Set your availability schedule
By default, your device accepts jobs whenever it's online and idle. The availability schedule is how you restrict work to off-peak hours — quieter, cooler, no fan noise during meetings.
[VERIFY: at launch the schedule lives in the device-owner Settings → Availability page; current code path uses the agent settings JSON field. Re-confirm UI location and persisted column name before GA.]
Why bother with a schedule?
| Scenario | Suggested schedule |
|---|---|
| Home office machine | Nights only (22:00 - 07:00) and weekends |
| Spare gaming PC, no daily use | Always on |
| Mac mini in a cabinet | Always on, with thermal cap (chapter 6) |
| Laptop that travels with you | Pause manually (Stage 3) — schedule won't fit |
| Shared family computer | Late nights only (00:00 - 06:00) |
More availability = more job opportunities = more earnings. Restricting hours trades earnings for quiet/cool/private use of the machine.
Setting your schedule
Go to Devices → [your device] → Availability. You'll see a week-grid: 7 columns (Mon-Sun), 24 rows (hours). Click-and-drag to paint the hours you want the device available. Painted = available. Blank = paused.
Above the grid:
- Timezone selector — defaults to your account timezone; override per device for machines in other regions
- Quick presets: "Always on", "Nights and weekends", "Off-peak only", "Custom"
What the agent does at the edge of a window
When the clock crosses into an unavailable hour:
- The agent finishes any in-flight task (never killed mid-execution — that would breach the customer SLA and cost you reputation).
- It then declines new task offers until the next available window opens.
- Status flips to Paused (schedule) on the dashboard.
When the clock crosses into an available hour, the agent flips back to Idle and starts accepting offers within ~30 seconds.
Edge cases
- Daylight saving time: the schedule honors your timezone, so a "10pm-6am" window stays 8 hours long regardless of DST shifts.
- In-flight tasks at boundary: never killed. A task started 5 minutes before "unavailable" runs to completion.
- Computer sleeps: the agent can't wake your computer. Stage 4 chapter 1 covers OS power settings.
- Manual pause: the Pause button (Stage 3) overrides the schedule. Use it for one-off events.
How the schedule affects earnings
The dashboard's Earnings → Forecast widget shows a projection like:
Based on current capability score (720) and typical job density, your selected schedule (62 hours/week) should yield roughly $[VERIFY] per month at launch demand levels.
This is a marketplace-demand model, not a guarantee. Real earnings vary with global demand, your reputation score, and any premium opt-ins (GPU, capability tiers — chapter 6).
Recommended starter schedule
If you're not sure, start with "Nights and weekends" for the first two weeks. That gives you real data on how many jobs land, how much you actually earn, and whether the noise/heat/electricity cost is acceptable. Then widen or narrow from there. Changes take effect at the next hour boundary.
What's next
Last reviewed: 2026-05-21