diff --git a/src/khoj/database/adapters/__init__.py b/src/khoj/database/adapters/__init__.py
index 9342b913..a5be3086 100644
--- a/src/khoj/database/adapters/__init__.py
+++ b/src/khoj/database/adapters/__init__.py
@@ -1741,7 +1741,7 @@ class AutomationAdapters:
         return {
             "id": automation.id,
             "subject": automation_metadata["subject"],
-            "query_to_run": re.sub(r"^/automated_task\s*", "", automation_metadata["query_to_run"]),
+            "query_to_run": automation_metadata["query_to_run"],
             "scheduling_request": automation_metadata["scheduling_request"],
             "schedule": schedule,
             "crontime": crontime,
diff --git a/src/khoj/routers/api.py b/src/khoj/routers/api.py
index b936488f..a29e993a 100644
--- a/src/khoj/routers/api.py
+++ b/src/khoj/routers/api.py
@@ -38,13 +38,12 @@ from khoj.processor.conversation.offline.chat_model import extract_questions_off
 from khoj.processor.conversation.offline.whisper import transcribe_audio_offline
 from khoj.processor.conversation.openai.gpt import extract_questions
 from khoj.processor.conversation.openai.whisper import transcribe_audio
-from khoj.processor.conversation.utils import defilter_query
+from khoj.processor.conversation.utils import clean_json, defilter_query
 from khoj.routers.helpers import (
     ApiUserRateLimiter,
     ChatEvent,
     CommonQueryParams,
     ConversationCommandRateLimiter,
-    acreate_title_from_query,
     get_user_config,
     schedule_automation,
     schedule_query,
@@ -567,7 +566,7 @@ def delete_automation(request: Request, automation_id: str) -> Response:
 
 @api.post("/automation", response_class=Response)
 @requires(["authenticated"])
-async def post_automation(
+def post_automation(
     request: Request,
     q: str,
     crontime: str,
@@ -586,7 +585,7 @@ async def post_automation(
         return Response(content="Invalid crontime", status_code=400)
 
     # Infer subject, query to run
-    _, query_to_run, generated_subject = await schedule_query(q, conversation_history={}, user=user)
+    _, query_to_run, generated_subject = schedule_query(q, conversation_history={}, user=user)
     subject = subject or generated_subject
 
     # Normalize query parameters
@@ -614,13 +613,13 @@ async def post_automation(
 
     # Create new Conversation Session associated with this new task
     title = f"Automation: {subject}"
-    conversation = await ConversationAdapters.acreate_conversation_session(user, request.user.client_app, title=title)
+    conversation = ConversationAdapters.create_conversation_session(user, request.user.client_app, title=title)
 
     # Schedule automation with query_to_run, timezone, subject directly provided by user
     try:
         # Use the query to run as the scheduling request if the scheduling request is unset
         calling_url = request.url.replace(query=f"{request.url.query}")
-        automation = await schedule_automation(
+        automation = schedule_automation(
             query_to_run, subject, crontime, timezone, q, user, calling_url, str(conversation.id)
         )
     except Exception as e:
@@ -665,7 +664,7 @@ def trigger_manual_job(
 
 @api.put("/automation", response_class=Response)
 @requires(["authenticated"])
-async def edit_job(
+def edit_job(
     request: Request,
     automation_id: str,
     q: Optional[str],
@@ -686,13 +685,13 @@ async def edit_job(
 
     # Check, get automation to edit
     try:
-        automation: Job = await AutomationAdapters.aget_automation(user, automation_id)
+        automation: Job = AutomationAdapters.get_automation(user, automation_id)
     except ValueError as e:
         logger.error(f"Error editing automation {automation_id} for {user.email}: {e}", exc_info=True)
         return Response(content="Invalid automation", status_code=403)
 
     # Infer subject, query to run
-    _, query_to_run, _ = await schedule_query(q, conversation_history={}, user=user)
+    _, query_to_run, _ = schedule_query(q, conversation_history={}, user=user)
     subject = subject
 
     # Normalize query parameters
@@ -717,7 +716,7 @@ async def edit_job(
         )
 
     # Construct updated automation metadata
-    automation_metadata = json.loads(automation.name)
+    automation_metadata: dict[str, str] = json.loads(clean_json(automation.name))
     automation_metadata["scheduling_request"] = q
     automation_metadata["query_to_run"] = query_to_run
     automation_metadata["subject"] = subject.strip()
@@ -728,15 +727,13 @@ async def edit_job(
         title = f"Automation: {subject}"
 
