Routines & Scheduling

Automate recurring work without keeping your computer on. Routines run on Anthropic-managed cloud infrastructure.

What Is a Routine?

A routine is a saved Claude Code configuration that runs automatically:

A prompt (what Claude should do each run)
One or more repositories (code to clone and work in)
Connectors (MCP tools like Slack, Linear, Jira)
One or more triggers (when to run)

Routines execute in the cloud — your laptop can be closed and they still run.

Routines are available on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans.

Trigger Types

1. Schedule Trigger

Run on a recurring cadence or once at a specific time.

Presets: hourly, daily, weekdays, weekly

Custom intervals: use /schedule update in CLI to set a cron expression. Minimum interval: 1 hour.

2. API Trigger

A dedicated HTTP endpoint. POST to it with a bearer token to start a run.

curl -X POST https://api.anthropic.com/v1/claude_code/routines/trig_01XXXXX/fire \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-ant-oat01-xxxxx" \
  -H "anthropic-beta: experimental-cc-routine-2026-04-01" \
  -H "anthropic-version: 2023-06-01" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "Sentry alert SEN-4521 fired in prod."}'

Response:

{
  "type": "routine_fire",
  "claude_code_session_id": "session_01HJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ",
  "claude_code_session_url": "https://claude.ai/code/session_01HJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
}

3. GitHub Event Trigger

React to repository events: pull requests, releases.

Supported events:

Event	Triggers when
Pull request	PR opened, closed, assigned, labeled, synchronized
Release	Release created, published, edited, deleted

Filter PRs by: author, title, body, base branch, head branch, labels, is draft, is merged.

Real-World Examples

Backlog Maintenance (Schedule)

Every weeknight: read issues opened since last run, apply labels, assign owners, post summary to Slack.

Trigger: schedule (daily, weeknights)
Connectors: issue tracker, Slack
Result: team starts the day with a groomed queue

Alert Triage (API)

When monitoring fires → call routine API endpoint with alert body.
Routine pulls stack trace, correlates with recent commits, opens draft PR with proposed fix.

Trigger: API (called by your alerting system)
Result: on-call gets a PR instead of a blank terminal

Automated Code Review (GitHub)

On every new PR: apply your team checklist, leave inline comments, add summary.

Trigger: GitHub (pull_request.opened)
Result: human reviewers focus on design, not mechanics

Deploy Verification (API)

After every prod deploy → call routine API.
Run smoke checks, scan error logs, post go/no-go to release channel.

Trigger: API (called by your CD pipeline)
Result: deploy window closes only after verification

Docs Drift Detection (Schedule)

Weekly: scan merged PRs, flag docs that reference changed APIs, open update PRs.

Trigger: schedule (weekly)
Result: docs stay in sync automatically

Library Port (GitHub)

On every merged PR in SDK A → port the change to SDK B, open matching PR.

Trigger: GitHub (pull_request.closed, filtered to merged)
Result: two parallel SDKs stay in sync

Creating a Routine

From the Web

Visit claude.ai/code/routines → New routine.

Steps:

Name + prompt — write a self-contained, explicit prompt (runs autonomously, no approval prompts)
Select repositories — cloned at the start of each run from the default branch
Select environment — controls network access, env vars, setup scripts
Select trigger(s) — schedule, API, GitHub event, or any combination
Review connectors — all your connected MCP connectors are included by default (remove unused ones)
Create — click Run now to start immediately

From the CLI

/schedule                              # Create conversationally
/schedule daily PR review at 9am       # Create recurring
/schedule clean up feature flag in one week  # Create one-off
/schedule list                         # See all routines
/schedule update                       # Change an existing routine
/schedule run                          # Trigger immediately

/schedule requires a claude.ai subscription login (not a Console API key).

Branch Permissions

By default, routines can only push to claude/-prefixed branches (safety measure).

To allow pushing to any branch: enable Allow unrestricted branch pushes when creating/editing the routine.

One-Off Runs

Schedule a routine to fire once at a specific time:

/schedule tomorrow at 9am, summarize yesterday's merged PRs
/schedule in 2 weeks, open a cleanup PR that removes the feature flag

After firing, the routine auto-disables and is marked Ran in the UI.

One-off runs do not count against the daily routine run cap.

Connectors in Routines

Routines use your claude.ai integrations as connectors.

Local MCP servers (added via claude mcp add) are not available in routines — they live on your machine. To use them in a routine: add them as connectors on claude.ai, or declare them in a committed .mcp.json file.

Usage & Limits

Routines draw down your subscription usage like interactive sessions
There is a daily cap on routine runs per account
See usage at claude.ai/settings/usage
Organizations with usage credits can continue on metered overage

Other Scheduling Options

Option	Runs where	Best for
Routines	Anthropic cloud	Unattended, recurring, multi-repo
Desktop scheduled tasks	Your machine	Local files, local tools
`/loop`	CLI session	Quick polling within an open session

Troubleshooting

/schedule shows “Unknown command”: You’re using a Console API key or cloud provider (Bedrock/Vertex). Use a claude.ai login instead. Or DISABLE_TELEMETRY / DO_NOT_TRACK is set.

“Routines are disabled by your organization”: An Owner disabled them at claude.ai/admin-settings/claude-code. Ask an Owner to enable them.

🧠 Quick Recall

Trick: scheduling ladder — “/loop in the session → desktop task on your machine → routine in the cloud (machine off).”

👨‍🏫 Teach It

Show: create one nightly routine with /schedule, live.
They’ll trip on: expecting cloud routines to see local files — they run on Anthropic VMs.

Learning path: ⬅ 33-headless-and-scripting.md · Index · ➡ 35-github-actions.md

Written by Fenil Patel