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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. The Desktop app’s Scheduled tasks page lists both local scheduled tasks and cloud scheduled tasks, formerly routines:
  • Local task: runs on your machine with direct access to your files and tools, but only fires while the app is open and your computer is awake
  • Cloud task: runs even when your computer is off, and can also start on API calls or GitHub events
This page covers local scheduled tasks; for cloud scheduled tasks and their trigger options, see Automate work with scheduled tasks.

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Compare scheduling options

Claude Code offers three ways to schedule recurring or one-off work:
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.
By default, local scheduled tasks run against whatever state your working directory is in, including uncommitted changes. To give each run its own isolated Git worktree instead, select Worktree in the task’s Edit form after you create it. The checkbox is available when the task’s folder is a Git repository.

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Create a scheduled task

Local scheduled tasks require Claude Desktop 1.1.5368 or later.
1

Open the Scheduled tasks page

In the Code tab, click Scheduled in the sidebar or in the sidebar’s More menu.
2

Start a new task

Click New task. If a menu opens with Create with Claude and Set up manually, select Set up manually. The New scheduled task dialog opens. If Only on this computer is at the top of the dialog, go to Dialog with Only on this computer at the top before you enter anything.
3

Name the task

Enter a name in the Name field. Desktop converts it to lowercase kebab-case and uses it as the task’s folder name on disk, so the name must be unique across your tasks.
4

Write the instructions

In the box below the name, enter what Claude should do when the task runs.
5

Turn on Only on this computer

Skip past the Trigger card for now and expand Advanced settings below it. On the General tab, turn on Only on this computer. With it on, the task runs on your machine in a local folder, and the Trigger card offers the presets listed in Schedule options.If the switch is unavailable, clear the repository or the GitHub event or API trigger, because those make the task a cloud scheduled task.
6

Pick the local folder

In the Local folder row, select a folder. Create stays unavailable until you pick one.
7

Set the schedule

Back in the Trigger card, select a schedule preset.
8

Choose the permission mode and model

In the instructions box’s toolbar, select a permission mode and model. If you leave them unchanged, runs use your Claude Code settings and the default model.
9

Create the task

Click Create. If you haven’t trusted the folder yet, Desktop asks you to trust it at this point. The task’s detail page opens.
On the detail page, click the pencil icon to open the Edit form. There you can change the Description that Desktop filled in from your instructions, select Worktree, or switch the schedule to Manual. You can also create a task by describing what you want in any session. For example, “set up a daily code review that runs every morning at 9am” creates a recurring task. A request like “remind me at 3pm tomorrow to check the deploy” creates a one-time task that disables itself after it fires.

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Dialog with Only on this computer at the top

If Only on this computer is at the top of the New scheduled task dialog when it opens, turn it on before you enter anything. When you turn it on, a separate blank form for a local task replaces the form. Then fill in the local form’s fields:
  • Name: enter a name, as in the steps to create a scheduled task.
  • Description: enter a description. Create stays unavailable until you do.
  • The instructions box: enter what Claude should do when the task runs. Select the permission mode and model from the menus in the box.
  • Working folder: select the folder the task runs in. Create stays unavailable until you select one.
  • Trigger: select a schedule. Custom takes a cron expression. For the other presets, see Schedule options.
Click Create. The task’s detail page opens.

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Schedule options

When you turn on Only on this computer under Advanced settings, the Trigger card offers Hourly, Daily, Weekdays, and Weekly. The task’s Edit form also offers Manual.
  • Hourly: runs every hour
  • Daily: runs every day at the local time you pick
  • Weekdays: same as Daily but skips Saturday and Sunday
  • Weekly: shows a time picker and a day picker
  • Manual: no schedule, only runs when you click Run now. Useful for saving a prompt you trigger on demand
For intervals the picker doesn’t offer, such as every 15 minutes, the first of each month, or a single run at a specific future time, 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.”

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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 small delay of a few minutes after the scheduled time to stagger API traffic. The delay is deterministic: the same task always starts at the same offset. 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, turn on Keep computer awake in Settings > This computer > System. Closing the laptop lid still puts it to sleep.
For tasks that need to run even when your computer is off, or that should trigger on an API call or GitHub event, create a cloud scheduled task instead.
When a local task fires, 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. Claude can edit files, run commands, create commits, and open pull requests, the same as in a session you start yourself.

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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 post a summary of what was missed.”

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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 Manual 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. MCP tools marked requiresUserInteraction prompt on every call and don’t offer an always-allow option. Runs that call these tools stall each time.

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Manage scheduled tasks

In the Code tab, click Scheduled in the sidebar, then click a task in the list to open its detail page. From here you can:
  • Run now: start the task immediately without waiting for the next scheduled time
  • Status: toggle between Active and Paused to pause or resume scheduled runs without deleting the task
  • Edit: change the instructions, schedule, folder, or other settings
  • Review history: see every past run, including skipped runs. Hover a skipped entry to see why: your computer was asleep, the previous run was still in progress, or other scheduled tasks were already running. Click Show more to load older entries.
  • 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. An Also delete files on disk checkbox appears in the confirmation dialog; check it to also remove the task’s SKILL.md file and associated data from ~/.claude/scheduled-tasks/.
You can also list, create, edit, and pause tasks by asking Claude in any Desktop session. For example, “pause my dependency-audit task” or “show me my scheduled tasks.” To delete a task, use the Delete button on its detail page. A scheduled task can also modify its own schedule or prompt from within a running session using the update_scheduled_task MCP tool. This lets a task reschedule itself based on what it finds, for example, rescheduling a code review to run earlier when it detects a release branch has been created. 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.