         # Create new Conversation Session associated with this new task
-        conversation = await ConversationAdapters.acreate_conversation_session(
-            user, request.user.client_app, title=title
-        )
+        conversation = ConversationAdapters.create_conversation_session(user, request.user.client_app, title=title)
 
         conversation_id = str(conversation.id)
         automation_metadata["conversation_id"] = conversation_id
 
     # Modify automation with updated query, subject
-    await sync_to_async(automation.modify)(
+    automation.modify(
         name=json.dumps(automation_metadata),
         kwargs={
             "query_to_run": query_to_run,
@@ -752,11 +749,11 @@ async def edit_job(
     user_timezone = pytz.timezone(timezone)
     trigger = CronTrigger.from_crontab(crontime, user_timezone)
     if automation.trigger != trigger:
-        await sync_to_async(automation.reschedule)(trigger=trigger)
+        automation.reschedule(trigger=trigger)
 
     # Collate info about the updated user automation
-    automation = await AutomationAdapters.aget_automation(user, automation.id)
-    automation_info = await sync_to_async(AutomationAdapters.get_automation_metadata)(user, automation)
+    automation = AutomationAdapters.get_automation(user, automation.id)
+    automation_info = AutomationAdapters.get_automation_metadata(user, automation)
 
     # Return modified automation information as a JSON response
     return Response(content=json.dumps(automation_info), media_type="application/json", status_code=200)
diff --git a/src/khoj/routers/helpers.py b/src/khoj/routers/helpers.py
index 6dcb1b4b..d6afddb3 100644
--- a/src/khoj/routers/helpers.py
+++ b/src/khoj/routers/helpers.py
@@ -551,7 +551,35 @@ async def generate_online_subqueries(
         return {q}
 
 
-async def schedule_query(
+def schedule_query(
+    q: str, conversation_history: dict, user: KhojUser, query_images: List[str] = None, tracer: dict = {}
+) -> Tuple[str, str, str]:
+    """
+    Schedule the date, time to run the query. Assume the server timezone is UTC.
+    """
+    chat_history = construct_chat_history(conversation_history)
+
+    crontime_prompt = prompts.crontime_prompt.format(
+        query=q,
+        chat_history=chat_history,
+    )
+
+    raw_response = send_message_to_model_wrapper_sync(
+        crontime_prompt, query_images=query_images, response_type="json_object", user=user, tracer=tracer
+    )
+
+    # Validate that the response is a non-empty, JSON-serializable list
+    try:
+        raw_response = raw_response.strip()
+        response: Dict[str, str] = json.loads(clean_json(raw_response))
+        if not response or not isinstance(response, Dict) or len(response) != 3:
+            raise AssertionError(f"Invalid response for scheduling query : {response}")
+        return response.get("crontime"), response.get("query"), response.get("subject")
+    except Exception:
+        raise AssertionError(f"Invalid response for scheduling query: {raw_response}")
+
+
+async def aschedule_query(
     q: str, conversation_history: dict, user: KhojUser, query_images: List[str] = None, tracer: dict = {}
 ) -> Tuple[str, str, str]:
     """
@@ -571,7 +599,7 @@ async def schedule_query(
     # Validate that the response is a non-empty, JSON-serializable list
     try:
         raw_response = raw_response.strip()
-        response: Dict[str, str] = json.loads(raw_response)
+        response: Dict[str, str] = json.loads(clean_json(raw_response))
         if not response or not isinstance(response, Dict) or len(response) != 3:
             raise AssertionError(f"Invalid response for scheduling query : {response}")
         return response.get("crontime"), response.get("query"), response.get("subject")
@@ -1065,6 +1093,7 @@ def send_message_to_model_wrapper_sync(
     system_message: str = "",
     response_type: str = "text",
     user: KhojUser = None,
+    query_images: List[str] = None,
     query_files: str = "",
     tracer: dict = {},
 ):
@@ -1090,6 +1119,7 @@ def send_message_to_model_wrapper_sync(
             max_prompt_size=max_tokens,
             vision_enabled=vision_available,
             model_type=chat_model.model_type,
+            query_images=query_images,
             query_files=query_files,
         )
 
