minutes | 336 48 a day | 80 16 a day |
| Every 15 minutes | 672 96 a day | 160 32 a day |
| Every 5 minutes | 2,016 288 a day | 480 96 a day |

Three things the count leaves out:

- A run that opens five websites spends more than one that reads a single page.
- A Bot re-reads its conversation on every run. Give a frequent routine to a fresh Bot with a short chat.
- An event trigger runs as often as the event happens. Point it at one channel and one phrase, never at every new message.

[Usage running out](https://learngrokbot.com/usage-running-out) lists everything else that spends a week.

## See what a run looks like

At the scheduled time the Bot starts by itself, on its cloud computer. Closing the app or your laptop doesn't stop it.

The result arrives as a message in the Bot's chat. This routine was set for 3:38 PM.

![A date line that reads Today 3:43 PM, then a message from the Bot: Your first Cursor changelog check is in, with three bullets and a closing line](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/routines-run.png)

1. The message came at 3:43 PM, five minutes after the set time. A wait of a few minutes is normal.
2. Nothing labels the message as a routine's. It reads like any other reply.

- While a run is under way, the Bot's row in the sidebar shows a green dot.
- A routine's page looks the same after a run. The app keeps no list of past runs there, so the chat is your record.
- A routine told to stay quiet when nothing has changed sends nothing on a quiet day.
- To see a run without waiting, ask the Bot to run the routine now. That run spends usage like any other.

## Pause or delete a routine

Every routine a Bot owns is listed in one place. Click the Bot's name at the top of its chat, and the list is under the **Details** tab.

![The details panel for a Bot called Demo Research, with the tabs Details, Library and Computer. Under Routines, two rows: one reads Paused with its switch off, the other reads Every Tuesday at 3:38 PM with its switch on](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/routines-list.png)

1. **Details** opens on the Bot's routines.
2. A switch that's off pauses the routine, and the row reads **Paused**. A paused routine doesn't run and spends nothing.
3. A routine that's on shows its schedule. Click the row to open the routine's page.

On a routine's page, **Pause** does the same job as the switch and turns into **Resume**.

To delete a routine, open it and click the bin beside **Edit**. Deleting stops every future run and can't be undone. Deleting a Bot deletes its routines with it.

## Fix a routine that ran late or not at all

A routine that seems broken is usually late, paused or quiet on purpose. Find what you're seeing in the first column.

| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The result came a few minutes after the set time | Runs can start a few minutes after their time, most often at the busiest hours. | Nothing is broken. Set the time a little earlier if you need the result by a fixed hour. Deleting the routine and making it again changes nothing. |
| A routine you just made hasn't run | A new routine waits for its next scheduled time. One made at 8:05 AM for 8:00 AM every day first runs tomorrow. | Wait for the time, or ask the Bot to run the routine now. |
| The row under **Details** reads **Paused** | Someone used the switch or the **Pause** button. After a long time away, Grok Bot can also ask whether to keep your routines running, and pause them when nobody answers. | Turn the switch back on. |
| The run came at the wrong hour | The Bot saved a different schedule, or the app has the wrong time zone. | Read **When to run** and correct it with **Edit**. The time zone is **Timezone**, under **Bot** in **Settings** > **General**. |
| The time passed and no message came | The **Instruction** tells the Bot to stay quiet when nothing is new. | Read **Instruction**. Use **Edit** to ask for a one-line message on quiet days. |
| A card in the chat reads **Expired** | The run needed your approval. An approval asked for by a routine expires after about 10 minutes. | Ask the Bot to try again. [Approvals](https://learngrokbot.com/approvals) shows how to let a trusted action through without a card. |
| No routine ran on any Bot | Your weekly usage has run out, or Grok Bot has an incident. | Check [your usage](https://learngrokbot.com/usage-running-out), then [whether Grok Bot is down](https://learngrokbot.com/is-grok-bot-down). |

A routine that isn't paused, shows the right schedule and still hasn't run for a day is one to report. **Support** is in the account menu, at the bottom left of the app.

## Check you've got it

One check on when a routine first runs.

**Predict: It's 8:05 AM. You ask a Bot for a routine that runs every day at 8:00 AM. When does the first run arrive?**

- Within a minute, because the routine was just created
- Tomorrow, a few minutes after 8:00 AM
- Today, as soon as you close the laptop

Answer: Tomorrow, a few minutes after 8:00 AM

A new routine waits for its next scheduled time, and today's 8:00 AM has passed. To get today's result as well, ask for it once now in the same message, as the walkthrough's request did.

Next, decide what your Bot may do on a run without stopping to ask you.

**Next:** [Set what a Bot asks first](https://learngrokbot.com/approvals)

The approval card, Auto-review and the two kinds of rule, so a routine doesn't stall on a question nobody sees.

### Where is the Test button?

Earlier versions of the app had a **Test run** button and a **Run history** list on a routine's page. The current app has neither. To try a routine, ask the Bot to run it now, and read the result in the chat.

### How many routines can one Bot have?

Up to 50.

### Can I manage routines on my phone?

You can pause or resume a routine in the phone app. Changing a routine's schedule or its instruction needs the desktop app.

- 2026-10-06: First published.

## Sources

- [Cursor Help Center: Routines](https://cursor.com/help/grok-bot/routines)
- [SpaceXAI docs: Skills and routines](https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/skills-routines-and-automations)
- [Cursor Help Center: Grok Bot How Tos](https://cursor.com/help/grok-bot/how-to)
- [Cursor Help Center: Plans and billing](https://cursor.com/help/grok-bot/plans)
- [SpaceXAI docs: Grok Bot for Mobile](https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/mobile)
- [Cursor forum: staff on routines that start late](https://forum.cursor.com/t/grok-bot-routines-dont-auto-run-on-schedule/170358)
- [Cursor forum: staff on what a Bot's work costs](https://forum.cursor.com/t/grok-bot-ultra-users-how-do-you-make-the-weekly-allowance-last-mine-reached-99-in-three-days/171221)
- [@poteto on X (Grok Bot team): how often a routine should run](https://x.com/poteto/status/2091368467060662497)
- [Ben Lang on X: tips collected from the Grok Bot team](https://x.com/benln/status/2092258694352208213)