Claude scheduled tasks: how to set one up for your team (2026)

Last updated: October 30, 2026

TL;DR

Claude scheduled tasks let you write a prompt once in Cowork and have Claude run it hourly, daily, weekly or on weekdays. On a Team plan, make your first one a read-only weekly digest, and set any connector action you never want run unattended to Blocked, because Needs approval only pauses a task in one of Cowork's three approval modes.

• 🛠️ Setup. Click Scheduled in Cowork's sidebar, then New task. Claude can write the task with you, or you fill in the name, prompt, approval mode and frequency yourself.
• ☁️ Plans and where they run. Every paid plan has them. On Team they run in Anthropic's cloud by default, so they fire with your laptop closed, unless an owner switches cloud sessions off or the task needs local files.
• 📋 First task. A Monday digest of what came in, what went out and what's stuck. It only reads, so there is nothing to approve and nothing to go wrong.
• ✋ Approvals. A tool set to Needs approval pauses the run in Manual mode. In Auto mode Claude decides, and in Skip mode it goes through.
• 📏 Limits. Runs draw from the same per-person allowance as chat and Claude Code. Cowork has no custom intervals and no repository access, and developers who need either use Claude Code's own scheduled tasks.

How to set up a Claude scheduled task

You create a Claude scheduled task from the Scheduled page in Cowork. Click "Scheduled" in the left sidebar, then "New task." Pick "Create with Claude" to describe the job in plain language, or "Set up manually" to fill in the task name, prompt, approval mode, frequency, and optionally a model and a working folder.

That is the whole flow in Anthropic's scheduled tasks article. On the Claude Team plan, this order avoids surprises:

1. Check the two admin switches. An Owner opens Organization settings, then Cowork. "Enable for your organization" and "Run Cowork in the cloud" are both on by default for Team, per Anthropic's Cowork guide for Team and Enterprise. If either is off, fix that first.
2. Connect the tools the task reads. An Owner enables each connector for the organization, then each member signs in with their own account, per the connectors guide. A scheduled task can only use connectors the person who created it has signed in to.
3. Create the task. Open Cowork in the Claude Desktop app, click Scheduled, then New task. You can also type /schedule in any Cowork task, per Anthropic's Cowork getting-started article.
4. Pick the approval mode and frequency. The frequency is hourly, daily, weekly, on weekdays, or manual. The approval mode is covered in its own section below. Choose Manual until the task has run cleanly a few times.
5. Run it once on demand. From the Scheduled page you can run a task right away, pause it, edit it, resume it or delete it, and review past and upcoming runs. Read the first output before you let it run on its schedule.

If you're on Pro or Max you may see a different screen. Anthropic is merging chat and Cowork into one "new Claude experience," where you describe a schedule in any conversation and click "Schedule." That rollout covers Pro and Max first, with a beta for Enterprise. Team organizations "keep chat and Claude Cowork as they are today," per the Team and Enterprise guide, so on Team the Scheduled page is still the way in.

Which plans include scheduled tasks, and where they run

Scheduled tasks are on every paid Claude plan: Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. On Team, they run in Anthropic's cloud by default, so a weekly report still fires when every laptop is shut. Two things move a task back onto someone's computer: a task that needs local files or apps, and an Owner switching cloud sessions off.

The October 6 change is in Anthropic's Cowork surfaces article: on Pro and Max, new Cowork tasks run in the cloud and the "Only on your computer" option is gone. Team didn't get that change. It still has local sessions, which run on the member's computer, and cloud sessions, where, in the Team and Enterprise guide's words, "scheduled tasks run when the laptop closes and no device is online." Cloud is the default, so most Team tasks run there. The exceptions:

So build team tasks on cloud connectors (Gmail, Google Drive, Slack, Microsoft 365 and the like) and keep local folders out of them.

