Docs / Going further

Routines

Some work comes round again and again: triaging new issues, checking dependencies, summing up the day. A routine starts an agent for it on a schedule.

Create a routine

1. Open the Routines list in the sidebar (⌘3) and click New Routine….
2. Name it, like "Dependency check".
3. Describe what it should do each time, what's worth your attention, and how much it may do on its own. For example: "Check for outdated dependencies. Open a pull request for patch updates if the tests pass. Ask me before any major version upgrade."
4. Choose When it runs. Pick a schedule with the controls, or type one in plain words.
5. Choose where it Runs in: one of your projects, or No repository for work that doesn't need code, like summarizing your inbox.
6. Click Create Routine.

Schedules you can type:

Routines run while Flotilla is open. If your Mac was asleep or Flotilla was closed at run time, the routine runs once when it can.

Each run is an agent

When a routine runs, it starts an ordinary agent, so you can open it and watch, or talk to it, like any other. A run that finds nothing to do quietly removes itself. One that runs past its time limit (10 minutes, unless you change it) is stopped, unless it's waiting on you.

Click a routine to see its page: a Briefing the routine writes as it goes, its current run, and a history of past runs, each with a one-line result like "Bumped 3 patch versions, opened #431."

When a routine needs a decision

A routine can stop and ask you, for example to approve a risky change. Its row in the sidebar shows a bell, you get a notification, and its page shows the question with buttons to answer, plus room for a note. Your answer goes straight back to the agent and it carries on.

Pause, edit and more

• Switch a routine's toggle in the sidebar off to pause it, or right-click it for Pause, Run Now and Edit Routine….
• Already have an agent doing something you'd like to repeat? Right-click it and choose Make Recurring….
• Keep a to-do list in Markdown? Under Briefing file in the routine's settings, choose that file and the routine uses it as its page.
• You can also just ask an agent: "set up a routine that checks for new Sentry issues every morning".