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AI Task Management

How to create, delegate, and automate tasks with your Delegated AI agent — from quick one-liners to scheduled workflows that run while you sleep.

Overview

Delegated's AI agent doesn't just track tasks — it executes them. You describe what needs to happen, the agent figures out the steps, and it gets it done. This guide walks through task creation, prioritization, scheduling, and tips for writing tasks that produce great results.

The core idea: Think of your AI agent like a capable team member. You don't need to micromanage the steps — just explain the outcome you want and any important constraints.

Creating Tasks

From the Dashboard Chat

The fastest way to create a task is via the dashboard chat. Just describe what you want done:

Check if any customers emailed about their order in the last 48 hours.
If there are unresolved questions, draft reply emails and save them as drafts.

---

Pull last week's Shopify revenue and compare it to the week before.
Send me a brief summary via Telegram.

---

Write a product description for our new toe spacer variant.
Use the existing AlignPro description as a reference tone.
Save it to the drafts folder.

The agent parses your message, creates a task, and queues it for execution. You'll see it appear in the Kanban board under TODO.

From the Kanban Board

Click + New Task in the TODO column to open the task editor. Fill in:

Via the API

POST /api/tasks
Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "title": "Weekly revenue report",
  "description": "Pull Shopify revenue for the past 7 days. Compare to the week before. Send via Telegram.",
  "priority": "normal",
  "schedule": "0 8 * * MON",
  "tags": ["shopify", "reporting"]
}

Writing Effective Task Descriptions

The quality of the agent's output depends heavily on how the task is written. Here are the patterns that work best:

Be specific about the outcome

❌ Vague✅ Clear
Check emailsCheck IMAP inbox for emails since yesterday. Flag any from customers asking about orders. Create a task for each one.
Update product pageUpdate the AlignPro product description on Shopify to include the new "100-day guarantee" bullet point. Keep the existing bullets.
Write social postWrite 3 Instagram caption options for the ALIGND Flex launch. Tone: warm, empowering, health-focused. Max 150 characters each. Save to drafts.

Specify where to save output

Always tell the agent where to put results. Options include:

Set constraints upfront

If there are things the agent should not do, say so explicitly:

Research competitor pricing for ergonomic pillows (MellowSleep, Derila, Tempur).
DO NOT send any emails.
Just compile findings into a structured summary and send it to me via Telegram.
Tip: Add "Let me review before sending" to any task that involves external communication (emails, social posts, API writes). The agent will create drafts instead of publishing.

Task Priorities

PriorityBehaviourUse for
Low Runs when no higher-priority tasks are queued Research, non-urgent reports, background improvements
Normal Standard queue position, first-in first-out Most everyday tasks
High Moves ahead of Normal tasks in the queue Customer escalations, time-sensitive actions
Urgent Interrupts current work and runs immediately Live incidents, payment issues, urgent customer responses

Scheduling Tasks

Any task can be scheduled to run automatically using cron syntax or plain-language scheduling.

Plain-language scheduling

"Run every Monday at 08:00"
"Every day at 07:30"
"First day of the month at 09:00"
"Weekdays only, 18:00"

Cron syntax

0 8 * * MON     → Every Monday at 08:00
30 7 * * *      → Every day at 07:30
0 9 1 * *       → First of each month at 09:00
0 18 * * 1-5    → Weekdays at 18:00

Common scheduled task examples

Note: Scheduled tasks count toward your monthly usage. On the Free plan, schedules are limited to daily frequency. Pro and Agency plans support any cron schedule.

Task Lifecycle

Every task moves through these states:

  1. TODO — Task is created and waiting. You can edit or delete it here.
  2. IN PROGRESS — Agent has picked it up and is actively working. You'll see real-time progress notes appear on the card.
  3. REVIEW — Agent completed its work and is waiting for your approval. This happens when the task has a "review before sending" flag or when the agent is unsure about an action.
  4. DONE — Task completed. Result is logged on the card.
  5. FAILED — Something went wrong. The card shows the error and whether a retry was attempted.

Reviewing Agent Output

When a task moves to REVIEW, open the card to see what the agent produced. You can:

Multi-Step Workflows

For complex processes that span multiple actions, describe the full workflow in the task description. The agent will break it into steps internally:

Weekly SoftBrite performance review:
1. Pull last 7 days of Shopify orders — revenue, units sold, refunds
2. Check email inbox for any customer issues from the past week
3. Look up current competitor whitening strip prices (Crest, SNOW, HiSmile)
4. Compile all findings into a report
5. Send report summary via Telegram with a "Review full report" link
Tip: Number your steps for complex workflows. It helps the agent track progress and makes the task card easier to follow during execution.

Task Templates

Save frequently used task descriptions as templates so you don't have to rewrite them. In the task editor, click Save as Template. Templates appear in the + New Task dropdown for fast reuse.

Popular templates from the Delegated community:

Troubleshooting

Task stuck in IN PROGRESS

If a task has been running for more than 30 minutes without completing, it may be waiting on an external API or hitting a rate limit. Open the card to see progress notes. If there's no activity for 10+ minutes, you can force-retry from the task menu.

Task failed immediately

Check the error message on the task card. Common causes:

Agent output is off

If results don't match what you expected, use "Retry with feedback" and describe what was wrong. The agent uses your feedback to adjust. For recurring issues with a specific task type, consider refining the task template.

Next Steps

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