Your first scheduled task: a weekly digest

Make the first Claude scheduled task a Monday-morning digest that only reads: what came in last week, what went out, and what is still waiting. It needs nothing but read access to email and shared files, so it never stops for an approval, and the worst a bad run can do is produce a bad summary that nobody acts on.

Weekly reports and briefings top Anthropic's own list of common uses, and a weekly cadence is easier to check than a daily one. Here is a prompt to start from, set to run weekly on Monday morning:

Read the last 7 days of email in my inbox and the files changed in the Operations folder in Google Drive. Write a summary with three sections: what came in that still needs a reply, what we sent out, and anything waiting more than 3 days. Group items by client. Keep it under 300 words. Do not send, edit, move or delete anything.

It touches only read-only tools, so the run finishes on its own. The last line repeats what the connector settings should already enforce, so whoever edits the task next knows its intent. And you know what happened last week, so you can tell in a minute whether the summary is right.

Before you write it, check which connectors the team actually has. On our own Team account, the Connectors page listed 25 enabled connectors, Gmail among them, with "Let members request connectors" switched on. If the tool your digest needs isn't enabled, a member can request it and an Owner approves it.

After a few clean weeks, the obvious next step is to have the task post its summary to a Slack channel. That is a write action, and it is where approvals come in.

How scheduled tasks handle connectors set to Needs approval

A connector tool set to Needs approval pauses a scheduled task only in Manual mode. In Auto mode, Claude decides whether the action is safe, and in Skip mode it goes ahead. So if an action must never happen without a person, such as sending an email or deleting a file, set that tool to Blocked.

Two settings combine on every run. Each connector tool has a permission (Always allow, Needs approval or Blocked), set org-wide by an Owner. Each task has an approval mode, chosen when you create it. Anthropic's Cowork getting-started article has the full matrix:

In Auto mode ("Automatically approve"), Claude screens each action for safety and blocks what it judges unsafe. It uses more of your usage limit, and Anthropic says that for "money, messages sent as you, important files" you should stay close or use Manual. Skip mode ("Skip all approvals") checks nothing.

On Team, two organization settings sit on top of that matrix. Both are under Organization settings, then Cowork, then Permissions, per the Team and Enterprise guide:

Each scheduled run is its own Cowork session, so with the second setting at its default, plan on approving write tools again on each run. Read-only tools are exempt only when the connector labels them read-only, and Anthropic says most custom connectors don't, so every tool on a custom connector is gated.

A paused run waits for the person who owns the task. Cloud sessions send a phone notification "when Claude finishes a task or needs your input," per the Cowork surfaces article. If that person is on vacation, the Slack post doesn't go out.

That leaves a simple policy for a team of five or 10:

1. Read-only tools: Always allow. Digests and reports then run without stopping.
2. Writes you want to review: Needs approval, and schedule those tasks in Manual mode. The run pauses and someone approves it.
3. Writes that must never run unattended: Blocked. Blocked is the only setting that holds in every mode.
4. Decide whether members may use Auto. If not, turn off "Allow 'Automatically approve' mode." Anthropic's admin guide documents an org switch for Auto only, so cover Skip mode in your written rules for how the team uses Claude.

Limits, and when to use Claude Code's scheduled tasks instead

Cowork scheduled tasks have fixed cadences and no repository access, and every run uses the creator's own seat allowance. Developers who need a repository, a GitHub event, an API trigger or a custom interval should use Claude Code's scheduled tasks, which Anthropic renamed from routines and which run as full cloud coding sessions.

The limits on the Cowork side:

• ⏱️ Cadence. Hourly, daily, weekly, weekdays, or manual. The Cowork article lists no custom intervals.
• 🔋 Usage. Each run draws from the member's per-seat allowance, which "is shared with Claude chat and Cowork," per Anthropic's Claude Code costs page. Limits don't pool across seats, so an hourly task on one person's Standard seat eats into that person's day. Owners can buy usage credits so members keep working past their limits, with org and per-member caps, per the extra usage article.
• 🧪 Beta. Cowork in the cloud is still in beta on Team.
• ❓ Not documented. The Cowork article doesn't publish a cap on how many scheduled tasks you can have, or what happens to a run missed while a task was paused or over its limit.

