What routines are for
Routines are tasks that repeat on a fixed cadence — every Monday at 9 AM, every weekday at 6 PM, every first day of the month. Instead of you remembering to do it + executing it manually, a routine fires automatically at the configured time and runs what you defined — which can involve an agent, creating a task, sending an outbound, or a combination.When to use a routine vs a task
| Scenario | Use |
|---|---|
| ”I need to do X once, next week” | Task with a date |
| ”I need to do X every week, indefinitely” | Routine |
| ”I want the agent to review stalled leads every Tuesday” | Routine + agent |
| ”I’m going to launch a campaign now for new leads” | Outbound (one-shot) |
| “I want a weekly email report every Friday at 6 PM” | Routine + Marcus |
Anatomy of a routine
Cadence
When it fires — daily / weekly / monthly / custom cron expression.
Supports the org’s timezone.
Action
What runs when it fires — call an agent, create a task, send a message,
run an outbound pipeline.
Context
Inputs the routine passes to the action (e.g., “leads with no activity
in the last 7 days”). Can be static or dynamic.
History
Every execution is recorded — when it ran, what it did,
whether it succeeded, and how many Stars it spent.
Common patterns
Weekly team report
Weekly team report
Cadence: every Friday at 6 PM
Action: Athena reviews the week’s activity and compiles a summary
document
Output: new doc in a shared folder + chat notification to ownersUseful for: recurring visibility without manual effort.
Re-engaging stalled leads
Re-engaging stalled leads
Cadence: every Tuesday at 10 AM
Action: Marcus reviews leads with no activity in the last 14 days
and proposes follow-up drafts (HITL on — you approve)
Output: drafts waiting for approval in chatUseful for: keeping opportunities from dying due to lack of follow-through.
Monthly pipeline cleanup
Monthly pipeline cleanup
Cadence: first day of the month at 8 AM
Action: Athena archives leads in terminal state for more than 90
days + identifies duplicates
Output: review task for the pipeline ownerUseful for: preventing the pipeline from getting inflated with historical noise.
Automatic lead import
Automatic lead import
Cadence: every weekday at 7 AM
Action: runs an Apify actor (Maps lead search with a pre-defined
query) and adds new results to the “New Outbound” pipeline
Output: N new leads ready for Marcus to workUseful for: keeping the funnel fed without manual effort.
Setting up a routine
Sidebar → Routines → New routine
Opens the configurator.Expected result: panel with 4 tabs (Cadence / Action /
Context / Notification).
Define the cadence
Options:
- Daily (choose a time)
- Weekly (days of the week + time)
- Monthly (day of the month + time)
- Custom (cron expression — for complex scenarios)
Choose the action
What will run:
- Call agent — passes a pre-defined prompt to Scout / Marcus / Athena
- Create task — new task on a specific board
- Trigger outbound — run an existing campaign on a filtered audience
- Execute tool — e.g., run
maps_lead_searchdirectly
Define notification (optional)
When the routine finishes, who gets notified:
- Nobody (silent)
- You (inbox notification)
- Specific people (mention)
- External channel (Slack via Composio)
Limits and gotchas
Agent daily cap applies
If a routine triggers an agent that has a daily cap, and the routine
exceeds that cap, the execution is blocked. You’re notified to
decide: raise the cap or accept the one-off failure.
Skip during sensitive windows
Org settings can define sensitive windows (weekends, holidays,
after-hours) where routines don’t fire outbound to customers.
Internal-only routines keep running.
Idempotency per execution
If a routine fails and retries, it uses an Idempotency-Key
to prevent double-firing. You won’t accidentally send the
same message twice.
Backfill off by default
If a routine was paused for 3 days and you reactivate it, it does
not run the 3 missed executions. It only runs the next scheduled
one. For an explicit backfill, use “Run now” manually.
Audit log
Every routine execution creates an entry in the history:| Field | What it records |
|---|---|
executed_at | Execution timestamp |
routine_id + routine_name | Which routine |
action_type | Action type (agent / task / outbound / tool) |
status | success / failed / skipped |
cost_stars | Stars spent |
output_ref | Link to the created resource (task, draft, etc.) |
Next steps
Outbound
How Marcus operates the campaigns that routines can trigger.
Agents
Who you can call from within a routine.
Caps
How to limit spending from routines that run out of control.
Composio
For external integrations that routines trigger (Slack notifications,
Calendar, Notion).