Skill Automation

Let a skill declare its own schedule and delivery target — install once, run itself

Skills can declare an optional schedule so an installed skill runs itself on that schedule and delivers the result where you want it.

A skill carrying an automation block loads like any other skill, then offers to schedule itself the moment you install it.

from praisonaiagents import Agent

agent = Agent(
    name="Personal Assistant",
    instructions="You help with daily briefings",
    skills=["./morning-brief"]
)

agent.start("Set up my daily brief")

The morning-brief skill declares a schedule, so on install you are asked whether to run it every weekday and where to deliver the result.

Quick Start

1. Minimal — schedule only

   The only required field is schedule. Add it under the namespaced metadata.praisonai.automation block:

   ---
   name: morning-brief
   description: Summarise my day.
   metadata:
     praisonai:
       automation:
         schedule: "daily"
   ---
   
   Summarise my calendar, unread priorities, and any blockers.

2. Full — schedule, deliver, and prompt

   Add a delivery target and a prompt to describe what each scheduled run should do:

   ---
   name: morning-brief
   description: Summarise my day.
   metadata:
     praisonai:
       automation:
         schedule: "cron:0 8 * * mon-fri"
         deliver: "origin"
         prompt: "Give me today's brief."
   ---
   
   Summarise my calendar, unread priorities, and any blockers.

3. Install and consent

   Installing a skill with an automation block proposes a schedule you accept or decline:

   $ praisonai skills add git+https://example.com/morning-brief-skill
   ✓ installed skill 'morning-brief'
   Suggestion: run 'morning-brief' every weekday 08:00, deliver to origin?  [y/N]
   > y
   ✓ scheduled (delivered via the existing DeliveryRouter; consent-first via SuggestionEngine)

How It Works

Installing a skill proposes the automation; you consent, and only then is a job created and delivered.

The Automation Block

Three fields live under metadata.praisonai.automation — one required, two optional.

Choosing a Delivery Target

Pick a deliver value based on where the result should land.

Schedule Expressions

The schedule string accepts four forms.

Reading the Parsed Value

Read SkillProperties.automation after parsing a skill to introspect its schedule.

from praisonaiagents.skills.parser import read_properties

props = read_properties("./morning-brief")
if props.automation:
    print(props.automation.schedule)   # "cron:0 8 * * mon-fri"
    print(props.automation.deliver)    # "origin"
    print(props.automation.prompt)     # "Give me today's brief."

automation is None when the skill declares no block, so guard access with a truthiness check.

Installing a Skill With Automation

A skill with an automation block is never scheduled silently.

On install, SuggestionEngine proposes the schedule and delivery target. You accept or decline; only on acceptance is a job created and later delivered by DeliveryRouter. Decline, and the skill still works — it simply carries an unused schedule.

Backward Compatibility

Skills without an automation block work exactly as before — automation parses to None and older PraisonAI installs silently ignore the field.

Best Practices

Related