# Automations > Start an agent when nobody is here: on a schedule, with a task that repeats or starts on a market event, or when a monitor's signal fires. Source: https://orbitalaip.com/docs/agents/automations ## Where automations live An automation is anything that starts an agent without a person: a schedule, a task that a schedule or an event gives, or a monitor's wake. In the agent's conversation, the ⚡ button beside the composer opens **Automations for** the agent. In **Agent settings**, the **Automations** row (**Schedules and wakes that run it when nobody is here.**) has a **Manage** button that opens the same list in place. The header counts the schedules and task automations that are on, not a monitor's wake. Under ⚡ it reads, for example, **0 running · schedules created here start paused**; in **Agent settings** it reads **0 on**. **New**, or **Create automation** while the list is empty, opens the editor. Each schedule row has a switch. Viewers can read the list but cannot create, switch or remove an automation. An archived agent's automations are visible but cannot be changed, and they do not run. > [!NOTE] Schedules you create here start off > Saving makes the row. The switch is the deliberate act that starts recurring spend, so turn it on once the row looks right. A task from **Give a task** that starts **On a schedule** or **When something happens** is the exception: its **Turn it on now** box is ticked by default. ## Create a schedule 1. **Click New** The editor opens under **Create automation**. **Name** is optional, up to 120 characters. 2. **Pick the timing** **Timing** offers **Calendar timing**, **XNYS trading days**, **XNYS market hours**, **Market open** and **Market close**, which run as [Timing](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/workflows/schedules#timing) describes. With **Calendar timing**, **Repeat** is **Weekdays**, **Every day**, **Weekly** or **Advanced cron**. 3. **Add the run times** **Add** adds a run time, up to 20 in one schedule. **Time zone** starts on your device's zone. 4. **Give it input, if the agent needs any** **Run input** is an optional JSON object handed to every run. Leave it as `{}` when the agent needs no fixed input. 5. **Click Create automation** The new row appears in the list, off. Turn it on with its switch. **Run policy** works as [Schedules](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/workflows/schedules#run-policy) describes, except for two settings. Under **When a previous run is still active**, any run of the agent counts, including one you started, and **Keep only the latest** and **Queue every run** drop a run that comes due during another instead of queuing it. **Confirmation before every run** has nowhere to be approved, so leave it off. ## Edit, pause and remove To edit a schedule, click its row, or choose **Edit automation** from its ⋯ menu, then click **Save changes**. If someone changed it elsewhere, saving reads **This automation changed somewhere else. Reload before trying again.** To pause it, turn its switch off in the list. To remove it, choose **Remove automation** from its ⋯ menu, then **Remove**. This cannot be undone. ## A task on a schedule or on an event A task automation gives the agent a goal to work at until it is done, with a **Budget each time**. Make one from **Give** the agent **a task** with **On a schedule** or **When something happens**. It lists as **Task ·** and its name, with a **Last:** line giving the state, time and credits spent of the last time it fired. See [On a schedule or when something happens](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/agents/tasks#on-a-schedule-or-when-something-happens). ## A monitor's wake An agent whose **Kind** is **Monitor** (**Watches a signal and speaks up**) wakes on a signal instead of a clock. Its wake is set in **Agent settings** under **Advanced settings**. **Wakes when** describes the signal in words, **Watch** picks the source, and **Ticker** names the symbol. **Watch** lists news, ratings, filings and guidance; a wake on a price move is set up in Chat and shows **Configured in chat**. Until the signal fires it costs nothing and says nothing. **At most, per day** caps how often it wakes. It counts every run the agent's schedules and wakes started since 00:00 UTC, and once it is reached, its schedules stop too until the next day. Task automations are not counted and do not stop. The automations list shows the wake as **Wakes on a signal**, with **On · set in brief** or **Off · set in brief**. It has no switch: it is on while the agent is not archived, its setup is finished and the watch is complete. Click the row to open where it is edited. ## Permissions and approvals on an unattended run A scheduled, triggered or woken run asks exactly as a run you start by hand does: its card waits in the agent's conversation, and the agent's creator gets a notification. Approving does the act without starting a new run, except in a task's turn, where the task carries on. See [answering a request](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/agents/permissions-and-approvals#answer-a-held-action). Each run keeps the agent's **Spend cap** and **Step limit**, and a task stops when its budget is used and tells you. See [Memory and limits](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/agents/set-up-an-agent#memory-and-limits). ## From Chat and from other agents Chat creates a schedule you ask for switched on, unless you ask to keep it paused or to see it first. It reads times in Eastern Time unless you name another zone. See [When a change applies in the same turn](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/chat/proposals-and-approvals#when-a-change-applies-in-the-same-turn). An agent can also schedule itself or another agent in the project. It cannot while it works a task, answers in a channel, or has **Make trading decisions** set; see [Make trading decisions](https://orbitalaip.com/docs/agents/permissions-and-approvals#make-trading-decisions). A schedule an agent creates is always off until someone turns it on in the agent's automations.