Schedules and Watchers on Windows

An agent can work without you there: at times you choose (Schedules), whenever a folder changes (Watchers), or when it books its own next run (wake-ups). They work as the Mac pages describe, with the differences below. Schedules and watchers have their own pages under Automation in Settings (Settings → Schedules, Settings → Watchers); wake-ups are set on the agent's Abilities tab. Only agents you create can run them.

When they run

Automation runs while Osaurus is running, including when the window is closed and Osaurus is in the system tray. It doesn't run while Osaurus is quit or the PC is asleep. To have Osaurus running whenever you're signed in, turn on Settings → Behavior → Start at login.

A schedule time missed while the PC was asleep or Osaurus was closed runs once when it's back, however many were missed, and the agent is told it's late.

Nobody is there to answer questions during these runs, so an agent can't change your files or run commands unless you allow it in the schedule's or watcher's editor (see While nobody is watching).

Schedules

Settings → Schedules → Add schedule.

1. Name it and choose the Agent.

2. Write the Instructions for each run.

3. Under When, pick How often:

   Option	Runs
   Once	At one date and time, then turns itself off
   Every few minutes	Every 5 to 1440 minutes, counted from midnight (every 15 runs at :00, :15, :30, :45)
   Hourly	Every hour, at a minute you choose
   Daily	Every day at a time
   Weekly	One day a week, at a time
   Monthly	One day a month (a day past the end of a short month runs on its last day)
   Yearly	One date a year (29 February runs on the 28th in other years)
   Cron expression	Five fields, numbers only, such as 0 9 * * 1-5

   Next runs previews the coming times, and warns you when a schedule means many runs a day.

4. Optionally choose a Folder for it to work in. Without one, the agent can read, search the web, and report, or work in its own sandbox if it has one.

5. Click Save.

In the list:

• The switch on each row pauses and resumes it.
• ▶ runs it now; the next scheduled time still runs. Stop ends a run in progress.
• The pencil edits it; … has Open last run in Tasks and Delete.

Runs never overlap: a time that comes due while the previous run is still going is skipped, and the row says so.

Watchers

Settings → Watchers → Add watcher.

1. Name it, choose the Agent, and choose the Folder to watch. Turn on Include subfolders to count changes anywhere inside it.

2. Pick Responsiveness: how long Osaurus waits for changes to settle before running.

   Setting	Waits about
   Fast	200 ms
   Balanced (default)	1 second
   Patient	3 seconds
   Relaxed	1 minute
   Deferred	5 minutes
   Extended	10 minutes

3. Write the Instructions. The agent also gets the folder's path and the list of files that changed. Write instructions that are safe to run twice: skip anything already done.

4. Click Save.

In the list, the switch pauses and resumes watching, ▶ runs it on the whole folder (when it isn't already working), and … has Open last run in Tasks and Delete. Changes the agent makes itself don't set the watcher off again.

While nobody is watching

Both editors have this section. With both switches off, the agent can look and report but not change anything.

• Create and edit files in this folder lets it write and edit files in the chosen folder.
• Run commands lets it run commands. Moving and renaming files needs this. A command can reach anything your Windows account can, not just this folder.

A schedule with no folder, for an agent that uses the sandbox, works in the agent's own sandbox home instead. There it can create files and run commands without these switches, and none of your files are in reach.

Your choices are saved as always-allow rules for that agent in that folder, so they also apply when you chat with the agent there. Review or revoke them in Settings → Behavior. An agent whose File edits and commands permission is Deny stays denied.

Seeing the runs

Each run opens as its own read-only tab under the agent, named Schedule · name or Watcher · name. It's added without taking you away from what you're doing. You can read it and stop it, but not continue it. Every run is a fresh conversation that doesn't see earlier runs.

Settings → Tasks lists background runs, with each run's prompt, result, and activity. It can also start one: pick an Agent, type a Prompt, and click Dispatch.

Wake-ups

An agent can book its own next run, for example to check back on something tomorrow. On the agent's Abilities tab, open Wake-ups and turn on Let it wake itself up. Each wake-up is a new conversation, in the folder of the conversation that booked it.

How often it may wake:

Mode	Limits
Ambient (default)	Up to a week ahead, at most once an hour, 6 a day, not between 22:00 and 07:00
Reactive	Up to a day ahead, as often as every 5 minutes, 48 a day, any hour
Project	Up to 30 days ahead, at most once an hour, 4 a day, not between 22:00 and 07:00
Manual	The agent can't book itself; only you can

Customize the limits sets the minimum delay, how far ahead, how many a day, quiet hours, and the days it may wake. These limits bind the agent; a wake-up you book yourself only has to be within the furthest-ahead limit.

The panel below shows the next wake-up, with Run now, Book, Cancel wake-up, and Pause (for an hour, a day, or a week). A wake-up missed by more than 5 minutes is skipped, unless it was booked to run when the PC is back.

Private database

An agent can keep its own tables, for example to track things between runs. On the Abilities tab, turn on Private database. Its options set a Storage limit (MB) (100 by default; 0 for none) and when to warn (80%). The database is encrypted and stays on your PC. See Agent DB.

Different from the Mac

• Each run is its own read-only conversation, not part of one ongoing chat.
• Changing files needs the editor's While nobody is watching switches; there's no fallback to an agent's working folder.
• Only your own agents run schedules and watchers, not shared workspace agents.
• Every few hours is Every few minutes (for example, 180). Times use your Windows clock format.
• The private database has no browser in the app, and deleted rows can't be restored.
• Manual is offered as a wake-up mode, and you can customize each limit.

Troubleshooting

What you see	What to do
A run happened but changed nothing	Turn on Create and edit files in this folder or Run commands in the editor.
Off this session	Osaurus started in safe mode. Restart it normally.
A run was skipped because the agent is turned off	Turn on Enabled on the agent's Advanced tab.
"The folder … is not available"	The folder was moved, renamed, or is on a drive that isn't connected.
Nothing ran overnight	The PC was asleep or Osaurus wasn't running. Turn on Start at login, and check the PC's sleep settings.

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Under the hood

• At most 2 automation runs happen at once, and each stops after 30 minutes.
• Schedules check the clock at least once a minute, in your PC's time zone at each run. A missed time is rerun once, with a note in the prompt if it's 2 minutes or more late.
• Watchers use Windows file notifications as hints, plus a full re-scan of quiet folders every 5 minutes; after a run they re-check the folder up to 5 times. A folder of more than 100,000 items can't be watched. Waking the PC rebuilds every watcher; starting Osaurus takes a fresh look at each folder without running anything.
• The agent sees at most 20 changed paths, then a count of the rest.
• Grants are tool-wide always-allow rules for file_write, file_edit, file_undo, and file_copy (files) and shell_run (commands), filed under the agent and folder.
• The private database is SQLCipher at %LOCALAPPDATA%\osaurus\agents\<agent id>\agent.db. Its tools are db_schema, db_query (up to 200 rows), db_execute, db_import, and saved views; they're never available to remote callers.
• schedule_next_run takes a time or a delay, the instructions, and on_miss (skip, the default, or run_once); cancel_next_run clears it.