Routines: Put A Playbook On A Schedule

A playbook with a schedule is a routine. That is the whole distinction: nothing else changes, it simply stops waiting for you to press Run.

The routines calendar

Routines shows every scheduled playbook across every site, and when each one runs next.

There is a list view as well, grouped by playbook, showing each site’s own day and time. Switching a routine off takes it off the calendar without detaching the playbook from the site.

Which sites can schedule

Scheduling is an Autopilot feature. On a Copilot site, playbooks run when you press Run, and a routine row on that site reads “Will not run” with the reason on the line underneath. A site on no plan cannot run playbooks at all.

The two free weekly playbooks are the exception and schedule on any plan, including none.

The two free weekly playbooks, and switching them on

Two playbooks are available on every site and run free, once a week: WP Security Audit and Cron Health Checker. The site’s own screen lists them under “Included with Protuno” rather than “Added by you”.

They start switched off. Being included does not mean they are running.

Switching one on runs it now. That is the point of the switch: a weekly scan you cannot see the result of for seven days is indistinguishable from one that failed. The screen says so at the moment you press it (“Your first scan has started”), and the routine then repeats every seven days from that moment. The one case where it does not run straight away is if that site already had its free run inside the last seven days, in which case it resumes on its own clock and the screen tells you when.

Free means fired by the clock. Pressing Run on either of these in between weekly firings is a run you started, and it is billed like any other. Switching one off pauses the schedule and keeps the copy, so switching it back on returns what was there.

Everything else is on demand and consumes credits when it runs.

Where to go next

• What Protuno costs, to know what a schedule will cost.
• What Protuno can and cannot change, before leaving anything on unattended.