Jobs

What StoriBot runs on a schedule, as the person who made it. To add or change a job, ask StoriBot.

What a job is

A job is a saved instruction with a schedule. When the time comes, StoriBot runs it unattended, as you and with your rights, and the organisation’s credits pay for the run.

Most jobs run a Stori again: rebuild the monthly report from live systems on the first of the month, refresh the page every morning, make the quarter’s file when the quarter closes. The job carries the instruction and what the last run noted, and the result is the Stori, updated.

A job can also be an instruction with no Stori: a check. “Look at sales, compare with last time, and email me if they dropped.” StoriBot runs it, and writes only when there is something to say. It can start a Stori from there if the instruction needs one.

You do not choose between the two. Say what you want run and when, and StoriBot makes the job that fits. A run can have a cost cap, in whole dollars, and stops when it reaches it.

Making one

There is no job form. Tell StoriBot what you want run and when, in the chat. Before it makes the job it reads it back in plain words: what it does, how often in numbers, the time zone, and who gets its mail. Then it shows a card, and the job exists only when you say yes. Changing or deleting a job works the same way.

A schedule can be a repeat, such as every Monday at 9:00 Sydney time, or a single time. A job that ran once stays on the list until you delete it.

The Jobs page

The Jobs page lists the organisation’s jobs. Each row says when it runs, what it does (Builds, with the Stori’s name, or Runs StoriBot for a check), who its emails go to, its cost cap if it has one, and who made it, with pause, resume and delete. A check’s latest run is a chat you can open from the row. Only the person who made a job can change it or delete it; everyone else can see it. A Stori with a live job carries a mark on its card and in the sidebar.

Who it emails

Every job has a list of receivers, from one to ten addresses. If you do not name any, the list is you. StoriBot writes to them from its own address, and they can reply.

A run does not mail on every fire. It mails when:

• The instruction says to. “Tell me if sales drop” mails only when they do.
• The work failed, or the run stopped at its cost cap or step limit. This is always mailed.
• The run has a question it cannot answer from the Stori and the Library. It asks by email, and reminds once a day until someone answers.
• The run could not start. The receivers are told, at most once a day.
• The person who made the job leaves the organisation. The receivers are told and the job is paused.

A reply to any of these lands back in the run’s chat, and StoriBot continues from it. When a mail goes to someone other than the maker, the footer names the maker. See Email.

What a run cannot do

Nobody is watching a scheduled run, so it cannot do anything that needs a yes. It cannot connect a system, change the Library, share a Stori or make another job. Those wait for an approval that never comes and are refused.

Remembering between runs

At the end of each run StoriBot saves a short note of what the next run needs, such as last month’s figure. The next run reads it first, which is how “tell me if it changed” works.