Scheduled Tasks

Scheduled Tasks

Use /loop and cron scheduling tools to run prompts repeatedly, poll for status, or set one-time reminders within a Claude Code session. Requires Claude Code v2.1.72+.

Overview

Scheduled tasks let Claude re-run a prompt automatically on an interval. Use them to:

• Poll a deployment status
• Babysit a PR review cycle
• Check on a long-running build
• Set reminders during a session

Tasks are session-scoped: they live in the current process and are gone when you exit. For durable scheduling, use Cloud, Desktop, or GitHub Actions.

Scheduling Options Comparison

Schedule with /loop

The quickest way to schedule a recurring prompt:

/loop 5m check if the deployment finished and tell me what happened

Interval Syntax

Units: s (seconds, rounded to nearest minute), m (minutes), h (hours), d (days).

Loop Over Commands

Schedule any command or skill:

/loop 20m /review-pr 1234

One-Time Reminders

Use natural language for single-fire tasks:

remind me at 3pm to push the release branch

in 45 minutes, check whether the integration tests passed

Manage Tasks

what scheduled tasks do I have?
cancel the deploy check job

Underlying Tools

Max 50 tasks per session. Each has an 8-character ID.

How Tasks Run

• Scheduler checks every second for due tasks
• Tasks fire between your turns (low priority), not mid-response
• If Claude is busy, task waits until current turn ends
• All times in local timezone (not UTC)

Jitter

• Recurring: fire up to 10% of period late, capped at 15 min
• One-shot at :00 or :30: fire up to 90 seconds early
• Offset derived from task ID (deterministic)

Three-Day Expiry

Recurring tasks auto-expire after 3 days. Fires one final time, then deletes itself. Recreate before expiry for longer runs, or use Cloud/Desktop for durable scheduling.

Cron Expression Reference

5-field format: minute hour day-of-month month day-of-week

Day-of-week: 0/7 = Sunday through 6 = Saturday. No extended syntax (L, W, ?, name aliases).

CI/CD and Pipeline Integration

Scheduled tasks are powerful for build and deployment monitoring:

Deploy Watch

/loop 2m check the deployment status of staging and report any failures

Build Monitor

/loop 5m check if CI pipeline #1234 has completed. If it failed, analyze the logs and suggest fixes

PR Babysitter

/loop 10m check PR #456 for new review comments and CI status changes

Health Check Polling

/loop 1m curl the /health endpoint and alert me if it returns non-200

Disable

Set CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_CRON=1 to disable the scheduler entirely. Tools and /loop become unavailable.

Limitations

• Tasks only fire while Claude Code is running and idle
• No catch-up for missed fires (fires once when idle, not once per missed interval)
• No persistence across restarts
• Session-scoped only (max 50 tasks)

Cloud Scheduled Tasks

Cloud tasks run on Anthropic's infrastructure without your machine. They get a fresh repo clone via GitHub connector.

Minimum interval: 1 hour. No local files. Requires connector per task.

# Create via API
POST https://api.anthropic.com/v1/scheduled_tasks
{
  "name": "Weekly dep audit",
  "schedule": "0 8 * * 1",
  "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
  "prompt": "Audit npm dependencies for vulnerabilities...",
  "connectors": [{ "type": "github", "repo": "owner/repo" }]
}

Best for: Nightly/weekly jobs that run unattended. GitHub-native workflows. Tasks that must survive machine off.

Desktop Scheduled Tasks

Desktop tasks run on your local machine via the Claude Desktop app. Full local file + MCP access. Require Desktop open.

Minimum interval: 1 minute. Full local access. Config files + connectors.

In Claude Desktop → Settings → Scheduled Tasks → New Task
Name: Daily PR Review
Schedule: 0 9 * * 1-5
Prompt: {your prompt}
Working directory: /path/to/repo

Best for: Daily dev workflows, tasks needing local filesystem, git, or local MCP servers.

Use /cc-schedule for Blueprint Prompts

/cc-schedule generates optimized, guardrailed prompts for 6 common maintenance workflows, pre-configured for each target:

/cc-schedule pr-review --target desktop     # Daily PR review → Desktop task
/cc-schedule ci-triage --target loop        # CI triage → /loop command
/cc-schedule dep-audit --target cloud       # Dep audit → Cloud task
/cc-schedule docs-drift                     # Docs drift check
/cc-schedule release-check                  # Release readiness
/cc-schedule branch-hygiene                 # Branch cleanup

Each blueprint includes skip conditions, guardrails, branch naming policy, and a verification block. See commands/cc-schedule.md for full specifications.

Prompt Guardrails for Scheduled Tasks

Every effective scheduled prompt needs these four sections:

SKIP CONDITIONS:
- If [condition], output "[message]" and stop.

STEPS:
1. [action]
2. [action]

GUARDRAILS:
- Never [dangerous action]
- Maximum [N] operations per run

VERIFICATION:
Output: {N} items processed, {M} actions taken, {K} skipped.

Why: Without skip conditions, tasks run wastefully. Without guardrails, autonomous tasks cause incidents.

See Also

• Cloud Scheduled Tasks — Durable cloud-based scheduling
• Desktop Scheduled Tasks — Local persistent scheduling
• GitHub Actions — CI/CD schedule triggers
• Channels — Push events instead of polling
• cc-schedule command — Blueprint generator for 6 maintenance workflows