How do you set up ChatGPT Tasks for reminders and routines?

Until now, ChatGPT only spoke when spoken to. Tasks, a beta feature OpenAI began rolling out on January 14, changes that in a small but useful way: you can ask ChatGPT to do something later, once or on a schedule, and it will run the request at that time and let you know. A task can be a plain reminder ("remind me to renew my passport in June") or a prompt that runs again and again ("every Friday, suggest a weekend plan based on the weather").

It helps to think of a task as a saved prompt with an alarm clock. At the scheduled moment, ChatGPT runs your instructions with GPT-4o, can search the web if the request calls for it, and sends you the answer as a push notification or an email. You don't need to have ChatGPT open.

Who can use it, and where

During the beta, tasks are available to Plus, Team and Pro subscribers. Free accounts don't have them yet; OpenAI says it wants to learn from the beta before opening the feature more widely. Tasks work on the ChatGPT website and in the iOS, Android and macOS apps, with Windows promised later this quarter. The page that lists and manages all your tasks is on the website only.

Setting up a task, step by step

1. Open a new chat and click the model menu at the top of the screen.
2. Choose ChatGPT with scheduled tasks (some screens label it "4o with scheduled tasks").
3. Describe the task in plain words, including when it should run and how often.
4. Read ChatGPT's confirmation. It restates the name, the instructions and the schedule. If anything is off, reply in the same chat ("make it 6:30, not 7").
5. Allow notifications when asked. On a phone, creating your first task there prompts for permission; in a browser you may need to allow desktop notifications.

To see everything you've scheduled, click your profile icon and choose Tasks. From there you can edit a task's name, instructions and schedule with the pencil icon, or pause or delete it from the three-dot menu.

A worked example: a daily brief and a weekly reminder

The daily news brief. Specific instructions give much better results than "send me the news," because the same prompt will run every day without you there to clarify it.

Every weekday at 7:00 a.m., give me a news brief:
- 3 local stories from Ottawa and the Outaouais region
- 2 technology stories about artificial intelligence
For each story: one sentence on what happened, one on why it matters, and the source link.
Keep the whole brief under 200 words. Skip celebrity news.

The weekly reminder. Reminders can be short, but adding the reason makes the notification more useful when it arrives.

Every Sunday at 6:00 p.m., remind me to put out the recycling bin and check next week's calendar. Include one tip for planning a busy week.

After each one, ChatGPT replies with a confirmation of the schedule, something like "Daily news brief, weekdays at 7:00 a.m." (wording illustrative). The first run is the real test: read it and adjust the instructions if it's too long, too vague, or missing links.

Limits worth knowing

You can have 10 active tasks at once. To add an eleventh, pause or delete one, or wait for a one-time task to finish. Because tasks run on GPT-4o, each run counts against your plan's normal GPT-4o usage limits.

Some things don't work yet in the beta: you can't create tasks in voice chats, attach files to them, or use them with custom GPTs. Tasks also have clear boundaries. They run at set times rather than watching the web continuously, so a task can check for concert tickets once a month but can't alert you the instant they go on sale. And they don't buy anything for you. That makes tasks a gentle first step toward assistants that act on their own: they act on a timer, on your instructions, and report back.

What are good first tasks to schedule?

Start with tasks where a slightly imperfect answer does no harm and a regular nudge genuinely helps. A morning brief on topics you follow, a weekly reminder for a household chore, or a monthly prompt to review your budget all fit. So do learning routines: "Every evening at 8, give me five French phrases for ordering at a restaurant, with a short quiz on yesterday's phrases" turns ChatGPT into a patient daily tutor.

One-time reminders tied to dates are another good fit: a passport renewal, a warranty that expires, a birthday next month. Include the action you need to take in the reminder itself, so the notification tells you what to do and not only what day it is.

Avoid relying on tasks for anything time-critical, such as medication or a flight check-in, while the feature is in beta; keep your phone's alarm or calendar for those. And review your list every few weeks. A brief that seemed useful in January can become noise by March, and pausing it takes one click.