Recurring Tasks

Some work happens on a regular schedule — daily opening procedures, weekly inventory checks, monthly deep cleans. Recurring tasks let you set it up once and have FastQuery create fresh tasks automatically on your chosen schedule.

Setting Up a Recurring Task

1. Create a task as you normally would (see Creating Tasks)
2. Open the task detail screen
3. Set a recurring schedule by choosing one of these options:
   • Daily — Every day, or specific days of the week
   • Weekly — Once a week on a chosen day
   • Monthly — Once a month on a chosen date
   • Custom — A custom schedule using cron-style scheduling

All schedules include timezone support, so tasks fire at the right time for your facility’s timezone.

A recurring task can run at most twice a day — recurring tasks are for regular routines, not minute-by-minute reminders. If you enter a custom schedule that would fire more often, FastQuery flags it as too frequent so you can dial it back. (Need the AI to do something on a tighter schedule — say, hourly? That’s a job for an automation, not a recurring task.)

What Happens When a Recurring Task Fires

When the schedule triggers, FastQuery does the following:

1. Auto-closes the previous task — If the last task from this schedule is still open, it’s automatically marked as complete. Its creator and assignees get a “Task closed” notification that includes the running auto-close count (see Safety Limit below).
2. Creates a new task — A fresh task is generated from the template, with a clean set of checklists (all items unchecked) and the same assignees.

The new task itself doesn’t send an assignment notification — a routine that fires on schedule shouldn’t ping the same people every time. It simply appears in the assignees’ My Tasks list, so your team always has a current task to work from.

Safety Limit

To prevent notification spam, FastQuery includes a built-in safety check. If a recurring task is auto-closed 5 times in a row without anyone actually completing it, the schedule is automatically deactivated.

This usually means the task isn’t relevant anymore or needs to be reassigned. You’ll see it coming: each auto-close notification counts up toward the limit (“this has happened 3 times — after 5 times, the repeating task will be turned off”), and the shutoff itself is recorded in the task’s activity log. Set the schedule up again from the task detail screen if the routine is still needed.

Managing Recurring Schedules

From the task detail screen, you can:

• View the schedule — See when the next task will be created
• Edit the schedule — Change the frequency or timing
• Pause the schedule — Temporarily stop new tasks from being created
• Deactivate the schedule — Permanently stop the recurrence

Great Uses for Recurring Tasks

• Daily opening and closing checklists
• Weekly inventory audits
• Monthly safety inspections or deep cleans