1In one sentence
Claude Code can run jobs on a timer or when something happens (a new pull request, an API call), on Anthropic's computers, so the work gets done while you are away.
2New words
- Routine — Claude Code's name for a scheduled or triggered job. The same idea as scheduled tasks in Chapter 1.12, but for code and repos.
- Trigger — what starts a routine: a time (every day at 7), an event (a pull request opened), or a call from another program.
- Pull request (PR) — a proposed change to a repo that others review before it is merged. Many routines watch for these.
- Cron — the old-fashioned way of writing "every Monday at 9"; you will see the word, but the form lets you pick times normally.
3Why you would want it
A nightly check that the site still works, a weekly dependency update, release notes drafted every time a PR merges, a digest of open issues each morning: each is a routine. They remove the boring half of maintaining software.
4Try it now
(paid plans)
- In the Code tab, click Routines. Read the templates: Briefing, Email triage, System health check, Issue triage, PR review digest, Dependency update check, Release notes drafter, Flaky test tracker.
- Click New routine. Start with a read-only one: Every weekday at 8, list the open issues in [repo], group them by area, and suggest the three to do first.
- Check the first result the next morning; adjust the wording.
5What you will see
The Routines page, with your routines at the top and ready-made templates below, each with its schedule or trigger:
A saved routine shows its next run; each run appears as a session you can open and read. Some templates run on events ("Triggered by pull request closed") rather than times.
6Watch out
- Start with routines that only read and report. Add ones that change code only after several good runs, and have them open a PR rather than merge.
- A routine runs without you; write its brief as if for a new colleague on their first day.
7Go further
Chain them: a routine that opens a PR, and a hook (Chapter 6.4) that runs the tests on it. Chapter 6.10 is the last one: keeping all of this cheap and safe.