⏰ Copilot Scheduler

Schedule automatic AI prompts with cron expressions in VS Code.

📥 Install from VS Code Marketplace

Japanese / 日本語版はこちら

🎬 Demo

✨ Features

🗓️ Cron Scheduling - Schedule prompts to run at specific times using cron expressions

🤖 Agent & Model Selection - Choose from built-in agents (@workspace, @terminal) and AI models (GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet 4), including runtime quality or experimental quality variants when available

🌐 Multi-language Support - English and Japanese UI with auto-detection

📊 Sidebar TreeView - Manage all scheduled tasks with human-readable schedule summaries

🖥️ Webview GUI - Easy-to-use graphical interface for creating and editing tasks

🛠️ Copilot Chat Tools - Query, create, update, delete, and enable/disable scheduled tasks from agent mode using Language Model Tools

⏰ Cron Expression Examples

The friendly cron builder applies your selected frequency, interval, time, weekday, or day-of-month to the cron expression as soon as you change the helper controls. The Generate button remains available as an explicit re-apply action, but you do not need to press it before saving.

The friendly cron builder only offers interval choices that can be represented exactly with standard cron. Intervals such as 40 or 90 minutes are generated as multiple cron lines instead of inaccurate expressions like */40 * * * *. All generated lines belong to the same task, and the scheduler runs the task at the earliest matching next time across those lines.

Monthly friendly schedules default to days 1-28 so the task can run every month. Use a custom cron expression if you intentionally want a schedule such as the 31st that only runs in months where that day exists.

📋 Commands

🛠️ Copilot Chat Tools

In Copilot Chat agent mode, use the scheduler tools with # references:

For kind=history, the response includes total, returned count, hasMore, and newest-first entries. Legacy malformed timestamps are preserved or omitted without inventing audit times and are marked with executedAtInvalid / nextRunAtInvalid when applicable.

kind=list returns task metadata with a short promptPreview and promptLength instead of the prompt body, because a local or global task stores a snapshot of the whole prompt file. The write tools return the same shape in their success payloads. Use kind=get when the full prompt is needed; a preview must never be written back to a task.

kind=list_models returns the selectable model ids together with supportedReasoningEfforts, and kind=list_agents returns the selectable agent ids without exposing file paths. The model list is the same one the Copilot Scheduler view offers, so Chat can never pin a model you cannot see or change in the UI. Create/update accept model (plus optional modelReasoningEffort), agent, and the execution controls autoMode, jitterSeconds, maxExecutionsPerDay, allowedTimeStart, and allowedTimeEnd. A model id that is not in that list is rejected with the list of valid ids instead of silently falling back to the default model; passing an empty model clears the selection and returns the task to the default model. When the Language Model API is unavailable and only the built-in fallback catalog is known, the requested model is saved with a warning instead of being rejected.

In agent mode, Copilot can also choose these tools from natural-language requests. Examples:

• "Schedule a workspace task every weekday at 9:00 to summarize this repository."
• "Change the daily summary task to run at 10:30."
• "Use Claude Sonnet for the daily summary task."
• "Pause the release reminder task until I turn it back on."
• "Show my scheduled Copilot tasks before changing anything."

If multiple tasks could match the same name across scopes, ask Copilot to show the scheduled tasks first so it can confirm the exact task before updating, disabling, or deleting it.

Write tools are enabled by default and require a trusted workspace. Set copilotScheduler.lmTools.enableWriteTools to false to keep read-only tools available while disabling create/update/delete/enable-disable operations.

copilotScheduler.lmTools.confirmationMode controls only the extension-provided custom confirmation messages for write tools. VS Code or Copilot Chat may still show a generic approval dialog for extension tools, and users can use the built-in Always Allow flow when available.

Task snapshots and revision metadata are written through same-directory temporary files and atomically replaced. Empty/corrupt files and meta-less revision-zero [] snapshots do not override valid legacy global-state tasks, while revision-backed empty arrays remain valid deletes. Foreground saves and mirrors share one queue per destination. An atomic directory lock with heartbeat/stale recovery (via MIT-licensed proper-lockfile) plus a revision recheck prevents stale VS Code windows from overwriting newer tasks; stale windows reload the winning snapshot and ask the user to retry. Payload/mirror writes complete before metadata advances or the lock is released.

⚙️ Settings

To automatically keep AI-applied edits after review delay, configure VS Code setting chat.editing.autoAcceptDelay (0 = off, 1-100 = seconds, recommended: 5).

Task-level controls (Chat Session, Max Runs/Day, Allowed Time Window) are configured per task in the Webview create/edit form.

