Schedule triggers

Schedule an agent to handle recurring work, such as a daily summary of open tickets or a weekly project update. Each user chooses a schedule and the inputs for their scheduled runs.

You can schedule an auto mode agent even when its builder selected Manually run. You do not need edit access or a change to the agent configuration. Workflow mode agents still require a builder to allow scheduling.

note

Scheduled agents are activated by individual users and run according to each user's schedule. An Independent Agent is a separate model for shared workflows that need an agent-owned identity or continuous operation.

Users

Schedule trigger components

Schedule triggers involve three parts:

• Agent builder: build an agent that can run in the background.
• Agent library: activate, review, and manage your scheduled agents from the Active agents table.
• Admin console: control who can schedule agents and which tools can run without user confirmation.

Schedule an agent set to Manually run

Use this procedure for an auto mode agent that accepts a Chat message or an Input form. For example, you can schedule a weekly ticket summary from an agent that you also run on demand.

Prerequisites

Before you create a schedule:

• Have permission to run a published auto mode agent.
• Ask your admin to grant you access to Scheduled triggers. See Manage access to scheduled triggers.

Set your schedule

Test a manual run to check the inputs, tool connections, and output before you schedule recurring work.

1. Open Agents in the Glean web app and select the auto mode agent.
2. If the page shows a chat message field or input form, enter the values for each scheduled run.
3. Click Set schedule. If Glean opens Agent inputs, complete the required fields and continue.
4. Choose the start date, time, time zone, and repeat frequency.
5. Click Save and review the schedule summary.

Glean reuses the saved message or form inputs on each scheduled run. It skips a separate inputs step when the page already shows a run form or the agent needs no input. Scheduled chat messages do not support file attachments.

You can still click Run agent to start a manual run. Your schedule applies to you, and other users can choose their own schedules. Adding a schedule keeps the agent configuration on Manually run.

To review results, open Chats and select the Automations filter. For schedule changes, see Edit, pause, or remove a schedule.

Configure agents to run on a schedule

When you build an agent for scheduled use, design it to work in the background.

A scheduled agent should produce a clear output, such as sending a Slack message, creating or updating a record, drafting an email, or writing results to another destination. Agents that only return a conversational response are less suitable for background execution.

Auto mode vs. workflow mode

The scheduling experience differs depending on which mode your agent uses:

Task	Auto mode	Workflow mode
Schedule an existing agent	Open the agent and select Set schedule, including when its configuration uses Manually run	A builder must first allow scheduling in the trigger step. Then open the agent and select Set schedule
Configure scheduling while building	Select On a schedule in the Triggers tab and set your schedule	Select Allow agent to run on a schedule in the Input form trigger, publish the agent, and set your schedule

Set up a schedule trigger for auto mode agents

1. Create an agent in the Agent builder using Auto mode.
2. Select Triggers.
3. Select On a schedule for the field When should the agent run?.
4. Add the scheduling details.

note

You can set a schedule for yourself. Others can customize the schedule when the agent is available to them.

5. Make sure the agent has a clear outcome for background runs.

6. Click Save and publish the agent.

   

The agent is ready to run on the schedule you configured. No additional activation step is required.

Set up a schedule trigger for workflow mode agents

1. Create or open an agent in Workflow mode.
2. In the trigger step, select Input form trigger.
3. Select the Allow agent to run on a schedule checkbox under Set schedule.
   
4. Build the workflow you want the agent to run on a recurring basis.
5. Save and publish the agent.
6. After the agent is published, schedule and activate the agent.

Schedule and activate a workflow mode agent

After you publish a workflow mode agent with schedule support, Glean opens the agent in the Agent library so you can finish setup.

1. Go to a schedulable agent in the Agent library.
2. Click Set schedule.
3. Set the start date, time, time zone, and repeat frequency.
4. Click Save.

Glean skips the inputs step when the agent has no inputs or when the scheduling entry point already shows the run form. The values in that run form become the inputs for the schedule.

Edit, pause, or remove a schedule

These controls also apply to auto mode agents that use Manually run. To edit a schedule:

1. Open the scheduled agent in the Agent library.
2. Click Edit schedule.
3. Update the schedule details, then review the saved message or form inputs if the agent needs input.
4. Click Save.

