By default, scheduled tasks start a new session automatically at a time and frequency you choose. Use them for recurring work like daily code reviews, dependency update checks, or morning briefings that pull from your calendar and inbox.
Compare scheduling options
Claude Code offers three ways to schedule recurring work:
| Cloud | Desktop | /loop |
|---|
| Runs on | Anthropic cloud | Your machine | Your machine |
| Requires machine on | No | Yes | Yes |
| Requires open session | No | No | Yes |
| Persistent across restarts | Yes | Yes | No (session-scoped) |
| Access to local files | No (fresh clone) | Yes | Yes |
| MCP servers | Connectors configured per task | Config files and connectors | Inherits from session |
| Permission prompts | No (runs autonomously) | Configurable per task | Inherits from session |
| Customizable schedule | Via /schedule in the CLI | Yes | Yes |
| Minimum interval | 1 hour | 1 minute | 1 minute |
Use cloud tasks for work that should run reliably without your machine. Use Desktop tasks when you need access to local files and tools. Use /loop for quick polling during a session.
- Local tasks: run on your machine. They have direct access to your local files and tools, but the desktop app must be open and your computer awake for them to run.
- Remote tasks: run on Anthropic-managed cloud infrastructure. They keep running even when your computer is off, but work against a fresh clone of your repository rather than your local checkout.
Both kinds appear in the same task grid. Click New task to pick which kind to create. The rest of this page covers local tasks; for remote tasks, see Cloud scheduled tasks.
See How scheduled tasks run for details on missed runs and catch-up behavior for local tasks.
By default, local scheduled tasks run against whatever state your working directory is in, including uncommitted changes. Enable the worktree toggle in the prompt input to give each run its own isolated Git worktree, the same way parallel sessions work. Create a scheduled task
To create a local scheduled task, click Schedule in the sidebar, click New task, and choose New local task. Configure these fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|
| Name | Identifier for the task. Converted to lowercase kebab-case and used as the folder name on disk. Must be unique across your tasks. |
| Description | Short summary shown in the task list. |
| Prompt | The instructions sent to Claude when the task runs. Write this the same way you’d write any message in the prompt box. The prompt input also includes controls for model, permission mode, working folder, and worktree. |
| Frequency | How often the task runs. See frequency options below. |
Frequency options
Pick a preset from the frequency dropdown, or ask Claude for anything the picker doesn’t cover:
- Manual: no schedule, only runs when you click Run now. Useful for saving a prompt you trigger on demand
- Hourly: runs every hour. Each task gets a fixed offset of up to 10 minutes from the top of the hour to stagger API traffic
- Daily: shows a time picker, defaults to 9:00 AM local time
- Weekdays: same as Daily but skips Saturday and Sunday
- Weekly: shows a time picker and a day picker
For intervals the picker doesn’t offer (every 15 minutes, first of each month, etc.), ask Claude in any Desktop session to set the schedule. Use plain language; for example, “schedule a task to run all the tests every 6 hours.”
How scheduled tasks run
Local scheduled tasks run on your machine. Desktop checks the schedule every minute while the app is open and starts a fresh session when a task is due, independent of any manual sessions you have open. Each task gets a fixed delay of up to 10 minutes after the scheduled time to stagger API traffic. The delay is deterministic: the same task always starts at the same offset.
When a task fires, you get a desktop notification and a new session appears under a Scheduled section in the sidebar. Open it to see what Claude did, review changes, or respond to permission prompts. The session works like any other: Claude can edit files, run commands, create commits, and open pull requests.
Tasks only run while the desktop app is running and your computer is awake. If your computer sleeps through a scheduled time, the run is skipped. To prevent idle-sleep, enable Keep computer awake in Settings under Desktop app → General. Closing the laptop lid still puts it to sleep. For tasks that need to run even when your computer is off, use a remote task instead.
Missed runs
When the app starts or your computer wakes, Desktop checks whether each task missed any runs in the last seven days. If it did, Desktop starts exactly one catch-up run for the most recently missed time and discards anything older. A daily task that missed six days runs once on wake. Desktop shows a notification when a catch-up run starts.
Keep this in mind when writing prompts. A task scheduled for 9am might run at 11pm if your computer was asleep all day. If timing matters, add guardrails to the prompt itself, for example: “Only review today’s commits. If it’s after 5pm, skip the review and just post a summary of what was missed.”
Permissions for scheduled tasks
Each task has its own permission mode, which you set when creating or editing the task. Allow rules from ~/.claude/settings.json also apply to scheduled task sessions. If a task runs in Ask mode and needs to run a tool it doesn’t have permission for, the run stalls until you approve it. The session stays open in the sidebar so you can answer later.
To avoid stalls, click Run now after creating a task, watch for permission prompts, and select “always allow” for each one. Future runs of that task auto-approve the same tools without prompting. You can review and revoke these approvals from the task’s detail page.
Manage scheduled tasks
Click a task in the Schedule list to open its detail page. From here you can:
- Run now: start the task immediately without waiting for the next scheduled time
- Toggle repeats: pause or resume scheduled runs without deleting the task
- Edit: change the prompt, frequency, folder, or other settings
- Review history: see every past run, including ones that were skipped because your computer was asleep
- Review allowed permissions: see and revoke saved tool approvals for this task from the Always allowed panel
- Delete: remove the task and archive all sessions it created
You can also manage tasks by asking Claude in any Desktop session. For example, “pause my dependency-audit task”, “delete the standup-prep task”, or “show me my scheduled tasks.”
To edit a task’s prompt on disk, open ~/.claude/scheduled-tasks/<task-name>/SKILL.md (or under CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR if set). The file uses YAML frontmatter for name and description, with the prompt as the body. Changes take effect on the next run. Schedule, folder, model, and enabled state are not in this file: change them through the Edit form or ask Claude.
