diff --git a/cron/jobs.py b/cron/jobs.py
index 4258c479f6..6376260828 100644
--- a/cron/jobs.py
+++ b/cron/jobs.py
@@ -313,9 +313,10 @@ def compute_next_run(schedule: Dict[str, Any], last_run_at: Optional[str] = None
     elif schedule["kind"] == "cron":
         if not HAS_CRONITER:
             logger.warning(
-                "Cannot compute next run for cron schedule %r: 'croniter' "
-                "is not installed. Install the 'cron' extra (pip install "
-                "'hermes-agent[cron]') to re-enable recurring cron jobs.",
+                "Cannot compute next run for cron schedule %r: 'croniter' is "
+                "not installed. croniter is a core dependency as of v0.9.x; "
+                "reinstall hermes-agent or run 'pip install croniter' in your "
+                "runtime env.",
                 schedule.get("expr"),
             )
             return None
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 9dd757c005..f1132e8d70 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ dependencies = [
   "firecrawl-py>=4.16.0,<5",
   "parallel-web>=0.4.2,<1",
   "fal-client>=0.13.1,<1",
+  # Cron scheduler (built-in feature — scheduled cron/interval jobs use croniter).
+  "croniter>=6.0.0,<7",
   # Text-to-speech (Edge TTS is free, no API key needed)
   "edge-tts>=7.2.7,<8",
   # Skills Hub (GitHub App JWT auth — optional, only needed for bot identity)
@@ -42,7 +44,7 @@ daytona = ["daytona>=0.148.0,<1"]
 vercel = ["vercel>=0.5.7,<0.6.0"]
 dev = ["debugpy>=1.8.0,<2", "pytest>=9.0.2,<10", "pytest-asyncio>=1.3.0,<2", "pytest-xdist>=3.0,<4", "mcp>=1.2.0,<2", "ty>=0.0.1a29,<0.0.22", "ruff"]
 messaging = ["python-telegram-bot[webhooks]>=22.6,<23", "discord.py[voice]>=2.7.1,<3", "aiohttp>=3.13.3,<4", "slack-bolt>=1.18.0,<2", "slack-sdk>=3.27.0,<4", "qrcode>=7.0,<8"]
-cron = ["croniter>=6.0.0,<7"]
+cron = []  # croniter is now a core dependency; this extra kept for back-compat
 slack = ["slack-bolt>=1.18.0,<2", "slack-sdk>=3.27.0,<4"]
 matrix = ["mautrix[encryption]>=0.20,<1", "Markdown>=3.6,<4", "aiosqlite>=0.20", "asyncpg>=0.29", "aiohttp-socks>=0.10,<1"]
 cli = ["simple-term-menu>=1.0,<2"]