Get Claude to do work without you doing anything

What a scheduled task is

A scheduled task is a job you hand to Claude with a time attached. Every morning at eight. Every Monday. Every weekday at five. When the time comes, Claude does the job on its own and the result is there when you look.

The jobs that suit it best are the ones you do on repeat:

1. A morning brief: what's on today, and what needs you.
2. Content ideas: a fresh list at the start of the week.
3. Going through your inbox: what needs a reply, what can wait.
4. A weekly review: how the week went, at the end of it.

All four are written out below, ready to paste.

The steps

This is the reel, written down.

1. Open Scheduled

   In the Claude desktop app, click Scheduled in the left sidebar, then New task.

2. Choose Create with Claude

   Claude asks you what the task should do, how often it should run and at what time. If you'd rather start the conversation yourself, this is what I typed:

   The openerCopy

   Help me set up a scheduled task. Ask me what it should do, how often it should run, and when, then create it.

3. Answer the questions

   Tell it the job in plain English. Claude writes up the task (a name, the schedule and the instructions) and you click Schedule. That's it.

4. Test it now, not tomorrow

   Find the task under Scheduled and press Run now. You see the result straight away, and you can fix the instructions before the first real run.

The thing no one tells you

Not every task can run in Claude's cloud.

1. Runs in the cloud: tasks that only use your connected tools (email, calendar, CRM) and the web. These run on schedule even when your laptop is closed or the app is shut.
2. Runs on your laptop: tasks that need files, folders or apps that live on your laptop. These only run while the laptop is awake.

If you've got a laptop task, set it to stay awake while it's plugged in:

1. Windows: Settings → System → Power & battery → Screen, sleep & hibernate timeouts. Set "When plugged in, put my device to sleep after" to Never. The screen can still turn off.
2. Mac: System Settings → Battery → Options. Turn on "Prevent automatic sleeping on power adapter when the display is off".

Leave the Claude desktop app open as well.

Four tasks to copy

Paste one into Create with Claude, then change the times and tools to match yours. Each needs the matching connectors switched on (Settings → Connectors).

Every weekday at 7:30am, look at my calendar and my inbox and tell me what I need to do today.
1. List today's meetings and calls in time order, with one line on who each one is with and what it's about.
2. List any emails from the last 24 hours that need a reply from me today. One line each: who, what they want, how urgent.
3. Finish with the three things I should get done today, in order.
Keep the whole brief short enough to read in five minutes.

Every Monday at 8am, give me five content ideas for this week.
My business: [what you do, in one line]. My customers: [who they are].
1. Search the web for news and talking points from the last 7 days in my industry.
2. For each idea, give me a one-line hook, the point I'd make, and why my customers would care.
3. Skip anything my customers wouldn't stop scrolling for.

Every weekday at 8am, go through my inbox from the last 24 hours.
1. Sort every email into: needs me today, can wait, or no action.
2. For each "needs me today" email, draft a reply in my tone and save it as a draft. Never send anything.
3. Give me a summary: the drafts waiting for me, and anything you weren't sure about.

Every Friday at 4pm, review my week.
1. From my calendar: how many meetings and calls I had, and who they were with.
2. From my inbox: anything still waiting on a reply from me.
3. Three things that went well, three things that slipped, and the one thing to fix first next week.
Keep it to one page.

Managing your tasks

Everything lives under Scheduled. Open a task to see its past results, run it now, pause it or edit the instructions. If a result isn't right, edit the instructions and press Run now again until it is.

What you need

1. A paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise).
2. The Claude desktop app, on Mac or Windows.
3. The connectors your task uses, switched on: your email, your calendar, or whatever else it reads.

Where this goes

Now Claude works on a schedule without you asking. Next, Day 17: what Claude does when the tool you need has no connector at all. It uses your computer, the same way you do.