@@ -1112,6 +1142,7 @@ def send_message_to_model_wrapper_sync(
             max_prompt_size=max_tokens,
             vision_enabled=vision_available,
             model_type=chat_model.model_type,
+            query_images=query_images,
             query_files=query_files,
         )
 
@@ -1134,6 +1165,7 @@ def send_message_to_model_wrapper_sync(
             max_prompt_size=max_tokens,
             vision_enabled=vision_available,
             model_type=chat_model.model_type,
+            query_images=query_images,
             query_files=query_files,
         )
 
@@ -1154,6 +1186,7 @@ def send_message_to_model_wrapper_sync(
             max_prompt_size=max_tokens,
             vision_enabled=vision_available,
             model_type=chat_model.model_type,
+            query_images=query_images,
             query_files=query_files,
         )
 
@@ -1794,12 +1827,66 @@ async def create_automation(
     conversation_id: str = None,
     tracer: dict = {},
 ):
-    crontime, query_to_run, subject = await schedule_query(q, meta_log, user, tracer=tracer)
-    job = await schedule_automation(query_to_run, subject, crontime, timezone, q, user, calling_url, conversation_id)
+    crontime, query_to_run, subject = await aschedule_query(q, meta_log, user, tracer=tracer)
+    job = await aschedule_automation(query_to_run, subject, crontime, timezone, q, user, calling_url, conversation_id)
     return job, crontime, query_to_run, subject
 
 
-async def schedule_automation(
+def schedule_automation(
+    query_to_run: str,
+    subject: str,
+    crontime: str,
+    timezone: str,
+    scheduling_request: str,
+    user: KhojUser,
+    calling_url: URL,
+    conversation_id: str,
+):
+    # Disable minute level automation recurrence
+    minute_value = crontime.split(" ")[0]
+    if not minute_value.isdigit():
+        # Run automation at some random minute (to distribute request load) instead of running every X minutes
+        crontime = " ".join([str(math.floor(random() * 60))] + crontime.split(" ")[1:])
+
+    user_timezone = pytz.timezone(timezone)
+    trigger = CronTrigger.from_crontab(crontime, user_timezone)
+    trigger.jitter = 60
+    # Generate id and metadata used by task scheduler and process locks for the task runs
+    job_metadata = json.dumps(
+        {
+            "query_to_run": query_to_run,
+            "scheduling_request": scheduling_request,
+            "subject": subject,
+            "crontime": crontime,
+            "conversation_id": str(conversation_id),
+        }
+    )
+    query_id = hashlib.md5(f"{query_to_run}_{crontime}".encode("utf-8")).hexdigest()
+    job_id = f"automation_{user.uuid}_{query_id}"
+    job = state.scheduler.add_job(
+        run_with_process_lock,
+        trigger=trigger,
+        args=(
+            scheduled_chat,
+            f"{ProcessLock.Operation.SCHEDULED_JOB}_{user.uuid}_{query_id}",
+        ),
+        kwargs={
+            "query_to_run": query_to_run,
+            "scheduling_request": scheduling_request,
+            "subject": subject,
+            "user": user,
+            "calling_url": calling_url,
+            "job_id": job_id,
+            "conversation_id": conversation_id,
+        },
+        id=job_id,
+        name=job_metadata,
+        max_instances=2,  # Allow second instance to kill any previous instance with stale lock
+    )
+    return job
+
+
+async def aschedule_automation(
     query_to_run: str,
     subject: str,
     crontime: str,
diff --git a/tests/test_online_chat_actors.py b/tests/test_online_chat_actors.py
index f873be45..2b08fc74 100644
--- a/tests/test_online_chat_actors.py
+++ b/tests/test_online_chat_actors.py
@@ -636,11 +636,11 @@ async def test_infer_webpage_urls_actor_extracts_correct_links(chat_client, defa
         ),
     ],
 )
-async def test_infer_task_scheduling_request(
+def test_infer_task_scheduling_request(
     chat_client, user_query, expected_crontime, expected_qs, unexpected_qs, default_user2
 ):
     # Act
-    crontime, inferred_query, _ = await schedule_query(user_query, {}, default_user2)
+    crontime, inferred_query, _ = schedule_query(user_query, {}, default_user2)
     inferred_query = inferred_query.lower()
 
     # Assert