Daily

Recreate recurring Airtable tasks when they are done

When a recurring task is marked done in Airtable, the next one is created with the right due date and its owner hears about it in Slack.

Runs: Daily
Apps: Airtable, Slack
AI: Not needed
Access: Airtable read+write; Slack chat:write

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every night, find completed recurring tasks in Airtable, create the next occurrence based on its frequency and tell the assignee in Slack.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

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First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

An operations team keeps its routine work in Airtable: the monthly payroll check, the weekly stock count, the quarterly VAT return. Someone has to remember to copy each task forward once it is done, and when they forget, the next one quietly never happens.

This automation rolls recurring tasks forward every night, so the next occurrence is always on the list with the right due date and the owner already knows about it.

What you get out of it

Routine work never drops off the list
The next payroll check exists as soon as the last one is done, so nothing depends on someone remembering to recreate it.
Due dates follow the real schedule
Weekly, monthly and quarterly tasks move forward by their own frequency, so the list stays accurate without manual date counting.
Owners know what is coming
A Slack message tells the assignee about their next task and its date, which is easier to act on than a record they may never open.
History stays intact
Completed tasks are kept as they are, so you still have a record of when each occurrence was actually done.

How it works

What happens, step by step

Every night ClickRuntime looks in your Airtable tasks table for recurring tasks marked done.
It skips any task it has already rolled forward.
For each one it creates the next task with a new due date based on its frequency, and marks the finished one as rolled.
It posts a message in Slack telling the owner about their next task.

Before it runs live

Connect Airtable
Connect Slack, then invite the app to the channel (type /invite @ClickRuntime there)

What you get

RunsDaily

Recreate recurring Airtable tasks when they are donetoday, 9:00Succeeded

Slack · #ops🔁 Priya: next 'Northwind stock count' is due Mon 3 Nov

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

Run it at a different time, more or less often, or only on weekdays
Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
Add another app, for example also send it to Google Sheets
Combine it with other Airtable and Slack steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

recurring_tasks_in_airtable.pyexample

from datetime import date
from dateutil.relativedelta import relativedelta
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, notify

BASE = "https://api.airtable.com/v0/your-base-id/Tasks"
STEP = {"Weekly": relativedelta(weeks=1), "Fortnightly": relativedelta(weeks=2), "Monthly": relativedelta(months=1),
        "Quarterly": relativedelta(months=3), "Yearly": relativedelta(years=1)}

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    h = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.secret('AIRTABLE_API_KEY')}"}
    formula = "AND({Status}='Done',{Frequency}!='',NOT({Rolled}))"
    recs = http.get(BASE, headers=h, params={"filterByFormula": formula}).json()["records"]
    for r in recs:
        f = r["fields"]
        due = date.fromisoformat(f["Due"]) + STEP.get(f["Frequency"], relativedelta(weeks=1))
        http.post(BASE, headers=h, json={"fields": {"Name": f["Name"], "Frequency": f["Frequency"],
                  "Assignee": f.get("Assignee"), "Due": due.isoformat(), "Status": "To do"}})
        http.patch(f"{BASE}/{r['id']}", headers=h, json={"fields": {"Rolled": True}})
        notify.slack(f"🔁 {f.get('Assignee', 'Team')}: next '{f['Name']}' is due {due:%a %d %b}", channel="#ops")
    return {"rolled": len(recs)}

FAQ

Common questions

Which frequencies are supported?

Weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly and yearly, read from a Frequency field on each task. Other patterns, such as the first Monday of the month, can be added.

Is the next due date based on when it was finished or when it was due?

It is based on the original due date, so a monthly task due on the 5th stays on the 5th even if it was finished late.

How does it know who to tell in Slack?

It names the assignee stored on the task. If no one is assigned, the message still goes to the shared channel so the team can pick it up.

What permissions does it need?

Airtable read+write; Slack chat:write. Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run each time it runs (daily). Checks that find nothing to do and stop right away aren't counted.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

On a schedule