Scheduled Tasks - Discord Exporter Bot

Overview

The Discord Exporter Bot includes an automatic daily digest task that runs on a schedule without manual intervention. By default, it generates a team digest every day at 12:00 AM Eastern Time.

How It Works

The daily_digest_task is implemented using Discord.py’s @tasks.loop decorator:

@tasks.loop(hours=24)
async def daily_digest_task():
    """Automatically generate daily digest at scheduled time."""
    logger.info("Running scheduled daily digest")

    result = await run_digest_pipeline(bot, config, config.default_hours)

    if result["success"]:
        logger.info("✅ Daily digest completed successfully")
    else:
        logger.error(f"Daily digest failed: {result.get('error', 'Unknown error')}")

See bot.py:659-669.

Default Schedule

scheduled_hour

integer

default:0

Hour of day (0-23) to run the digest in Eastern Time

Default: 0 (12:00 AM ET)
Timezone: America/New_York (handles DST automatically)
Frequency: Every 24 hours

Eastern Time with DSTThe bot uses ZoneInfo("America/New_York") which automatically handles Daylight Saving Time transitions. No manual adjustments needed.

Task Lifecycle

1. Bot Startup

When the bot connects to Discord:

@bot.event
async def on_ready():
    logger.info(f"{bot.user} has connected to Discord!")
    
    if not daily_digest_task.is_running():
        daily_digest_task.start()
        logger.info("Daily digest task started")

See bot.py:594-608.

2. Initial Wait Period

The task calculates how long to wait until the next scheduled time:

@daily_digest_task.before_loop
async def before_daily_digest():
    """Wait until scheduled time to start the loop."""
    await bot.wait_until_ready()

    now = datetime.now(config.eastern_tz)
    target_time = now.replace(hour=config.scheduled_hour, minute=0, second=0, microsecond=0)

    if now.time() >= target_time.time():
        target_time += timedelta(days=1)

    wait_seconds = (target_time - now).total_seconds()
    logger.info(f"⏰ Waiting {wait_seconds/3600:.1f} hours until first digest at {config.scheduled_hour}:00am ET")
    await asyncio.sleep(wait_seconds)

See bot.py:672-685.

Example: Bot starts at 3 PM
Example: Bot starts at 11 PM
Example: Bot starts at 1 AM

Bot starts: 3:00 PM ET
Target time: 12:00 AM ET (next day)
Wait time: 9 hours

Log output:
⏰ Waiting 9.0 hours until first digest at 0:00am ET

Bot starts: 11:00 PM ET
Target time: 12:00 AM ET (1 hour away)
Wait time: 1 hour

Log output:
⏰ Waiting 1.0 hours until first digest at 0:00am ET

Bot starts: 1:00 AM ET (already past 12 AM)
Target time: 12:00 AM ET (next day)
Wait time: 23 hours

Log output:
⏰ Waiting 23.0 hours until first digest at 0:00am ET

3. Recurring Execution

After the first run, the task repeats every 24 hours at the same time.

Customizing the Schedule

You can change the scheduled hour by modifying the Config class in bot.py:

9 AM Daily Digest
6 PM Daily Digest
Environment Variable (Advanced)

@dataclass
class Config:
    # ... other fields ...
    scheduled_hour: int = 9  # 9am ET

Digest will run at 9:00 AM Eastern Time every day.

@dataclass
class Config:
    # ... other fields ...
    scheduled_hour: int = 18  # 6pm ET

Digest will run at 6:00 PM Eastern Time every day.

To make it configurable without code changes, you could modify the Config:

@dataclass
class Config:
    scheduled_hour: int = field(default=0)
    
    @classmethod
    def from_env(cls) -> "Config":
        # ... existing code ...
        scheduled = os.getenv("SCHEDULED_HOUR", "0")
        return cls(
            # ... other fields ...
            scheduled_hour=int(scheduled)
        )

Then in .env:

SCHEDULED_HOUR=9

What Gets Generated

The scheduled task runs the complete digest pipeline:

Export: Last 24 hours of messages (configurable via config.default_hours)
AI Analysis: Claude processes the transcript
Save: Markdown digest saved to Daily Digests/
Git Push: Automatic commit/push if GitHub is configured

This is identical to running !digest manually.

