Morning briefing

This tutorial sets up a short morning brief that Hermes sends to your Telegram every weekday. You start from a ready-made suggestion, check the schedule Hermes saved, and read the first brief when it arrives.

What you'll need

• A paid plan, Mini or Pro, with your agent set up.
• Telegram connected. Connecting it gives your results somewhere to arrive: your private chat with your bot. If you haven't done it yet, follow the Telegram tutorial first.
• Your time zone set. A new agent runs on UTC. Set yours in Settings›Background tasks first, as Scheduled tasks explains, or 8am may be saved as 8am UTC. (If the card there says your agent needs an update first, your agent stays on UTC for now; the steps below show you how to check the time.)
• The next weekday morning to see the first brief arrive.

Steps

1. Open the Scheduled page

   Open the Scheduled page. In builder mode it's also "Scheduled" in the sidebar; in simple mode, use the link (it works in either mode).

   The page is titled "Scheduled Tasks", and a "Suggestions" section sits at the bottom.

2. Pick the Morning brief card

   Under "Suggestions", click "Morning brief". Its schedule line reads "At 08:00 AM, Monday through Friday", and it says "What's on today, plus one headline worth knowing."

   A new chat opens with this request already in the message box. It isn't sent yet:

   Every weekday at 8am, send me a short morning brief: what's on my plate today and one headline worth knowing. Keep it under 150 words.

3. Make it yours

   Edit the request in the message box if you'd like. For example, change "8am" to the time you want the brief, or change "under 150 words" to a length you prefer.

   The message box now holds your version. Nothing has been sent.

4. Send the request

   Press Enter.

   Hermes answers in the chat and sets the task up. Its reply is in its own words, so the next step checks what it actually saved.

5. Go back to the Scheduled page

   Open the Scheduled page again.

   The page opens. Your new task may already be listed, or it may not have arrived yet.

6. Refresh the list

   Press "↻ refresh".

   The list reloads, and a row for your morning brief is there. If it still isn't, wait a moment and press it again.

7. Check the saved schedule

   Read the new row.

   It shows the task's name (or your request) as its title, a schedule line (in your own time zone, for a repeating task like this one; for example "At 08:00 AM, Monday through Friday"), and "next" with how long until the first brief.

8. Ask for a different time if it's off

   If the schedule line doesn't show the time you meant, ask Hermes in the chat to change the morning brief's time. If your agent was on UTC when you asked, setting your time zone now doesn't fix it: a task you already made keeps its UTC time. If it was right the first time, skip this step and the next two.

   Hermes answers in the chat.

9. Refresh after the change

   Back on the Scheduled page, press "↻ refresh".

   The list reloads with Hermes' change.

10. Check the row again

    Read the row's schedule line.

    When it reads the way you want, the brief is set.

11. Wait for the first brief

    Wait for the next weekday at your chosen time.

    The brief arrives in your Telegram chat with your bot.

12. Open the latest result

    On the Scheduled page, click "See latest result" on the row.

    The same brief opens in the dashboard. The row now shows how long ago it ran, and the run is listed under "Recent runs".

What you should see

• In Telegram, a short brief from your bot each weekday at the time on the row.
• On the Scheduled page, the task under "Today" or "This week", with "next" and "ran" times, a "See latest result" link, and one entry per run under "Recent runs".
• In the sidebar, each run is also a chat under "Recents", marked with a clock, once you click "Show scheduled runs".
• In simple mode, For You lists the brief with "next" and, after it has run, "done".

One run each weekday is well inside both plans' limits (up to 24 runs a day for each task on Mini, 96 on Pro).

Variations

• Ask from Telegram instead. Send the same request to your bot. A task you create from Telegram reports back to that Telegram chat.
• Type it yourself. You don't need the card: paste the request into the web chat in any mode, change it, and send it.
• Every day, not just weekdays. Change "Every weekday" to "Every day" before you send.
• An evening version. The "Evening wind-down" suggestion asks for "a short recap of our day and one thing to think about for tomorrow" every evening at 9pm.
• News only. The "News check" suggestion asks for the 3 stories that matter most on a topic you choose, every day at 7:30am, and adds "Turn on continuity so you remember what you sent me last time and only tell me what's new."

If something goes wrong

• The brief didn't arrive in Telegram, and the row says "Not sent to any chat." Your results have nowhere to go yet. Connect Telegram, and read the run you missed from "See latest result".
• It arrived at the wrong hour. Check that your agent runs in your time zone (Settings›Background tasks). Then ask Hermes in the chat to change the brief's time, and check the row's schedule line again.
• The row isn't there. Press "↻ refresh". If your agent is asleep, the page shows a saved copy that updates when a chat starts or ends on your agent.
• Nothing ran at all. MyHermes wakes your agent shortly before each task. It doesn't do that while your agent has reached its plan's running-time cap, or after your plan has ended.

Common questions

Is this the same as the morning briefing I picked when I signed up?

No. The "Morning briefing" you can pick in the first-run questions is your free daily task, which you read in For You. It isn't a scheduled task on your agent and it doesn't appear on the Scheduled page. This tutorial sets up the one that runs on your agent.

Can I change the brief later?

Yes. Ask Hermes in the chat to change what it includes or when it runs. To stop it, ask Hermes to stop sending it. The Scheduled page has no edit buttons.

I set my time zone after making the brief. Why is it still at the old hour?

Changing the time zone keeps each task's times. A brief you asked for while your agent was on UTC stays at that UTC time. Ask Hermes to change the brief's time.

What's next

• Scheduled tasks: every option on the Scheduled page, times and limits.
• Telegram: who can message your bot, and the commands it answers.
• Chat: where you ask for changes.