Automation command (/automation)

Set up a scheduled background automation by describing it to the agent in a conversation, instead of writing sidecar.json by hand.

Note

Surface availability: /automation is available in Antigravity App.

Overview

Background automations (formerly called Scheduled Tasks) run an agent prompt on a recurring schedule, such as a daily digest, weekly pull request check, or nightly test report. Each run starts a fresh agent conversation with no memory of previous runs.

The /automation command has the agent walk you through creating one. You can also start the same flow from the Automations tab by selecting Create with Prompt, which opens a new conversation with the /automation command filled in for you to send. The agent:

• Asks for a schedule: you choose a cadence, day, and time. The agent always pins the schedule to an IANA timezone with CRON_TZ=<zone>, using the zone or city you mention, or your computer’s timezone.
• Writes a self-contained prompt: it refines what you want the task to do into instructions that work without any earlier conversation.
• Creates the automation: it saves the automation to ~/.gemini/config/sidecars/<automation-id>/sidecar.json. New automations start under Paused in the Automations tab until you turn them on.
• Sets up permissions now or later: if you choose now, it runs the task in the current conversation and records the exact permissions the run needed.
• Summarizes the automation: it lists the schedule, task, and permissions, with an Open Automations Dashboard button where you turn the automation on.

Automations run on Flash by default. You can choose Flash Lite, Flash, or Pro when you create or edit an automation in the Automations tab.

Launch /automation

Start /automation from the conversation composer in either of the following ways:

• With an inline prompt: type /automation followed by what the automation should do and when it should run:

  /automation every Monday at 9am Pacific time, check my open pull requests and list any with failing checks

• Guided setup: run /automation on its own, or select Create with Prompt in the Automations tab and send the pre-filled command. The agent then asks for each detail:

  /automation

How /automation works

The agent creates the automation through a short question-and-answer flow in the conversation:

1. Choose a cadence

   The agent asks how often the automation should run: Hourly, Daily, Weekly, or a Custom cron schedule.

   automation

   Explored file›

   Asking 1 question

   Waiting for user input.

   What should be the cadence of the automation?×

   • 1Hourly
   • 2Daily
   • 3Weekly (selected)
   • 4Custom cron schedule
   • 5Other (write your answer)

   SkipSubmit↵

2. Choose the day and time

   The agent asks for the day and time, then confirms the schedule with its timezone. It converts your answer into a five-field cron expression prefixed with CRON_TZ=<IANA zone>, such as CRON_TZ=America/Los_Angeles 0 9 * * 1.

3. Describe the task

   The agent asks what the automation should do and refines your answer into a self-contained prompt that states the goal, where to look, and what to report:

   automation

   Worked for 1m›

   1 question

   What should be the cadence of the automation?

   Weekly

   2 questions

   Which day(s) of the week should it run?

   Monday

   At what time of day?

   9:00 AM

   Got it, every Monday at 9:00 AM America/Los_Angeles time.

   What would you like the task to do? (For example: "Check my open pull requests and list any with failing checks.")

4. Set permissions now or later

   The agent creates the automation. It then asks whether to run a test now to configure the automation’s permissions. If you choose the test run, the agent runs the task once in the current conversation and records the exact permissions the run needed in the automation’s agent_permissions. If you decline, you can review permissions and turn the automation on in the Automations tab.

   Note

   Unattended runs automatically deny anything that would normally ask for your approval, which is why the test run matters. The agent is instructed to write only scoped grants, such as command(gh issue list), read_file(/abs/path), write_file(/abs/path), mcp(<server>/<tool>), or read_url(github.com), rather than bare or wildcard grants. Review the grants before you turn the automation on.

   Created automation›

   Asking 1 question

   Waiting for user input.

   Once enabled, 'Weekly PR Check' will run in a project that inherits global permissions and presets, and all other non-approved commands will be auto-denied. Would you like me to execute a test run now to configure its permissions properly so it can proceed successfully?×

   • 1(Recommended) Yes, execute a test run now to configure permissions (selected)
   • 2No, I'll review permissions and enable 'Weekly PR Check' in the Automations dashboard
   • 3Other (write your answer)

   SkipSubmit↵

5. Review the summary and open the Automations tab

   The agent summarizes the automation: the name and ID, schedule, task, and any permissions granted. It also shows an Open Automations Dashboard button so you can turn the automation on:

   Sounds good. Summary of what's set up:

   • Automation: Weekly PR Check (weekly-pr-check)
   • Schedule: every Monday at 9:00 AM America/Los_Angeles
   • Task: lists your open pull requests and reports any with failing checks, with links and the failing check names (read-only; no changes to pull requests).
   • Permissions granted: gh pr list,gh pr checks

   Enable it when you're ready: Open Automations Dashboard. If the first run gets blocked on a permission, let me know and I can run a test pass to tighten the grants.

To start using the automation, open the Automations tab, where it’s listed under Paused, review its permissions, and turn it on. Once it’s turned on, you can also start a run right away with Run Now.

For the sidecar.json fields an automation uses, including arguments and agent_permissions, refer to Automations.

Example prompts

The following prompts show common ways to use /automation:

• Weekly pull request check:

  /automation every Monday at 9am Pacific time, check my open pull requests and list any with failing checks

• Weekday issue triage:

  /automation every weekday at 9am in New York, triage new GitHub issues and label them by severity

• Nightly test report:

  /automation every night at midnight UTC, run the integration test suite and summarize any failures

/automation compared with /schedule

Both /automation and /schedule run agent work on a schedule, but at different scopes:

	/automation	/schedule
Best for	Recurring jobs such as daily reports, nightly maintenance, and triage	Timers, CI polling, and check-ins during a task
Surfaces	Antigravity App	Antigravity App, Antigravity CLI, and Antigravity IDE
Schedule	Cron expression pinned with CRON_TZ=<IANA zone>	One-time timer or cron loop
Lifetime	Persists across sessions and restarts until you turn it off	Current conversation
Context	Starts a fresh agent conversation on each run	Wakes the existing agent with its full conversation history
Where it lives	~/.gemini/config/sidecars/<automation-id>/sidecar.json, managed in the Automations tab	A tool call the agent makes for you
Permissions	Scoped agent_permissions recorded after a test run	The current conversation’s permissions

Use /automation for unattended work that should keep running when no conversation is open. Use /schedule when you want the agent in your current conversation to wake up after a timer or poll an operation while you keep working.

Next steps

Explore related documentation:

• Sidecars: Learn how automations and other sidecars are configured, including arguments and agent_permissions.
• Schedule command (/schedule): Set one-time timers and recurring schedules within a conversation.
• Permissions: Learn how access grants work.
• Slash commands overview: Browse every available slash command.