Routines & Scheduled Tasks

Claude Code can run on a schedule, morning PR reviews, overnight CI failure analysis, weekly dependency audits. Routines run on Anthropic-managed infrastructure so they keep running even when your computer is off. Desktop scheduled tasks run on your machine with direct file access. /loop repeats a prompt within a session for quick polling.

What you'll learn

• Routines run on Anthropic infrastructure, they keep running when your computer is off, and can trigger on API calls or GitHub events
• Desktop scheduled tasks run on your machine with direct access to local files and tools
• /loop repeats a prompt within a CLI session for quick polling

The problem

You want Claude Code to review every new PR at 9 AM, check for dependency updates every Monday, and sync documentation after every merge. You could run these manually, but scheduled automation is the whole point of having an agent, it should work while you don't.

Options & when to use each

Scheduling method	Where it runs	When it works	When to use
Routines	Anthropic infrastructure	Even when your computer is off	Production-grade recurring tasks, API/webhook triggers
Desktop scheduled tasks	Your machine	Only when your machine is on	Tasks that need local file access, development workflows
/loop	Your CLI session	Only while session is active	Quick polling, watching for changes
Cron (via claude -p)	Your server	While server is running	Self-managed infrastructure

Build it

Step 1: Create a routine

From the web, Desktop app, or CLI:

/schedule

Follow the interactive prompt to set the schedule and task. Routines can trigger on:

• Time schedules (cron-style)
• API calls (webhook triggers)
• GitHub events (PR opened, issue created)

Step 2: Desktop scheduled task

In the Desktop app, create a scheduled task that runs Claude Code on your local machine:

Every weekday at 9 AM: Review all open PRs in this repo and summarize them

Step 3: Use /loop for quick polling

/loop 30s: Check if the build server is responding on port 8080. If not, report the error.

/loop keeps running within the session. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Step 4: Script a cron job

For environments with self-managed scheduling, you can trigger Claude Code directly via cron using the -p (print) mode. This runs the agent synchronously and exits once the task completes or hits the turn limit.

# Crontab entry
0 9 * * 1 claude -p "Check for outdated dependencies and create a PR for any updates" --max-turns 10

What goes wrong

Mistake	How you notice it	The fix
Routine doesn't fire	No output at the scheduled time	Check routine status in the web dashboard. Verify the schedule syntax
Desktop task fails when laptop is asleep	Task shows as "missed"	Desktop tasks need the machine awake. Use Routines for critical tasks that can't miss a window
/loop floods API	Rate limit errors after many iterations	Set a longer interval. /loop is for quick polling, not long-running monitoring

Confirm it worked

Schedule a one-time routine to execute in a couple of minutes and write a test string to a temporary file. Check the file system afterward to confirm the routine triggered correctly and then clean up the file.

# 1. Create a one-time routine for 2 minutes from now
/schedule "in 2 minutes: Write 'hello world' to /tmp/claude-routine-test.txt"

# 2. Wait 2 minutes, then check
cat /tmp/claude-routine-test.txt

# 3. Clean up
rm /tmp/claude-routine-test.txt

Next: Remote Control & Cross-Surface Work