Routines: say a name, get the steps done

4 min · Skills, routines and the Creator market

A routine is a named list of steps you write once. Say its name and Minda does the steps in order, then reports back.

Think of a morning job: check today's email, summarize the ones from my team, send me the summary on WhatsApp. Save it as Morning report, and from then on two words do the whole thing.

Make one

Open Settings → Routines and press New routine. Give it a name, then write its steps; Enter starts the next one. Move up and Move down change the order. Write each step as you would tell a person: what to do, and where to send the result. A routine holds up to 20 steps of up to 500 characters each.

You can also ask the AI chat in plain words: make a routine called Task A that checks my inbox and lists anything from the bank. The chat can make, change, turn off and delete routines for you, with Undo.

Run it

Say Run Task A in the AI chat, to the mascot or by voice.
Or press Run now on its row in Settings → Routines. That opens the AI chat and does each step in order.

If you name a routine you have not saved, Minda tells you, lists the ones you have, and offers to make it.

Pick a name that stands out

A routine is found by the words of its name. A one-word name such as Email comes up in everyday talk, so Minda may think you mean the routine when you are talking about something else. A name of a few words, such as Task A or Morning report, is found only when you mean it. Settings shows a hint when a name is too ordinary.

Give it a time

Save the routine, then press Add a time. Pick how it repeats (every day, every weekday, every week on the day you pick, or once on a date) and the time of day. It runs by itself while Minda is open.

Two things to know:

Timed runs need an AI model. If none is set up, Minda says so and points you to Settings → AI.
If a time's runs keep failing, Minda pauses it and shows Paused after its runs kept failing, so it doesn't fail quietly every morning. It also pauses while built-in AI is off.

Each step is work for the AI, so a routine uses Minda AI credits like any chat, or none with your own keys or Ollama.

Safe by design

A routine that came from a file, a backup or another computer shows Needs review. Read its steps and turn it on to use it. Until then, saying its name doesn't run it.
An automation can run a routine with the step Run a routine. Only your routine's own steps run: nothing from the message or event that set it off is passed in.
Routines are on every plan. Minda SI for Chrome has the same list through your account, under Routines in its tools.

A good first routine is one you already do by hand every day. Write the steps exactly as you would tell a new assistant.