> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.valendata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Schedule a Skill for Automatic Recurring Execution

> Automate recurring data pulls, change monitors, and pipeline feeds by attaching a cron schedule to any published Skill in your Workspace.

Scheduled Skills let Valendata do the work while you sleep. Instead of triggering a run manually every time you need fresh data, you attach a schedule to a published Skill and Valendata executes it on your chosen cadence. Results appear in the **Runs** tab the moment each run completes, ready to query or forward to a downstream system.

## Why schedule a Skill

Scheduling is the right tool whenever you need:

* **Recurring data pulls** — price monitoring, inventory checks, SERP tracking
* **Change detection** — watch a page for updates and alert downstream systems when something new appears
* **Pipeline feeds** — push fresh structured data into a database or HTTP endpoint on a fixed cadence
* **Compliance snapshots** — capture a page state at a known timestamp for audit or archiving purposes

## Prerequisites

Before setting up a schedule, make sure you have:

* A **published Skill** in your Workspace
* Sufficient **credit balance** to cover the expected number of runs
* (Optional) A **Chrome Profile** attached to the Skill if the target site requires authentication

<Tip>
  If the Skill needs to log into a site, attach a Chrome Profile during schedule setup. The profile stores your browser session in the cloud so every scheduled run starts already authenticated — even if your own computer is off.
</Tip>

## Setting up a schedule

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Schedules page">
    In the main sidebar, click Schedules. This page lists all Skills that have an active schedule. Click New Schedule to create one.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select a Skill">
    Choose the Skill you want to schedule from the dropdown. Only Skills without an existing schedule are listed.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose your run frequency">
    Select one of the built-in presets or choose Custom for more control:

    | Preset                    | Runs at                |
    | ------------------------- | ---------------------- |
    | **Every 5 minutes**       | Every 5 minutes        |
    | **Every 15 minutes**      | Every 15 minutes       |
    | **Every 30 minutes**      | Every 30 minutes       |
    | **Every hour**            | Top of every hour      |
    | **Daily at 9:00 AM**      | 9:00 AM UTC daily      |
    | **Daily at 12:00 PM**     | 12:00 PM UTC daily     |
    | **Daily at 6:00 PM**      | 6:00 PM UTC daily      |
    | **Daily at midnight**     | 00:00 UTC daily        |
    | **Weekly (Mon midnight)** | 00:00 UTC every Monday |

    Selecting **Custom** lets you set a specific daily time, an interval in minutes, a specific weekday, or a raw cron expression.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Attach a Chrome Profile (optional)">
    If the Skill targets a site that requires a logged-in session, select a Chrome Profile from the dropdown. If you have not created one yet, set one up first from the Profiles page.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create the schedule">
    Click Create Schedule. The schedule is live immediately — no further action required. The Schedules page will show the Skill with its next scheduled run time.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Monitoring scheduled runs

Every execution appears in the Runs tab on the Skill detail page. Each entry shows the status, duration, credits used, and the full structured output downloadable as JSON or CSV.

## Pausing or removing a schedule

To temporarily pause a schedule without losing its configuration, open the Schedules page and toggle the **Active** switch off on the Skill's schedule row. Toggle it back on to resume — runs that occurred while paused are not backfilled.

To remove a schedule entirely, click the delete icon on the schedule row. Your Skill remains published and callable via API. You can create a new schedule for it at any time.

<Warning>
  If your credit balance reaches zero, scheduled runs will fail at execution time. Top up your balance before the next scheduled run to avoid missed executions.
</Warning>

## Credit cost estimation

The cost of a scheduled run covers AI tokens consumed and browser session time. Check the Runs tab on the Skill for past run costs before setting an aggressive schedule — start with a daily cadence, verify the credit spend, then increase frequency if the budget allows.