aias - AI Assistant (AIA) Scheduler

[!INFO] See the CHANGELOG for the latest changes.

"Schedule. Batch. Execute." Full Documentation

Key Features Natural Language Scheduling Zero Configuration Reliable Cron Environment MCP Server Support Per-Prompt Overrides Schedule-Specific Config Single-Prompt Control Full Sync on Update Safe Validation Rich Inspection Commands

Schedule AIA prompts as cron jobs. Add a schedule: key to any prompt's YAML frontmatter — aias update does the rest.

No separate configuration file. No daemon. The OS cron daemon runs each job as a fresh aia process.

gem install aias

Or add to your Gemfile:

gem "aias"

Requirements: Ruby >= 3.2, the aia CLI installed and reachable in your login shell, AIA_PROMPTS_DIR set to your prompts directory.

$ aias help
Commands:
  aias add PATH              # Add (or replace) a single scheduled prompt in the crontab
  aias check                 # Diff view: scheduled prompts vs what is installed
  aias clear                 # Remove all aias-managed crontab entries
  aias dry-run               # Show what `update` would write without touching the crontab
  aias help [COMMAND]        # Describe available commands or one specific command
  aias install [PATTERN...]  # Capture PATH, API keys, and env vars into ~/.config/aia/schedule/env.sh
  aias last [N]              # Show last-run time for installed jobs (default 5)
  aias list                  # List all installed aias cron jobs
  aias next [N]              # Show next scheduled run time for installed jobs (default 5)
  aias remove PROMPT_ID      # Remove a single scheduled prompt from the crontab
  aias show PROMPT_ID        # Show the installed crontab entry for a single prompt
  aias uninstall             # Remove managed env block from ~/.config/aia/schedule/env.sh
  aias update                # Scan prompts, regenerate all crontab entries, and install
  aias version               # Print the aias version

Options:
  -p, [--prompts-dir=PROMPTS_DIR]  # Prompts directory (overrides AIA_PROMPTS__DIR / AIA_PROMPTS_DIR env vars)

1. Capture your environment (once):

aias install

2. Add a schedule to any prompt's frontmatter:

---
schedule: "0 8 * * *"
description: Morning briefing
---
Summarize what happened overnight in the Ruby and AI ecosystems.

3. Validate and install:

aias update

4. Verify:

aias list
aias check

Cron runs with a minimal environment — no Ruby version manager, no API keys, no user-defined variables. aias install solves this by capturing your current shell environment into ~/.config/aia/schedule/env.sh, which is sourced before every scheduled job.

If your scheduled prompts use MCP servers, those servers may need their own credentials — auth tokens, configuration paths, or other variables that are not covered by the defaults. Pass glob patterns to aias install to capture them:

# GitHub MCP server (needs a personal access token)
aias install 'GITHUB_*'

# Homebrew MCP server
aias install 'HOMEBREW_*'

# Multiple patterns at once
aias install 'GITHUB_*' 'HOMEBREW_*'

Check the documentation for each MCP server you use to identify the variables it reads, then add the corresponding pattern. Re-run aias install any time you add a new API key, install a new MCP server binary, or change your Ruby version.

Installs or replaces the cron job for a single prompt file. All other installed jobs are left untouched. Errors immediately if the file has no schedule: in its frontmatter or fails validation.

aias add ~/.prompts/standup.md
# aias: added standup (every weekday at 9:00am (0 9 * * 1-5))

aias add ~/.prompts/drafts/idea.md
# aias [error] 'drafts/idea' has no schedule: in its frontmatter

Use add when you want to schedule a single new prompt without re-scanning the entire prompts directory. Use update to synchronise everything at once.

--prompts-dir PATH (alias -p) overrides the AIA_PROMPTS__DIR / AIA_PROMPTS_DIR environment variables for any command that reads prompt files:

aias --prompts-dir ~/work/prompts update
aias -p ~/work/prompts dry-run
aias -p ~/work/prompts check

The schedule: value accepts a standard cron expression, a @-shorthand keyword, or a natural language string. Natural language parsing is provided by the fugit gem.

schedule: "0 8 * * *"                    # cron expression
schedule: "@daily"                        # @ shorthand
schedule: "every day at 8am"             # natural language
schedule: "every weekday at 9am"         # natural language
schedule: "every monday at 9am"          # natural language
schedule: "every monday through friday at 9am"  # natural language
schedule: "every 6 hours"               # natural language
schedule: "every 30 minutes"            # natural language
schedule: "every 1st of the month at midnight"  # natural language
schedule: "every day at 9am in America/New_York"  # with timezone

Natural language strings are resolved to cron expressions at install time. Use aias dry-run to preview the resolved expression before installing. See Scheduling Prompts for the full reference including all supported patterns, limitations, and a quick-reference table.

Once a prompt has been scheduled and resides in the crontab you cannot remove it just by deleting or commenting out the schedule: line. Run aias update (full sync) or aias remove PROMPT_ID to remove it.

Before installing, aias validates each scheduled prompt:

• Schedule syntax — cron expression or natural language must be parseable
• Parameter completeness — all parameters: keys must have default values (interactive input is impossible in cron)
• AIA binary — aia must be locatable in PATH or a known version-manager shim directory (~/.rbenv/shims, ~/.rvm/bin, ~/.asdf/shims, /opt/homebrew/bin)

Invalid prompts are warned and excluded. The remaining valid prompts are installed.

Each job logs to ~/.config/aia/schedule/logs/<prompt_id>.log. stdout and stderr are combined and overwrite the log on each run.

~/.config/aia/schedule/logs/
  daily_digest.log
  reports/
    weekly.log

Prompt file with schedule: in YAML frontmatter
         │
         ▼
aias update scans prompts directory for schedule: keys
         │
         ▼
Each prompt is validated: schedule syntax, parameter defaults, aia binary
         │
         ▼
A cron entry is written for each valid prompt
         │
         ▼
OS cron daemon runs each job on schedule:
  source env.sh && aia [--prompts-dir DIR] prompt_id > log 2>&1

bin/setup                                     # install dependencies
bundle exec rake test                         # run all tests
bundle exec ruby -Ilib:test test/test_aias.rb # run a single test file
bin/console                                   # interactive REPL

MIT