feat: rrule support for automations

[janburzinski]

Description

• adds RRULE automation schedules

• keeps existing cron schedules compatible

• tracks cron vs rrule in telemtry

• this enables more flexible automation schedules

Screenshot/Recording (if applicable)

https://cap.link/vs9dpc0qjqffy1b

Checklist

• I kept this PR small and focused
• I ran a self-review before opening this PR
• I ran the relevant local checks or explained why not
• I updated docs when behavior or setup changed
• I added or updated tests when behavior changed, or explained why not
• I only added comments where the logic is not obvious
• I used Conventional Commits for commit
  messages and, when possible, the PR title

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

This PR adds RRULE scheduling as an alternative to cron expressions for automations. It introduces a new rrule kind on TriggerConfig, a shared validation.ts layer for normalization, next-run computation, and validation, and a "Custom" slot in CronPicker that renders a free-text RRULE input. Telemetry is updated to track trigger kind, and existing cron automations remain fully backward-compatible via the kind ?? 'cron' default.

• validation.ts is the core addition: normalizeTriggerConfig injects DTSTART when absent, getNextTriggerRunAt handles both cron (via croner) and rrule (via the rrule library with floating-date timezone arithmetic), and assertValidTrigger dispatches to the appropriate validator.
• rrule-form-utils.ts provides buildRRuleTriggerExpr / getEditableRRuleExpr to round-trip the stored expression through the UI input field while preserving the DTSTART anchor.
• useAutomationSettingsAutoSave.ts exposes saveCurrentTrigger and saveTriggerKind to wire RRULE blur-saves and kind-switching into the auto-save flow; a validationError state surfaces rrule parse failures inline.

Confidence Score: 4/5

Safe to merge with one fix: saveTriggerKind silently overwrites the stored schedule time when the user toggles the trigger-kind picker back to rrule.

The blur-save path correctly preserves DTSTART through buildRRuleTriggerExpr, but the kind-switch path in saveTriggerKind bypasses that logic and re-anchors the schedule to the current wall-clock time. A user who accidentally clicks away from Custom and back will silently shift their automation firing time.

useAutomationSettingsAutoSave.ts — saveTriggerKind needs to use the stored DTSTART from automation.triggerConfig when switching back to rrule mode.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
apps/emdash-desktop/src/renderer/features/automations/useAutomationSettingsAutoSave.ts	saveTriggerKind uses raw rruleExpr instead of buildRRuleTriggerExpr, silently re-anchoring the stored DTSTART (schedule time-of-day) to the current moment whenever the user toggles the trigger-kind picker back to rrule.
apps/emdash-desktop/src/shared/core/automations/validation.ts	Core of the feature: adds rrule parsing, normalization (DTSTART injection), next-run computation, and validation. DST two-pass offset averaging and year zero-padding were addressed from previous threads; cron fallback of formatTriggerScheduleLabel returns raw pattern instead of human-readable label.
apps/emdash-desktop/src/renderer/features/automations/rrule-form-utils.ts	New utility: getStoredDtstartLine, getEditableRRuleExpr, and buildRRuleTriggerExpr correctly preserve stored DTSTART when serializing user edits back to the canonical rrule string.
apps/emdash-desktop/src/renderer/features/automations/useAutomationFormState.ts	Adds triggerKind and rruleExpr state; triggerConfig computed value correctly goes through buildRRuleTriggerExpr to preserve DTSTART on blur-saves from the settings panel.
apps/emdash-desktop/src/main/core/automations/repo.ts	Replaces Cron-based getNextRunAt and assertValidCronTrigger with the unified getNextTriggerRunAt and assertValidTrigger; adds normalizeTriggerConfig on create/update paths as a server-side safety net.
apps/emdash-desktop/src/renderer/lib/CronPicker/CronPicker.tsx	Extends CronPicker with an optional custom slot (selected state + content node); hides period-specific controls and parse-error banner when custom is active; clean extension with no breaking changes to existing callers.
apps/emdash-desktop/src/renderer/features/automations/components/AutomationSettingsFields.tsx	Injects the 'Custom' rrule option into CronPicker via the new custom prop; wires setTriggerKind, onTriggerKindChange, and onRRuleExprBlur correctly to the parent handlers.
apps/emdash-desktop/src/shared/core/automations/validation.test.ts	New test file covering normalization, next-run computation, DST timezone handling, expired finite schedules, label formatting, and invalid rrule rejection — good coverage of the happy and failure paths.

Sequence Diagram

%%{init: {'theme': 'neutral'}}%%
sequenceDiagram
    participant UI as AutomationSettingsFields
    participant FS as useAutomationFormState
    participant AS as useAutomationSettingsAutoSave
    participant V as validation.ts
    participant Repo as repo.ts (main)

    Note over UI,Repo: User edits RRULE expression and blurs field
    UI->>AS: "onRRuleExprBlur -> saveCurrentTrigger()"
    AS->>FS: read triggerConfig via buildRRuleTriggerExpr (preserves stored DTSTART)
    AS->>V: normalizeTriggerConfig(triggerConfig)
    AS->>V: assertValidTrigger(activeTrigger)
    AS->>Repo: "updateSettings({ triggerConfig })"
    Repo->>V: normalizeTriggerConfig - no-op if DTSTART present
    Repo-->>AS: saved Automation

    Note over UI,Repo: User switches trigger kind to RRULE via dropdown
    UI->>FS: setTriggerKind('rrule') [state update queued]
    UI->>AS: "onTriggerKindChange('rrule') -> saveTriggerKind('rrule')"
    AS->>FS: read raw rruleExpr (no DTSTART)
    AS->>V: "normalizeTriggerConfig injects DTSTART=now()"
    AS->>Repo: "updateSettings({ triggerConfig })"

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sequenceDiagram
    participant UI as AutomationSettingsFields
    participant FS as useAutomationFormState
    participant AS as useAutomationSettingsAutoSave
    participant V as validation.ts
    participant Repo as repo.ts (main)

    Note over UI,Repo: User edits RRULE expression and blurs field
    UI->>AS: "onRRuleExprBlur -> saveCurrentTrigger()"
    AS->>FS: read triggerConfig via buildRRuleTriggerExpr (preserves stored DTSTART)
    AS->>V: normalizeTriggerConfig(triggerConfig)
    AS->>V: assertValidTrigger(activeTrigger)
    AS->>Repo: "updateSettings({ triggerConfig })"
    Repo->>V: normalizeTriggerConfig - no-op if DTSTART present
    Repo-->>AS: saved Automation

    Note over UI,Repo: User switches trigger kind to RRULE via dropdown
    UI->>FS: setTriggerKind('rrule') [state update queued]
    UI->>AS: "onTriggerKindChange('rrule') -> saveTriggerKind('rrule')"
    AS->>FS: read raw rruleExpr (no DTSTART)
    AS->>V: "normalizeTriggerConfig injects DTSTART=now()"
    AS->>Repo: "updateSettings({ triggerConfig })"

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_{Reviews (3): Last reviewed commit: "fix(automations): preserve RRULE DTSTART" | Re-trigger Greptile}

[janburzinski]

@greptileai

[janburzinski]

@greptileai