The Webview previews Copilot Chat-like thinking effort options for supported model families. If it fails, choose Default.

Claude Opus/Sonnet are adaptive-thinking models. The extension writes the selected effort to the same per-model setting Copilot itself uses, but Copilot Chat governs Claude's effective thinking through adaptive thinking and may still apply Medium. GPT-5 family models honor the selected effort directly.

The selected custom agent is passed through the mode field of VS Code's workbench.action.chat.open, and reasoning effort is applied by writing Copilot Chat's per-model settings — both are sent identically for every model. Whether a Claude model actually honors the custom agent and reasoning depth is decided by VS Code / Copilot Chat. If they do not seem to take effect, set copilotScheduler.logLevel to debug and open the "Copilot Scheduler" output channel: when the Agent set: and Experimental model quality sync: lines show the expected mode and effective values, the scheduler did its part and the gap is on the Copilot Chat side.

If execution feels sluggish when a task is triggered, try:

• copilotScheduler.chatSession = continue
• copilotScheduler.commandDelayFactor = 0.6 (or 0.5)
• copilotScheduler.notificationMode = silentStatus
• copilotScheduler.logLevel = error (or none)

📝 Prompt Placeholders

Use these placeholders in your prompts:

📂 Task Scope

• Global: Task runs in all workspaces
• Workspace: Task runs only in the specific workspace where it was created

📄 Prompt Templates

Store prompt templates for reuse:

• Local: .github/prompts/*.md in your workspace
• Global: VS Code user prompts folder (or the folder set in copilotScheduler.globalPromptsPath)
• The edit form keeps the prompt field read-only while Local/Global is selected, and refreshes it with the current prompt file content when you reopen the form or when the file changes. Use Open prompt file to edit the source file. Switch the source to Inline if you want to hand-edit the text on the task itself.
• The panel preview reads saved disk content only. At execution time, an open editor buffer is preferred; otherwise the latest saved file is read.
• A task only becomes Inline when you select the Inline source. Selecting a template keeps the task following that file.

Global custom agents are auto-discovered from the VS Code user prompts/customization folder and ~/.copilot/agents when copilotScheduler.globalAgentsPath is empty.

This follows current Copilot custom agent and Copilot CLI file locations, but this extension only discovers agent files. Prompt templates still use the VS Code user prompts folder or copilotScheduler.globalPromptsPath, not ~/.copilot/prompts, and the extension does not manage Copilot CLI sessions.

Agent definitions are refreshed automatically when you create, edit, or delete workspace *.agent.md / AGENTS.md files (or the global agent files). You can also reload them on demand with the refresh button next to the agent picker.

Only user-invocable agents appear in the picker. Agents with user-invocable: false in their frontmatter are subagent-only — they cannot be selected as a chat mode, so they are intentionally hidden. Agents without the field stay listed.

📋 Requirements

• VS Code 1.95.0 or higher
• GitHub Copilot extension

🛠️ Release Automation

Maintainers can publish from GitHub Actions instead of running vsce publish locally.

• Push a tag in the form vX.Y.Z after updating package.json to the same version.
• GitHub Actions runs npm ci, npm run compile, npm test, packages a .vsix, publishes to VS Code Marketplace, and attaches the .vsix to the GitHub release.
• For ad-hoc publishing, use the Publish Extension workflow from the Actions tab to publish the current package.json version manually.
• Add the repository secret VSCE_PAT before using the workflow.

⚠️ Known Issues

• Copilot Chat API is still evolving; some features may require updates as the API stabilizes
• Model selection may not work in all configurations
• Experimental model quality relies on evolving VS Code/Copilot internals and may not work in all configurations

Disclaimer: This extension automates Copilot Chat. GitHub's Acceptable Use Policies prohibit "excessive automated bulk activity", the Terms of Service § H (API Terms) allow account suspension for excessive API usage, and the GitHub Copilot Additional Product Terms apply these policies directly to Copilot. Use at your own risk; your account could be rate-limited or restricted. Configure jitter/daily limits/longer intervals to reduce risk, but there is no guarantee.

Note: There are reports of Copilot access being restricted even without using automation tools. These mitigations reduce obvious automation patterns but cannot eliminate that risk.

🐛 Report a bug

📦 Release Notes

0.1.0

Initial release:

• Cron-based task scheduling
• Agent and model selection
• English/Japanese localization
• Sidebar TreeView
• Webview GUI for task management
• Prompt template support

📄 License

CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 © aktsmm

Enjoy scheduling your Copilot prompts! 🚀