Scheduled Tasks in Computer

Scheduled Tasks let Perplexity Computer run recurring work for you in the background — monitoring, reports, alerts, briefings — on a schedule you set.

What are Scheduled Tasks in Computer?

Scheduled Tasks let Perplexity Computer run recurring work for you in the background — monitoring, reports, alerts, inbox checks, competitive tracking, daily briefings, and more — on a schedule you set. Computer runs each task autonomously in the cloud, so your laptop doesn’t need to be open. When something noteworthy happens, Computer sends you a notification and saves the full result to the task’s session.

Scheduled Tasks live inside Computer on the Automations dashboard (perplexity.ai/computer/automations). Your Computer conversations stay under Computer (perplexity.ai/computer/tasks). Scheduled Tasks replace the older Perplexity Tasks experience and are built on Computer’s agent system, which means a scheduled task can use the same tools, connectors, and subagents — the helper agents Computer delegates parts of a task to — that you’d use in a one-off Computer conversation.

Scheduled Tasks in Computer are different from one-time reminders. If you want Computer to do something once at a specific time (“remind me at 4pm”, “send this email tomorrow at 9am”), Computer handles that as a one-time wait, not a recurring task.

Creating a Scheduled Task

You don’t fill out a fixed form. You describe what you want in plain language inside Computer, and Computer proposes a schedule for your confirmation.

1. Open Computer from the left sidebar.
2. In the input box, describe the recurring task and the cadence. For example:

   • “Every weekday at 8am, summarize new posts from My First Million, All In, and 20VC and email me the highlights.”
   • “Check my Gmail every hour for replies from investors and notify me when one arrives.”
   • “Every Monday at 9am, pull the sales pipeline from Salesforce and post a summary to #revenue in Slack.”
3. Confirm the schedule and what the task will do. Computer reminds you that each run uses credits. Approve to create the task.

4. Your task now appears on the Automations dashboard, with the next run time shown.

Figure 1 — Describing a recurring task in the Computer input box.

You can also create a scheduled task from inside any existing Computer conversation — ask Computer to “run this every morning” (or whatever cadence) and it schedules the recurring version of that work — or from the Create an automation box at the bottom of the Automations dashboard.

How to verify it worked

Open the Automations dashboard. The task appears under Active with its cadence and next run time.

Supported schedules

Scheduled Tasks support any recurring cadence, as often as every 15 minutes. Supported cadences:

• Every 15 or 30 minutes (any interval of at least 15 minutes)
• Hourly
• Daily (at a specific time)
• Every weekday
• Weekly (specific day and time)
• Monthly
• Custom recurring schedules

Computer automatically converts the time you give it (in your local timezone) into the underlying schedule, and shows you the next run time in your timezone on the dashboard.

One-time actions are not supported as a Scheduled Task. Use a one-time reminder instead (“remind me once tomorrow at 9am”).

Background vs. attended tasks

Most scheduled tasks run in the background, meaning Computer spins up a fresh, isolated agent for each run with no prior conversation context. This is ideal for:

• Monitoring (prices, news, mentions, inboxes)
• Recurring reports and briefings
• Alerts and notifications

Some tasks need to run attended (with conversation context or richer tooling). Computer picks this automatically when the task needs to:

• Generate a document (PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
• Drive a browser (book something, fill a form, log into a site)
• Publish or update a hosted website
• Build on context from the conversation that created it

If a background task gets stuck — for example, instructions are unclear or it needs your input — it notifies you instead of guessing.

Using connectors in Scheduled Tasks

Scheduled Tasks can use any connector you’ve linked to Computer, including Gmail, Slack, and Salesforce. Manage these from Plugins in the left sidebar (or Customize → Connectors if you don’t see Plugins yet). See Where did Connectors and Skills go?.

If a connector becomes disconnected or its authorization expires, Computer shows a reconnect prompt the next time the task runs. After repeated failures on the same connector issue, Computer may pause the task so it doesn’t keep using credits while blocked — you’ll be notified, and once you’ve reconnected you can select Enable in that row’s Actions menu to start it again.

