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A task is what you define once and run many times. It captures what should happen (discovery, navigation, extraction, API calls, or classic URL-based extraction), where inputs come from, and how results should be shaped. Executions are individual runs of that definition—the runtime history, status, and outputs.

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What a task usually contains

Most tasks include:
  • A name
  • An objective (what success means in plain language)
  • An execution mode (for example single run or scheduled)
  • Optional template or script selection
Classic extraction tasks also specify:
  • One or more target URLs
  • An output schema for structured JSON (and media fields when applicable)
Modular tasks add action types (search, crawl, scrape, api_call), input sources, limits, payloads, or a full multi-step plan instead of relying only on the classic field layout. See Action types overview for how those pieces fit the API.

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Why tasks matter

Tasks are the stable control-plane object you can:
  • List and filter
  • Update as sites or APIs evolve
  • Schedule or trigger manually
  • Tie to many executions over time
That stability is what makes Titan suitable for monitors, pipelines, and agent-driven retrieval, not only one-off scripts.

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Execution types

The main distinction is:
  • Single-run tasks — ad hoc jobs, proofs of concept, or on-demand collection.
  • Scheduled tasks — recurring monitors, feeds, and anything that needs a time series of executions.

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Output schemas

For extraction-heavy flows, the output schema is the contract between you, the platform, and downstream consumers: it describes the JSON shape you expect. Modular and multi-step tasks may attach schemas per step where the plan requires it; the API Reference lists the exact request shapes for your deployment.

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Templates and tasks

Tasks can be authored from scratch or started from a template that encodes a proven pattern for a site or vertical. Templates help teams share defaults; the task remains your owned object for schedules, history, and updates.

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Tasks versus executions

  • A task is the definition.
  • An execution is one run of that definition.
One task can have many executions. The task stays stable while executions capture status, errors, and exports for each attempt.

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Next steps