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 Settings → Routines to create, edit, and monitor recurring schedules. The autonomy controls (which steps Sidekick may run on its own) live next door at Settings → Rules per ADR-082 §9. You can also ask Sidekick to "show me my routines" or "schedule X for tomorrow" — Sidekick edits the same routine state from the conversation.
For composing a routine step-by-step without writing code, the routine
studio (under Sidekick → Studio) gives non-engineers a guided canvas that
materializes into the same governed sidekick_routines substrate. It surfaces
only the connector verbs your workspace can actually use, and attaches the same
Rules, approvals, and budget gates as routines created from the conversation.
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#
Per ADR-082 §9 the autonomy controls (formerly the Autonomy Policy Editor on the routines page) are now the Rules surface at Settings → Rules. They control 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 a Job#
When a routine is linked to a Job, every run automatically updates that Job's progress. This creates a closed loop: the Job defines the goal, the routine does the work, and Sidekick surfaces the outcome inline as Plan/Steps and Proof widgets, with workspace-level progress visible in Jobs.
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 is surfaced in Sidekick (as Proof and Outputs widgets) and in Jobs, 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#
Get scheduled email digests of routine runs in Briefings.