Can Claude Code Run Tasks on a Schedule?

Yes. Claude Code can run a prompt on a schedule three ways: /loop inside an open session, Desktop scheduled tasks on your machine, and cloud scheduled tasks (formerly routines) on Anthropic's infrastructure, which keep running with your laptop closed. Which one fits depends on whether the machine stays on and how often the task runs.

The three options

Facts from Anthropic's docs on session tasks, Desktop tasks and cloud tasks, read November 6, 2026. Cloud tasks are in research preview, so limits may change. They are on Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise plans.

Limits that catch people out

• /loop: tasks fire only while Claude Code is running and idle, and a recurring task expires 7 days after it was created.
• Desktop: if the computer sleeps through a scheduled time, that run is skipped. On wake, one catch-up run starts for the most recently missed time, so a 9am task can run at 11pm.
• Cloud: a five-field cron is read in UTC unless it opens with CRON_TZ=, anything more often than hourly is rejected, and a run set exactly on the hour can start several minutes late.
• All three: runs use your Claude usage, the same as an interactive session.

When the task is one HTTP call

Some scheduled work needs no model at all: calling a report endpoint, posting to Slack, starting a deploy. Connect the RunLater MCP server and Claude Code can hand that call to RunLater:

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user runlater https://runlater.app/api/mcp

Then ask: “Call this URL every 5 minutes.” RunLater sends the request on its own servers, so no session or machine has to stay up and no Claude usage is spent on each run. Cron goes down to once a minute in the time zone you name, failures are retried up to 10 times, and every run is logged. RunLater only sends HTTP requests. It does not run Claude, read your repository, or run commands on your machine.

Start a cloud task at an exact minute

A cloud task can also have an API trigger, a URL that starts a new session when it gets a POST. Add one at claude.ai/code/routines and copy the Fire URL and token, which is shown once. A RunLater schedule can call that URL, which gets you a time zone on the cron line and intervals shorter than an hour:

curl https://runlater.app/api/v1/schedules \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RUNLATER_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://api.anthropic.com/v1/claude_code/routines/trig_XXXX/fire",
    "headers": {
      "Authorization": "Bearer sk-ant-oat01-xxxxx",
      "anthropic-beta": "experimental-cc-routine-2026-04-01",
      "anthropic-version": "2023-06-01"
    },
    "body": { "text": "Weekly run: check the release branch." },
    "cron": "0 9 * * 1",
    "timezone": "America/Chicago",
    "retries": 1
  }'

• The URL, headers and text field are from Anthropic's docs. The endpoint is under a dated beta header and may change.
• API fires are limited to 30 an hour per task and 100 an hour per account.
• Your saved prompt has to tell Claude to use the fire text, because it arrives labeled as untrusted data.
• Keep retries low. If a fire times out after the session started, a retry starts a second session.

Starter is $15/month for 250 scheduled requests and 25,000 runs, after a 14-day trial.

Frequently asked questions