Set up time periods

Last updated: September 4, 2026

Time periods are the planning cycles OKRs belong to: fiscal years, quarters, months, or anything else your organization plans around. Rhythms Admins manage them in Settings › OKRs › Time periods, where you set the fiscal year start and the cycle structure Rhythms creates automatically, and add, edit, nest, or delete individual periods by hand. Every OKR sits in exactly one time period, and the current period drives the default OKR view and which OKRs the check-in rhythm governs.

How time periods are created automatically

Rhythms creates time periods for you from the settings at the top of the Time periods page. The defaults are a fiscal year starting 1 January, annual primary periods with quarterly periods inside them, and one upcoming year created in advance. A daily job tops the schedule up so there is always the configured number of upcoming primary periods, and each new primary period gets its sub-periods (quarters or months) nested under it. Automatically created periods are named for you, for example a quarter and its year.

The settings are:

Fiscal year start date: the month and day your fiscal year begins.
Primary time period frequency: Annual, Quarterly, or Monthly.
Number of upcoming time periods to create: 1 to 10 future primary periods kept ready.
Time periods to create within each primary period: None, Quarterly, or Monthly. An annual primary can contain quarters or months; a quarterly primary can contain months; a monthly primary has no sub-periods.

Each change saves immediately. Changing the fiscal year start or either frequency rebuilds the schedule: the current and future periods are replaced with new ones that match the new structure, and any OKR in a replaced period is moved to the new period that best encloses its dates. Past periods are left alone. Because OKRs move, make structural changes at the start of a cycle and tell OKR owners first. Changing only the number of upcoming periods adds periods without touching existing ones.

The current time period

Rhythms marks one period Current in the Created Time Periods list: the automatically created period that contains today (the most specific one, so a quarter rather than its year). If no automatically created period contains today, the most recently started period is used. The current period and the periods that contain it are listed first in the time-period picker, the OKRs page opens on the current period, and the check-in rhythm only governs OKRs in the current primary and sub-period. See Set a workspace check-in rhythm.

Add a time period by hand

Use manual periods for structures the automatic settings cannot produce, such as half-years, or for a one-off planning window.

In Settings › OKRs › Time periods, click Add next to Created Time Periods.
Enter a Name. Names must be unique in the workspace (case-insensitive); the dialog tells you if a name is already used.
Pick the Start date and End date. The start date must be before the end date.
Optionally choose a Parent time period to nest the new period under an existing one. Leave it as None for a top-level period.
Tick Create another after saving if you are adding several periods, then click Create.

The new period appears in the list, indented under its parent if it has one, and is available immediately when creating or editing OKRs.

Nest time periods

Nesting is explicit: a period is only inside another period if its Parent time period says so. Overlapping dates do not nest periods on their own. To set up half-years over automatically created quarters:

Add H1 2026 (1 January to 30 June 2026) and H2 2026 (1 July to 31 December 2026) with the parent set to the fiscal year, or to None if you do not use annual periods.
Edit Q1 2026 and Q2 2026 and set their Parent time period to H1 2026; edit Q3 and Q4 and set their parent to H2 2026.

The list re-indents to show the new hierarchy, and time-period pickers group the quarters under their halves. A period cannot be its own parent. Note that the automatic daily job continues to nest new quarters directly under the new fiscal year, so repeat the step for each new year's halves.

Edit or delete a time period

Hover over a period in Created Time Periods and click the pencil to edit its name, dates, or parent, then click Save changes. Renaming a period updates the name shown on every OKR in it.

Click the bin icon to delete a period. Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone; there is no Trash for time periods. Rhythms refuses to delete the last remaining period, and refuses to delete a period that still contains objectives, key results, or initiatives; move or delete those OKRs first. If you delete the current period, Rhythms picks a new current period automatically.

Manage time periods from chat

Rhythms Admins can also ask Rhythms in chat to list, create, rename, re-date, re-parent, or delete time periods, for example "Create a time period called H1 2026 from 1 January to 30 June 2026 with FY2026 as its parent". The same admin-only rule applies.

Frequently asked questions

Who can manage time periods? Rhythms Admins only. Everyone can see and pick time periods when working with OKRs.

Do quarters automatically fall under a half-year I add? No. Set each quarter's Parent time period to the half-year explicitly.

What happens to OKRs when I change the fiscal year or frequency? Current and future periods are rebuilt and each affected OKR is moved into the new period that best matches its start and end dates. Past periods and their OKRs are untouched.

Can I delete a period that has OKRs in it? No. Move the OKRs to another period or delete them first.

Why is the wrong period marked Current? Only automatically created periods become Current by containing today. If you manage periods entirely by hand, the most recently started period is used; consider letting Rhythms create the primary periods and adding your custom periods around them.

Can an OKR span two time periods? An OKR belongs to one time period, but its own start and end dates can extend beyond that period.