Crons with Skills

12.2. Crons with Skills — Attaching Skills to Cron Jobs

Attaching a skill to each job

hermes cron create "0 9 * * 1" \
  "Compile weekly KPIs from CRM and Sheets" \
  --skill google-workspace \
  --name "Weekly KPI digest"

This is the direct connection between chapter 12 and chapter 10 (Skills): a cron job does not just run a bare prompt — it can carry exactly the right toolkit/procedure it needs (Google Workspace, GitHub, a self-made skill created with /learn) to do that specific job properly.

Why this is a stronger pattern than plain cron

Cron + skill means you no longer have to stuff the entire procedure’s instructions into the job’s prompt every time — the complex procedure (already packaged in 10.1) is separated from the schedule, and the job only needs to reference the right skill and state the specific requirement for that run.

Combining --script for the raw data part

hermes cron create "every 1h" \
  "Compare the new snapshot with the previous one, alert if the change is significant" \
  --script watch_site.py

The script runs before each pass and provides context (already fetched/diffed) to the agent — the agent only does the reasoning, without having to redo the entire data-fetching work every time.

Notes

• For jobs that operate external SaaS/APIs, always attach the right skill instead of hoping the agent remembers how to use the tools correctly — a skill guarantees consistency across hundreds of automated runs, unlike an interactive conversation where you can fix mistakes on the spot.
• Split out a separate skill for each type of recurring job (KPI reports, site watching, news rollups) instead of lumping everything into one “do-it-all” skill — easier to maintain and debug when a specific job type has a problem.
• If a cron procedure keeps getting more complex over time, that is a good signal to upgrade from a plain prompt to a well-structured skill (When to Use / Procedure / Pitfalls / Verification, as described in 10.1).