Logs and Monitoring

Startup Logs

2026-03-04 15:00:00 - INFO - DiscordExporterBot#1234 has connected to Discord!
2026-03-04 15:00:00 - INFO - Connected to: My Team Server
2026-03-04 15:00:00 - INFO - Daily digest task started
2026-03-04 15:00:00 - INFO - ⏰ Waiting 9.0 hours until first digest at 0:00am ET

Execution Logs

Success
Failure

2026-03-05 00:00:00 - INFO - Running scheduled daily digest
2026-03-05 00:00:02 - INFO - Starting export for last 24 hours from My Team Server
2026-03-05 00:00:05 - INFO - Exported 45 messages from #engineering
2026-03-05 00:00:06 - INFO - Exported 32 messages from #product
2026-03-05 00:00:07 - INFO - Export complete: 147 messages from 5 channels
2026-03-05 00:00:12 - INFO - Saved digest to Daily Digests/2026-03-04 - Team Digest.md
2026-03-05 00:00:14 - INFO - Successfully pushed Daily Digests/2026-03-04 - Team Digest.md to GitHub
2026-03-05 00:00:14 - INFO - ✅ Daily digest completed successfully

2026-03-05 00:00:00 - INFO - Running scheduled daily digest
2026-03-05 00:00:02 - ERROR - Error calling Claude API: Rate limit exceeded
2026-03-05 00:00:02 - ERROR - Daily digest failed: Failed to generate digest

Failed digests do not crash the bot. The task will retry at the next scheduled time (24 hours later).

Checking Task Status

You can verify the task is running by checking logs for:

Daily digest task started
⏰ Waiting X hours until first digest at 0:00am ET

If you don’t see these logs, the task may not have started properly.

Task Behavior

Error Handling

Export failures: Logged and reported, task continues
Claude API errors: Logged and reported, task continues
GitHub push failures: Logged but digest still saved locally
Task crashes: Bot remains online, task retries at next interval

Restart Behavior

If the bot restarts:

Task recalculates wait time to next scheduled hour
Does not run immediately if schedule was missed
Waits until next scheduled time (e.g., next midnight)

If you want to generate a digest immediately after restart, use the manual !digest command.

Comparison: Manual vs Scheduled

Feature	`!digest` Command	Scheduled Task
Trigger	Manual Discord command	Automatic on schedule
Time Range	Configurable (1-720 hours)	Fixed (24 hours)
Discord Output	Preview posted in channel	No Discord message
File Output	Same markdown format	Same markdown format
GitHub Push	Yes (if configured)	Yes (if configured)
When to Use	On-demand analysis, custom ranges	Daily team summaries

Configuration Reference

Relevant Config fields for scheduled tasks:

@dataclass
class Config:
    scheduled_hour: int = 0              # Hour to run (0-23, ET)
    default_hours: int = 24              # Time range for scheduled digest
    digests_dir: str = "Daily Digests"   # Output directory
    eastern_tz: ZoneInfo = ...           # Timezone (handles DST)

See bot.py:21-39 for full configuration.

Advanced: Custom Task Intervals

The @tasks.loop(hours=24) decorator supports other intervals:

Every 12 Hours
Every Monday
Specific Time (Alternative)

@tasks.loop(hours=12)
async def daily_digest_task():
    # Runs twice per day

from discord.ext import tasks
import datetime

@tasks.loop(hours=24)
async def weekly_digest_task():
    if datetime.datetime.now().weekday() == 0:  # Monday
        # Run weekly digest
        result = await run_digest_pipeline(bot, config, 168)  # 7 days

from discord.ext import tasks
import datetime

@tasks.loop(time=datetime.time(hour=9, minute=0, tzinfo=config.eastern_tz))
async def daily_digest_task():
    # Runs at exactly 9:00 AM ET every day

This is simpler than manual wait calculation but requires Discord.py 2.0+.

Troubleshooting

Task Not Running

Check startup logs for “Daily digest task started”
Verify bot is online with !export command
Check scheduled hour in Config matches your expectation
Review timezone - scheduled_hour is in Eastern Time, not UTC

Digest Not Appearing

Check logs for “Running scheduled daily digest”
Verify ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is set
Check output directory exists and is writable
Review file naming - digests use previous day’s date if run at midnight

GitHub Push Failing

Verify GITHUB_REPO_URL and GITHUB_TOKEN are set
Check repository permissions - token needs push access
Review git logs in bot output for specific errors
Test manual commit to verify credentials work

!digest - Generate digest manually on demand
!export - Export messages without AI analysis

Documentation Index

​Overview

​How It Works

​Default Schedule

​Task Lifecycle

​1. Bot Startup

​2. Initial Wait Period

​3. Recurring Execution

​Customizing the Schedule

​What Gets Generated

​Logs and Monitoring

​Startup Logs

​Execution Logs

​Checking Task Status

​Task Behavior

​Error Handling

​Restart Behavior

​Comparison: Manual vs Scheduled

​Configuration Reference

​Advanced: Custom Task Intervals

​Troubleshooting

​Task Not Running

​Digest Not Appearing

​GitHub Push Failing

​Related Commands

Overview

How It Works

Default Schedule

Task Lifecycle

1. Bot Startup

2. Initial Wait Period

3. Recurring Execution

Customizing the Schedule

What Gets Generated

Logs and Monitoring

Startup Logs

Execution Logs

Checking Task Status

Task Behavior

Error Handling

Restart Behavior

Comparison: Manual vs Scheduled

Configuration Reference

Advanced: Custom Task Intervals

Troubleshooting

Task Not Running

Digest Not Appearing

GitHub Push Failing

Related Commands