Running the Same Task by Hand Daily? Automate with /schedule

Are you running the same task by hand every morning? Things like "summarize last week's data" or "organize today's news." Once or twice is fine, but forget and that day's batch is entirely missed. Tasks a person handles every time eventually get skipped. /schedule is a command that reserves these repeated tasks to run on their own at a set time. Register once and you can forget about it.

Definition

/schedule is a command to create a scheduled task (routine) that auto-runs at a set time. (As an alias, /routines is the same feature.)

There are two key points.

• Time scheduling: You can set timings like "every morning at 9," "every Friday," or "in one hour."
• Cloud execution: This task runs not on your PC but in the Anthropic cloud (a server across the internet). So it runs at the set time even with your computer off or while you're asleep.

Simply put, think of it as "an automatic alarm + work order set for AI."

How to use it (by difficulty)

Basics — daily repetition

Type this into the chat box.

/schedule summarize top news every morning at 9

On entering it, Claude shows a confirmation message like "scheduled this task to run every day at 9 AM." After that, it auto-runs at that time every day. By the next morning, the result is ready.

Applied — weekly repetition

/schedule write a weekly report draft every Friday

For weekly-recurring tasks, just specify the day. A draft gets made automatically every Friday, so you don't have to start the weekly report from a blank page each time.

Advanced — view and edit registered routines

/schedule

Type just /schedule with nothing appended and the list of routines you've registered so far appears on screen. There you can change an existing task's time, edit its content, or delete routines you no longer need. It's for tidying up when several routines have piled up.

Common pitfall — it runs in the cloud, not on your PC

This is where beginners get confused. A task registered with /schedule doesn't run on your computer. It runs on a cloud server. This is both an advantage and a caution point.

• Advantage: It runs at the set time even with your PC off or while you're out.
• Caution: Local files that exist only on your PC may not be directly visible to a cloud task. So scheduled tasks are especially well-suited to work handling connected external services, like sending mail, summarizing web searches, or organizing sheets.

If you also specify where to receive the task result (e.g., by mail), the result arrives on its own at the set time.

A real case

I registered a routine with /schedule to summarize last week's blog views and newly set topics and receive them by mail every Monday morning.

/schedule every Monday at 8 AM, summarize last week's blog views and new topics and send them by mail

After registering, I had nothing to worry about. When I come in on Monday, the summary mail is already there. The time I used to spend digging through "what did I do this week" disappeared entirely. Registering once and forgetting it ended up reducing my work every week.

Use it like this too

• Daily/weekly repetition: Freely set the cycle like "every morning" or "every Monday."
• One-time scheduling: Not just recurring — a one-time schedule like "in one hour" works too.
• Specify where to receive results: It's handy to also write the channel to receive results, like "send it by mail."
• Combine with skills/features: Hand off standardized work like morning briefings or weekly summaries entirely and it takes almost no effort.

Tip: At first, test once with a one-time schedule like "do ~ in one hour." Seeing it actually run on time with your own eyes makes entrusting daily and weekly repetition far more comfortable.

Wrap-up

The key is one sentence. Schedule the repeated tasks you used to run by hand with /schedule and forget them. Tasks a person handles every time eventually get skipped, but a scheduled routine runs on its own at the set time in the cloud, even with your PC off. It's the easiest first step into automation.

Based on: Claude Code v2.1.154 (2026.05)