Claude Code has its own scheduling

Claude Code has three scheduling options, set out in the cloud scheduled tasks docs and the desktop scheduled tasks docs:

Cloud tasks live at claude.ai/code/routines or behind /schedule in the CLI. They belong to the individual account, aren't shared with teammates, and act as you on GitHub and every connector they include. The docs cap scheduled runs at 100 per hour per account. A Team Owner can switch them off for everyone with the "Scheduled tasks (Was Routines)" toggle under Organization settings, then Capabilities, then Remote sessions. Since cloud tasks never stop for approval, scope their connectors tightly. Our write-up of compound engineering for Claude Code covers how we keep shared conventions in the repository so unattended runs follow them.

For everyone else on the team, schedule work in Cowork. Anthropic's Claude for Small Business plugin adds ready-made finance, sales and operations workflows to Cowork, which are good candidates for a second scheduled task. For agents that do more than report, see our guide to AI agents for small business.

Frequently asked questions

What are Claude scheduled tasks?

Claude scheduled tasks are saved Cowork prompts that Claude runs automatically on a cadence you choose: hourly, daily, weekly, on weekdays, or on demand. Each run is its own Cowork session with access to your connectors, skills and plugins, and the output waits for you on the Scheduled page.

Which Claude plans include scheduled tasks?

All paid plans include them: Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. The Free plan does not. On Team and Enterprise, an Owner controls access through the Cowork toggle in Organization settings, which is on by default for Team.

Do Claude scheduled tasks run when my computer is off?

Yes, for tasks that run in the cloud. That is the default on Pro and Max, and on Team while "Run Cowork in the cloud" is on, which it is by default. A task that needs local files or apps depends on the Claude Desktop app being open on that computer.

Are Claude scheduled tasks free?

No. Scheduled tasks need a paid plan, and each run uses the same usage allowance as your chats and Claude Code sessions. On Team and Enterprise, Owners can buy usage credits so members can keep working after they reach their seat's limit.

Is there a limit on Claude scheduled tasks?

Cowork has only hourly, daily, weekly, weekday or manual cadences, and every run counts against your seat's usage limits. Anthropic doesn't publish a maximum number of Cowork tasks. Claude Code's cloud scheduled tasks have a one-hour minimum interval and 100 scheduled runs per hour per account.

Can I use Claude scheduled tasks on mobile?

Yes. Anthropic lists scheduled tasks as available on desktop, web and mobile. Cowork on web and mobile is in beta for Team. Click "Scheduled" in the sidebar on any surface to review upcoming and past runs.

What happens when a scheduled task needs approval?

In Manual mode, the run pauses at any connector tool set to Needs approval and waits for you, and cloud sessions notify your phone. In Auto mode Claude decides, and in Skip mode the action runs. Set actions that must never run unattended to Blocked.

What is the difference between Cowork scheduled tasks and Claude Code routines?

Cowork scheduled tasks run business prompts against your connectors. Claude Code's scheduled tasks, formerly called routines, run full coding sessions against a repository, can start from a GitHub event or an API call, and never stop for permission prompts. Both are on every paid plan.

Why is my Claude Cowork scheduled task not running?

Check that the task isn't paused, that an Owner hasn't turned off Cowork or "Run Cowork in the cloud," and that you haven't hit your usage limit. A task that needs local files or the built-in browser also needs the Claude Desktop app open on that computer.

Get Claude Team set up properly

We set up Claude Team for small businesses: the seat plan, the security settings, shared Projects and skills written from your actual processes, and the first scheduled routines. If you'd rather have it done once and done right, see how our Claude Team setup works or book a 30-minute call.