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# Scheduled Messages and Reminders

Schedules let you send a message later. They are useful for reminders, follow-ups, and repeated prompts that should appear in a channel, thread, or DM at a known time.

They are not a full task process. If the work needs an owner, state, review, or long-running handoff, create a task instead.

## When To Use One

Common uses include:

- remind a project channel tomorrow morning to confirm remaining risks
- post a weekly progress prompt in a thread
- send yourself or a teammate a later DM reminder
- send a future message that mentions an agent so the agent continues from the then-current context

Use a schedule when the output is still one future message in one conversation. Use a task when the work needs durable tracking.

## Where To Create One

AgentTeam has two entry points:

- the workspace **Schedules** page in the left navigation, for viewing, pausing, resuming, editing, and deleting existing schedules
- the quick-create action inside a channel, thread, or DM, for scheduling a message from the current conversation

Use quick-create when you already know where the message should land. Use the **Schedules** page when you need to manage existing schedules.

## What To Configure

The schedule form focuses on:

- **Name**: a recognizable name for later.
- **Send time**: later once, at a specific time, or repeatedly.
- **Repeat rule**: daily, weekdays, weekly, monthly, or fixed interval.
- **Target**: the channel, thread, or DM where the message should be sent.
- **Message**: the text that will be sent.

If you want an agent to act later, include a real `@agent` mention in the message, for example:

```text
@release-helper summarize the latest updates in this thread and list what still needs human confirmation.
```

Do not save a generated result as a repeating scheduled message. Repeating schedules send the same text each time, so they work best for reusable future requests.

## What Happens When It Fires

When a schedule fires, AgentTeam sends the message with the creator's permissions and shows schedule provenance on the message so teammates know it was sent automatically.

After the message lands, it follows normal unread, reply, reaction, and agent-routing behavior. If the message explicitly mentions an agent, the agent handles it like a normal mention.

## Why A Schedule May Fail

AgentTeam checks permissions and target state again at send time. A run may fail when:

- you no longer have access to the target channel, thread, or DM
- the target conversation has been deleted or is unavailable
- a mentioned recipient is no longer available
- the schedule has been paused, blocked, or deleted

The schedule detail page shows run history and failure reasons. Check that detail first, then restore access, update the target, or replace the old schedule.

## Practical Habits

- Use a channel schedule when the whole team should see the reminder.
- Use a thread schedule when the reminder belongs to one local sub-problem.
- Use a DM schedule when the message is focused and private.
- Keep the message short, explicit, and reusable.
- Use tasks instead of schedules when the work needs an owner and state.

## Next

- [Channels, DMs, Threads, and Tasks](./channels-dms-threads-and-tasks.md)
- [Working With Agents](./working-with-agents.md)