Glean keeps schedule inputs separate from manual run inputs. Editing a schedule does not change the manual run inputs, and running the agent manually does not change the schedule inputs.

To pause scheduled runs, turn off the switch in the schedule summary. Turn it on again to resume the schedule with the saved settings.

To remove a schedule, open the three-dot menu next to the schedule action and select Remove schedule. You can continue to run the agent manually after you remove its schedule.

Changes that deactivate subscriptions

Routine edits do not interrupt existing subscriptions. For example, updating an input field description or changing a default value does not require subscribers to set the schedule again.

For autonomous agents, subscriptions stay active when you:

• Switch the agent between On a schedule and Manually run, in either direction.
• Add an input field while the agent is set to Manually run.
• Switch between Input form and Chat message while keeping the schedule enabled.

Subscribers still receive email notifications about agent changes, even when their subscriptions remain active.

Workflow mode agents continue to use the existing contract rules. The following changes pause existing subscriptions. Each subscriber must manually reactivate the agent to resume scheduled runs:

• Add or rename a required input field on a Workflow mode agent.
• Convert the agent to a Content trigger or Custom webhook.
• Turn off scheduling for a Workflow mode agent.
• Remove a user's access to the agent.
• Deactivate the agent.

For agents that use a content trigger, in Auto mode or Workflow mode:

• Changing the event a trigger watches, editing its conditions, or adding or removing a trigger doesn't pause subscriptions. Glean updates every subscription to the new triggers, including yours, and active subscriptions keep running without anyone reactivating the agent.
• Adding or changing a required input, or switching the agent from a content trigger to a different trigger, pauses every subscription.

If Glean can't update a subscription, for example because the subscriber doesn't have access to the source the updated trigger watches, Glean pauses that subscription and emails the subscriber. See Content triggers.

How agent changes affect saved inputs

Active subscriptions continue running with the inputs saved for that subscription. When you edit a schedule, Glean starts with the saved inputs after you update the cadence. Changes to those inputs affect scheduled runs and do not overwrite the inputs used by a manual run.

How field changes are handled

• Modified or deleted fields: If a field is deleted or left blank, its original value is passed to the agent as background context. The run will not fail.
• Renamed fields: Fields are identified by their exact label name. Renaming a field removes the old field and adds a new one. The saved value for the old label is dropped, and you must enter a new value the next time you update or resume the agent.
• In-app notifications: If field changes require attention, Glean shows an informational banner prompting you to update saved inputs. The agent continues running with saved context until you make updates.

tip

If a background run for an agent reaches a tool step requiring manual user confirmation, Glean will send an email notification instead of silently skipping the step.

Managing and monitoring agents

All agents you have activated are visible and manageable in the Active tab. For each agent, you can see its name, trigger, and author, and use the Active toggle to turn scheduled runs on or off.

To manage an agent, open the more options (⋮) menu next to it. From here you can:

• Run now: run the agent immediately.

• Remove trigger: stop the agent from running automatically.

• Delete: delete the agent.

  

To review past runs, open Chats in the left navigation. Select the Agents filter to see agent runs or the Automations filter to see scheduled runs. You can scan results and open full run details from there.

note

The exact time of execution may vary depending on how many other agents are scheduled to run at the same time. If you notice a significant delay, contact Glean support.

Admin

Managing access to scheduled triggers

By default, scheduled triggers are turned off. In Admin console → Platform → Agents → Scheduled triggers, admins can turn the feature on for everyone or limit access to selected users and IdP groups.

If you select On for some users, you can grant access to:

• Individual users

• Supported IdP groups from Google Groups and Azure AD / Entra ID

Members of selected groups inherit access to agent scheduling. If group membership changes in your identity provider, Glean updates access through the existing sync behavior. This setting controls who can access agent scheduling. It does not change whether the user can create, share or publish agents, which are set under Users and permissions.

Add users or groups

To add users or groups:

1. In Glean, go to Admin console → Platform → Agents → Scheduled triggers.

2. Select On for some users.

3. Add the users (Add users) or supported IdP groups (Add groups) that you want to allow to schedule agents. Your changes are saved automatically.

