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# Routines

> Recurring work Tabs agents run for you on a schedule.

A **routine** is recurring work Tabs agents run for you on a schedule. You describe what to do and when. Tempo turns that into instructions, and agents follow them on each scheduled run.

For example: "Every Friday, find draft invoices waiting on a PO, email the customer for it, add the PO when it comes back, and send the invoice."

## Create a routine

1. In chat, describe the work and how often it should run. You can also start from a suggested routine and change it to fit.
2. Tempo asks for anything it needs, like which customers are in scope or where to post results.
3. Tempo plays the routine back to you: what it will do, and when it will next run. Confirm it, or tell Tempo what to change.

You don't edit routines by hand. To change one, tell Tempo what should be different and it updates the instructions.

## Schedules

Routines can run hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or on a custom schedule like "the 1st and 15th of each month." Times are in Eastern time.

If a run is still going when the next one is due, the next run is skipped.

## What happens on each run

1. Agents follow the routine's instructions against your current data.
2. Any change it wants to make becomes a proposal. Routines never apply changes on their own.
3. Open work shows up on the routine in **Tempo**. Review it and approve, edit, or reject each proposal. See [Approvals](/tempo-approvals).

Each run keeps a record of what Tempo did and what it proposed, so you can look back at any run.

## Turn a routine off

Ask Tempo to disable the routine, or turn it off from the routine itself. If a routine fails 3 runs in a row, Tempo turns it off and tells you why.

## Ownership

A routine belongs to the person who created it, runs with their access, and can only be changed by them. Shared routines that a whole team can manage are coming.