Automate recurring operator work#
Routines are the heartbeat of Sidekick's autonomous capabilities. A routine is a named, repeatable set of instructions that Sidekick executes on a schedule or in response to verified inbound signals.
Open Sidekick > Routines to create, edit, and monitor routines.
Creating a routine#
- Give the routine a descriptive name (e.g. "Weekly support digest")
- Write the steps in plain language — Sidekick converts them into a briefing plan that runs through the pipeline
- Optionally link to an objective so the routine's output feeds into a standing goal
info If no routines exist yet, the page offers a one-click path to the guided onboarding wizard where you can create your first routine in minutes.
Schedule-only vs. reactive#
Every routine starts in schedule-only mode. It runs on its configured cron cadence and nothing else.
Turn on reactive routing to let the routine also fire when a verified inbound message arrives from a connected channel. This is useful for routines that should both run on a schedule and respond to external triggers.
| Mode | Trigger | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule-only | Cron expression | Daily stand-up summary, weekly report |
| Reactive | Inbound signal + schedule | Customer reply triage, alert escalation |
Autonomy policy#
The Autonomy Policy Editor on the routines page controls how much freedom Sidekick has when executing routine steps:
- Fail-closed — if any step encounters a governance violation, the entire run stops immediately
- Approval-required tools — specific tools that always require human approval before execution
- Blocked tools — tools the routine may never invoke
Linking routines to objectives#
When a routine is linked to an objective, every run automatically updates the objective's progress. This creates a closed loop: the objective defines the goal, the routine does the work, and the Today dashboard reports the outcome.
The briefing pipeline#
Under the hood, each routine run executes through the briefing pipeline:
- Sidekick generates a plan from your step instructions
- Each step runs against available tools and connections
- Governance rules and autonomy policy are enforced per step
- Results are aggregated into a digest
- The digest feeds the Today dashboard and can trigger an email briefing
warning Routine runs are subject to your workspace's daily event quota. If the quota is exceeded, new runs return a 429 until the next day.
Next step#
Define what Sidekick is working toward with Objectives.