Notifications

When a scheduled task produces something new or noteworthy, Computer notifies you. Available channels:

• In-app (default)
• Mobile push (in the Perplexity app for iOS or Android)
• Web push
• Email

Manage notification preferences under Settings → Notifications. Each notification deep-links straight to the task’s session so you can review the full result and any artifacts.

If a run finds nothing new (for example, an hourly inbox check with no new replies), Computer stays quiet — you only get notified when there’s something worth your attention.

Managing your Scheduled Tasks

Open the Automations dashboard to see all your scheduled tasks, grouped under Active, Paused, and Completed. Each row shows the cadence and the next run time. Open the row’s Actions menu for Run now, Pause, Edit, Pin, and Delete, or select the task to open its detail page.

Figure 2 — The Automations dashboard, with the controls for one task open in its Actions menu.

From the task detail page, or from inside the conversation that owns the task, you can:

• See the next run time and recent run history
• Review past results and notifications
• Update the schedule or the instructions (“change this to every weekday at 7am instead”, “also include TechCrunch in the sources”)
• Pause the task, and Enable it again later
• Delete the task

To put a task on hold, open its Actions menu and select Pause. The row then reads Paused, and the menu offers Enable in place of Pause. Selecting Enable puts the task back on its normal schedule; Run now gives you a catch-up run without waiting for the next scheduled time.

Deleting a task removes it permanently, and you would need to create it again from scratch. Use Pause for a task you want to keep but are not using. To compare deleting a Scheduled Task with deleting an older Perplexity Task, see Delete scheduled tasks: Perplexity Tasks vs. Computer.

Tasks from other conversations

Tasks created in one Computer conversation are managed from that conversation. To find and manage a task created elsewhere, open the Automations dashboard for a unified view, or open the task’s own URL at perplexity.ai/computer/automations/<automation-id>.

Credits and billing

Each time a scheduled task runs, it uses Computer credits, the same as any other Computer work. A few things to keep in mind:

• Computer tells you the schedule and reminds you that each run uses credits before creating the task.
• If your account runs out of credits, or doesn’t have Computer access at the moment of a scheduled run, that run is skipped.
• Scheduled runs use your plan’s monthly Computer credits. See your plan details in Settings → Subscription.

After repeated skipped runs, the task is paused, and it stays paused after credits are available again. Open the Automations dashboard and select Enable in each paused row’s Actions menu to start it again, or Run now for a catch-up run.

To control spend, keep schedules at the lowest cadence that meets your need (hourly checks use more credits than daily ones), pause tasks you want to keep but aren’t using, and delete the ones you no longer need.

Troubleshooting

My task didn’t run when I expected

Background tasks may take a few minutes to start after their scheduled time. If a run was skipped:

1. Open the task’s detail page and check the most recent run. Common reasons are insufficient credits, an expired connector authorization, or a task waiting on your input.
2. Check whether the task now reads Paused on the Automations dashboard. A paused task does not restart on its own, even once the original problem is fixed.
3. Open the row’s Actions menu and select Enable, then Run now if you want a catch-up run.

I’m getting too many notifications

Open the task and either lower the cadence (“change this to once a day instead of hourly”) or tell Computer to only notify on specific conditions (“only alert me if the price drops more than 5%”).

I can’t find a task I created

Open the Automations dashboard for a list across all your conversations.

I want to pause a task temporarily

Open the Automations dashboard, open the task’s Actions menu, and select Pause. The row reads Paused until you select Enable, and nothing runs in the meantime. Avoid using Delete for this — deleting removes the task permanently.

Still not working?

Contact us via Help > Contact Support. Include the task name, the run time you expected, the status shown on the row, the exact error message if there is one, and the steps from this article that did not resolve the issue.

Availability

Scheduled Tasks in Computer are available wherever Computer is available. For plan-level Computer access and credit allowances, see your subscription details.

Related articles

• Delete scheduled tasks: Perplexity Tasks vs. Computer
• What is Computer?
• Effort mode in Perplexity Computer
• Computer for Enterprise

Need more help?

Contact us via Help > Contact Support. Include the task link if your question is about a specific Computer task.