Claude Code – Scheduled tasks (cron) added (code.claude.com)

Claude Code has introduced a new feature enabling users to schedule recurring prompts through the command /loop, effectively functioning as a cron job. This allows users to execute tasks at specified intervals—either leading, trailing, or without an explicit interval—making automation of workflows more efficient. For example, users can set a prompt to check builds every 30 minutes, with specific syntactical rules for intervals and the ability to cancel or list scheduled tasks using natural language commands. This enhancement holds significant implications for the AI/ML community, streamlining repetitive tasks and improving productivity within automated workflows. Claude Code enables scheduled tasks to run in a user-friendly manner while managing constraints such as a maximum of 50 tasks per session and automatic expiry after three days to prevent forgotten loops from running indefinitely. The feature also incorporates a jitter mechanism to avoid simultaneous API calls during peak times, contributing to more reliable performance in real-world applications.