ChatGPT scheduled tasks: how to set them up, limits and fixes

Short answer

Ask ChatGPT in a chat, such as "Every weekday at 8am, summarize my unread email", or open Scheduled in the sidebar and type the task there. ChatGPT runs it on its own and tells you by push notification or email. Free and Go get 3 active tasks, Plus 5, Business 10, Pro and Enterprise 15. On paid plans a task can also start when a Gmail or Slack message arrives. A task can use your connected apps, and it pauses when an action needs your approval.

How to schedule a task in ChatGPT

1. Ask in any chat: "Every Monday at 9am, list my meetings for the week and flag the ones without an agenda." Or open Scheduled in the sidebar and type it in Schedule a task, or start from an example like Daily brief or Email monitor.
2. ChatGPT confirms in the chat and shows the task as a chip. Open it to check the time and how often it repeats.
3. Turn on notifications under Settings › Notifications: push, email or both. In a browser, allow notifications for chatgpt.com too.

A task can run once, repeat, watch for a change ("tell me when the price drops"), or, in ChatGPT Work, start on an app event. On paid plans it runs at most hourly, at exact times. On Free it runs at most once a day, in a window such as morning or evening (OpenAI help).

Scheduled works on the web and in the mobile apps. If it doesn't show in the desktop app, use the web. For push notifications on your phone, create the task in the mobile app.

Limits by plan

Every run counts against your plan's usage, even when it finds nothing to report. Event-started tasks together run at most 30 times an hour and 720 times a day; ChatGPT may group several events into one run.

Free got its three tasks on August 25, 2026 (release notes). ChatGPT's pricing page still says Free has none; the help center is the current one.

Tasks that start when an email arrives

In ChatGPT Work, a task can start on an event instead of a time (OpenAI docs):

You set a trigger, a condition and a prompt, such as "When an email from a client arrives, if it asks for a meeting, find two free slots and draft a reply". A task uses triggers or a time, not both. On Enterprise and Edu, an admin turns on Allow event-triggered scheduled tasks first.

Using Gmail, Calendar and Slack in a task

A task can search the web and use the apps you connected, like Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack and GitHub. Tasks created in ChatGPT Work can also use your plugins and skills. Three things decide whether it runs to the end:

• Approvals. Anything that sends a message or changes data may need your OK. The task then pauses until you approve it in Scheduled (app permissions). For a task that only reads, set the app to Allow read actions.
• Sign-ins. A task can't sign you in on its own. Connect each app in a normal chat first, and reconnect it when a sign-in expires.
• Projects. A task created inside a project can't read that project's files.

Where results go

Each run's answer lands in the task's chat, and Scheduled shows the latest runs. Notifications go by push, email or both, as set under Settings › Notifications. To share a task, open it in Scheduled and click Share: the copy keeps its prompt and time zone but not your memory.

Manage, pause and delete tasks

Open Scheduled in the sidebar, or Settings › Notifications › Manage tasks, or ••• › See scheduled tasks in a chat. From there you can pause, resume, edit, share or delete a task. Deleting a task keeps its chat. Deleting the chat pauses the task.

Why ChatGPT scheduled tasks stop or disappear

The task is paused

ChatGPT pauses a task when it waits for your approval, when you archive or delete its chat, or after a period of inactivity. Resume it in Scheduled. If it was waiting for an approval, review the action first.

You hit the limit

Creating a task fails when you have as many active ones as your plan allows. Pause or delete one.

No notification arrived

Check Settings › Notifications for push or email, allow notifications in your browser, and for phone alerts, create the task in the mobile app.

An email-started task stopped

The app's sign-in expired or was removed. Reconnect Gmail or Slack, then check Scheduled for a pause or a pending approval.

"GPT-4o with scheduled tasks" is gone

Tasks started out as a model in the picker. In December 2025 OpenAI moved them into Pulse, on February 13, 2026 it retired GPT-4o from ChatGPT, and on June 17, 2026 it replaced Pulse with the Scheduled page. Your old tasks and your daily briefing live there now.

It doesn't work in this chat

Tasks don't run in voice chats, custom GPTs or locked chats. Start a normal chat.

Ideas to schedule

• Morning briefing: "Every weekday at 7:30, list today's meetings, unanswered emails that mention me, and anything urgent in #support."
• Follow-ups: "Every Friday at 4pm, find emails I sent this week that got no reply, and draft a polite nudge for each. Don't send."
• Invoices: "On the 1st of every month, find invoices in my email from last month and total them by vendor."
• Watch: "Let me know when the passport office posts new appointment dates."
• Meeting prep: "Every morning, for each meeting with someone outside my company, summarize our last emails."

With Upsy

Upsy adds your Gmail accounts, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Slack and Zoho Mail to ChatGPT through one plugin. For tasks that run while you're away, it adds:

• Limits a task can't talk its way past. Give ChatGPT Read-only access to Gmail in Upsy, and no run can send or delete, whatever an email tells it.
• A record of each run. Upsy's History lists every email a task read or sent, under ChatGPT, and emails you if one assistant sends 20 or more messages in 10 minutes.
• Playbooks. Write a method once, like Daily briefing or Invoice follow-up, and schedule "Use Upsy and follow my Daily briefing playbook". The same playbook works in Claude.
• The same apps in Claude. Claude's scheduled tasks use the same connections.

To add Upsy to ChatGPT, see add a custom MCP server to ChatGPT. Then set its read actions to run without asking, so a reading task never stops for approval.

FAQ

How many scheduled tasks can I have in ChatGPT?

3 on Free and Go, 5 on Plus, 10 on Business and Edu, 15 on Pro and Enterprise. Paused tasks don't count.

Can ChatGPT scheduled tasks send emails?

They can act in connected apps, but sending usually needs your approval, and the task waits until you give it. The results themselves reach you by push notification or email.

Can a scheduled task run every hour?

On paid plans, yes: hourly is the most often. On Free, once a day.

Do scheduled tasks work on the free plan?

Yes, since August 25, 2026: three tasks, once a day at most, in a time window rather than an exact time.

Where did ChatGPT Pulse go?

OpenAI shut Pulse down on June 17, 2026. Its daily briefing became a scheduled task you manage on the Scheduled page.