Claude scheduled tasks: how to set them up and what they can do

Short answer

Tell Claude what to do and how often, such as "Every weekday at 8am, summarize my unread email", and click Schedule. Or open Scheduled in Cowork's sidebar and click New task. Tasks run hourly, daily, weekly, on weekdays or when you start them, on every paid plan. Since October 6, 2026, new tasks run in Anthropic's cloud, so they run with your computer asleep. A task can use your connectors, including custom ones, and you choose how much it may do without asking.

How to schedule a task in Claude

Three ways, all on paid plans (Claude help):

• From a conversation. Describe the task and how often: "Every Monday at 9am, list this week's meetings and what I need to prepare." Answer Claude's questions, then click Schedule. This is rolling out to Pro, Max and Ultra; on Team and Enterprise, an admin turns it on.
• In Cowork, with Claude's help. Open Scheduled in the left sidebar, click New task and choose Create with Claude.
• In Cowork, by hand. Choose Set up manually and fill in the name, the prompt, the approval mode and how often. You can also pick a model and a folder.

Typing /schedule in Cowork starts the same schedule request as the button. A task can repeat hourly, daily, weekly or on weekdays, or run only when you click Run now.

Where tasks run

Sources: Claude help, Cowork in the cloud.

On Team, cloud runs are on by default; on Enterprise, an owner turns on Run Cowork in the cloud. Workspaces set up for HIPAA run tasks locally only.

Plans and limits

Scheduled tasks come with Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise. Free doesn't have them. Each run uses your plan's usage like any Cowork session, and multi-step tasks use more. Anthropic doesn't publish a cap on how many tasks you can have.

Using Gmail, Calendar and Slack in a task

A scheduled task uses the connectors and plugins you set up in Claude, including custom connectors you added by URL. Their calls run on Anthropic's servers, and your tokens never enter the task's sandbox. Local MCP servers and desktop extensions only work in local tasks.

What a task may do without you depends on its approval mode (Cowork help):

Claude always asks before permanently deleting files. On Team and Enterprise, Always allow for connector tools is off by default, so write tools ask in every task. When a step needs an approval nobody gives, the run waits for you or skips that step and carries on, so check the run's session.

Anthropic advises against scheduling tasks that send messages as you, make purchases or do things that are hard to undo (Claude help). Have a task draft and let you send.

Where results go

Each run is its own Cowork session, listed under Scheduled with upcoming and past runs, on desktop, web and mobile. Claude notifies your phone when a run finishes or needs your input, and when one fails. There's no email of the results; ask the task to save its output to a file or a document if you want it elsewhere.

Manage, pause and delete tasks

Open Scheduled. From there you can edit a task's instructions or schedule, pause and resume it, run it now, or delete it. If an admin turns scheduled tasks off for the organization, existing tasks stop.

Why a Claude scheduled task didn't run

It's a local task and the computer was asleep

Tasks created before October 6, and tasks that need your local files or apps, run on your computer: only while it's awake and the Claude desktop app is open. Create the task again to have it run in the cloud, or keep the app open.

It's waiting for your approval

Open the run's session under Scheduled and answer the prompt. To stop it waiting next time, switch the task to Auto, or choose Allow for all scheduled runs when Claude asks.

A connector step was skipped

The tool needed an approval during an unattended run. Allow that tool for scheduled runs, or have the task draft instead of send.

It needs a folder on your computer

A cloud task reaches local folders only while the desktop app is open. Keep it open, or save the files to your Claude account.

You don't see Scheduled

Scheduled tasks need a paid plan. On Enterprise, an admin enables them.

Ideas to schedule

• Morning briefing: "Every weekday at 7:30, list today's meetings, emails waiting for my answer, and Slack mentions since yesterday evening."
• Inbox to tasks: "Every evening, find emails that ask something of me and add a task for each to my Todoist inbox."
• Follow-ups: "Every Friday, list emails I sent this week that got no reply, and draft a nudge for each. Don't send."
• Meeting prep: "Every morning, for each meeting with someone outside the company, summarize our last emails and anything open between us."
• Weekly update: "Every Friday at 3pm, read #eng and the Linear issues closed this week, and draft the team update in a Google Doc."

With Upsy

Add Upsy as a custom connector once, and every scheduled task can use your Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Slack and Zoho Mail through it, in the cloud:

• Several Gmail accounts. Claude's own Gmail connector holds one account; Upsy holds up to five, and a task can read work and personal mail in one run.
• Read-only that holds. Upsy marks its reading tools read-only, so in Auto they run without asking. Give Claude Read-only access in Upsy, and no run can send or delete, whatever an email tells it.
• A record of each run. Upsy's History lists every email a task read or sent, under Claude, and emails you if one assistant sends 20 or more messages in 10 minutes.
• Playbooks. Write the method once, like Daily briefing or Inbox to action, and schedule "Use Upsy and follow my Daily briefing playbook". ChatGPT's scheduled tasks can run the same one.

FAQ

Do Claude scheduled tasks run when my computer is off?

Yes, for tasks created since October 6, 2026: they run in Anthropic's cloud. Older tasks and tasks that need your local files run only while your computer is awake and the app is open.

Which Claude plans have scheduled tasks?

Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise. Not Free.

Can Claude scheduled tasks use Gmail?

Yes. A task uses the connectors you added in Claude, including Gmail and custom connectors like Upsy.

Can a Claude scheduled task send email?

It can, if the connector sends and the approval mode allows it. Anthropic recommends against scheduling tasks that send as you, so have the task draft and send yourself.

What's the difference between scheduled tasks in Claude and in Claude Code?

Claude's tasks are for everyday work in your apps. Claude Code's scheduled tasks, called routines until October 2026, run on your code repositories and can also start from GitHub events or an API call. See Claude Code routines.