   
   

Review or remove access

To review access, open the Scheduled triggers permissions list and check the users and groups that currently have access to agent scheduling. To remove access, delete the user or group from the list. After you remove a group, its members no longer inherit access through that group.

Users who don't have access won't see the option to schedule agents.

Enabling tools to run without user confirmation

• An admin-level Run without user confirmation setting makes a write tool eligible for scheduled or background use. The Agent builder must also configure the relevant step to run without confirmation. Changing an admin default does not update existing Agents.
• To change the configuration, go to Tools → Tools → Configuration → Enable tools → Edit settings → Agents → Run without user confirmation and select Yes.
• By default, read-only tools run without user confirmation. Some tools using LLM to predict inputs always ask for confirmation to ensure accuracy.

The connector-level setting can apply to all tools in that connector. Custom actions and MCP tools use individual action or tool policies, so admins can opt individual tools in or out without disabling the entire integration.

Write-tool defaults for scheduled Agents

Tool source	New actions or tools	Existing actions or tools
Custom execute actions	Default to Yes, making them eligible for no-confirmation execution.	Unset action-level values inherit Yes. Explicit or otherwise persisted values remain unchanged. Some older actions with the previous derived No already persisted remain No until an admin changes them.
MCP write tools	Individual tools from newly configured servers default to Allowed.	Stored per-tool Allowed or Not allowed policies remain unchanged. An unset policy derives Allowed from the new default.

These admin settings are only one part of the configuration. The action or tool must also be included in the Agent with the appropriate no-confirmation behavior enabled. Newly added tools and MCP servers start with no-confirmation selections unchecked in Agent Builder, while saved selections are preserved. Actions that still require confirmation cannot complete in a scheduled or background run without an available approval flow.

These defaults don't change Assistant or general-chat confirmation behavior, native first-party write-tool defaults, redirect actions, or existing Agent step settings.

Security and limitations

Scheduled runs also have a maximum end-to-end execution time. Design scheduled agents to finish within that window. For the current limit and strategies to stay within it, see Scheduled run limits.

Any agent creator can configure an agent to run on a schedule, but only users with scheduled trigger access can activate scheduled runs.

Rate limits apply to prevent overload:

• A maximum of 10 active background agents can be scheduled per user.
• If you exceed this limit, remove an agent from the Active agents table before setting a schedule for another one.

note

If you need to run more than 10 active background agents, reach out to the Glean team.

For privacy and security, background agents can use only the tools or app capabilities that your admins have allowed to run without user confirmation.

Troubleshooting

Why can I not set a schedule for a manually run agent?

Check the agent mode and your access:

• For an auto mode agent with a Chat message or Input form, use Set schedule from the agent page. You do not need the builder to select On a schedule.
• For a workflow mode agent, ask an editor to select Allow agent to run on a schedule in the Input form trigger and publish the change.
• Ask your admin to confirm that you have access to Scheduled triggers and permission to run the agent.
• If the agent only has a draft, ask an editor to publish it before you create a schedule.
• Complete any tool connection or required input prompts that Glean shows.

Content-triggered agents use their configured events to start runs. They do not use the procedure for manually run agents. See Content triggers.

Schedule visibility

If a user can't see the scheduling option in Agent builder, check the following. All requirements must be met for the option to appear.

Requirement	Where to check
The agent uses Workflow mode with an Input form trigger, or Auto mode	Open the agent in Agent builder and review the trigger configuration.
Scheduled triggers is turned on for the user (or for everyone) in the Admin console	Admin console → Platform → Agents → Scheduled triggers
If the admin selected On for some teammates, the user's email or IDP group is in the allowlist	Admin console → Platform → Agents → Scheduled triggers permissions list

note

The scheduling option is for each user. Two people editing the same agent can see different options depending on their individual access. If one user can see Allow agent to run on a schedule but another cannot, verify that both users appear in the Scheduled triggers permissions list.

In Workflow mode, the Allow agent to run on a schedule checkbox only appears inside the Input form trigger configuration. If the agent uses a different trigger type (such as Chat message), the checkbox is not shown. Switch the trigger to Input form to enable scheduling.