Tasks and schedules

Hermina provides two automation mechanisms: a persistent queue for discrete work and Hermes cron jobs for time-based execution. Use the queue when another system submits work; use cron when time is the trigger.

Choose the right mechanism

Start with a manually triggered prompt. Schedule it only after the prompt, model, tools, and delivery destination work interactively.

Agent cron jobs

List jobs for one agent:

hermina agent-cron analyst list

Create a recurring job:

hermina agent-cron analyst create \
  "every 1h" \
  "Summarize new activity and highlight anything that needs attention" \
  --cron-name=hourly-summary \
  --deliver=local

Common lifecycle actions include list, create, remove, pause, resume, and run. Use the job ID printed by the list command for lifecycle actions:

hermina agent-cron analyst run --job-id=<job-id>
hermina agent-cron analyst pause --job-id=<job-id>
hermina agent-cron analyst resume --job-id=<job-id>
hermina agent-cron analyst remove --job-id=<job-id>

The dashboard and Android app expose the same per-agent schedule management with execution history and notification state.

Host cron jobs

Host cron uses the host Hermes profile rather than an agent profile:

hermina host-cron list
hermina host-cron create \
  "every day at 09:00" \
  "Review the server status and summarize failures" \
  --cron-name=daily-health \
  --deliver=local

Host jobs have the permissions and context of the host profile. Use them for infrastructure-level work, not as a substitute for an isolated agent.

Persistent task queue

Each container agent has a SQLite queue, an internal Queue API, and a worker. The data remains in agents/<name>/queue.db across container restarts.

Check health and recent tasks:

hermina queue health analyst
hermina queue list analyst
hermina queue status analyst

Enqueue a goal:

hermina queue enqueue analyst goal \
  '{"goal":"Review the latest workspace report and produce three next actions"}'

Enqueue a command:

hermina queue enqueue analyst command \
  '{"command":"ls -la /root/.hermes"}'

Supported queue types include noop, command, webhook, send_message, and goal. Payloads are JSON. If a plain string is supplied, the CLI wraps it as a text field.

Inspect or cancel a task:

hermina queue status analyst <task-id>
hermina queue cancel analyst <task-id>
hermina queue logs analyst --lines=50

Only pending tasks can be cancelled reliably; a processing task may already be executing.

Delivery and operator visibility

Cron output can feed the dashboard Inbox, activity Feed, or a configured channel depending on its delivery setting. Check both job execution status and final delivery status—a successful model run can still fail to reach a channel.

Use clear names such as hourly-summary, daily-health, and weekly-report. Include the expected output and failure behavior in the prompt.

Reliable automation checklist

Before enabling a recurring job:

1. Run the prompt manually in a clean chat.
2. Confirm every required tool and credential.
3. Use an explicit timezone and verify the server timezone.
4. Keep the prompt idempotent when retries are possible.
5. Choose a delivery destination and test it.
6. Define what the agent should do when source data is missing.
7. Review the first several executions in Inbox or history.

Troubleshooting automation