How to Schedule Browser Tasks to Run at Specific Times

Chrome can't schedule anything by itself, but your computer can. The right method depends on the task: opening a page at a set time is easy, while scheduled jobs that click and type in the browser need a small script.

Open a page at a set time on Windows

1. Open Task Scheduler and click Create Basic Task.
2. Name it, then pick a trigger such as Daily or Weekly and set the time.
3. Choose Start a program and browse to chrome.exe (usually in C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application).
4. In Add arguments, put the page address, for example https://example.com/report. Several addresses separated by spaces open as several tabs.

In the task's properties, the Conditions tab has a "Wake the computer to run this task" option if the PC might be asleep.

Open a page at a set time on Mac or Linux

Use cron. Run crontab -e in Terminal and add a line like this, which opens a page at 8:00 on weekdays:

0 8 * * 1-5 open -a "Google Chrome" https://example.com/report

On Linux, replace the command with google-chrome https://example.com/report. Your computer has to be awake for cron jobs to run. On a Mac, launchd can catch up on a missed run after sleep, but takes more setup.

Run a browser task on a schedule

For anything beyond opening a page, like filling in a form, downloading a report or checking a price, write a short script with a browser automation tool such as Playwright or Puppeteer and schedule the script instead:

• On your own computer: point Task Scheduler or cron at the script (for example node check-price.js).
• In the cloud: GitHub Actions can run a script on a schedule with a cron line in the workflow file. Schedules there run in UTC and can start a few minutes late when the service is busy.

For sites that need you to be signed in, save the browser's session once and load it in the script instead of storing your password in it. And check a site's terms before automating it.

Extensions that schedule tabs

Some extensions open a tab at a time you set, as long as Chrome is running. Search the Web Store for "tab scheduler", and look for one with recent updates that asks only for the permissions it needs.

When you need a rotation, not a schedule

If the goal is keeping several dashboards or status pages on screen, cycling through them is often simpler than scheduling. AutoBrowser plays the sites in a bookmark folder one after another in a single tab, staying on each for the number of seconds you choose. It doesn't run at set clock times, click or fill in forms, but for a wall screen or second monitor it needs no scripting.