Scheduling a routine, and keeping an eye on it

This lesson is still being tested: it improves with learners' feedback. If something is unclear, it is the lesson that needs fixing, not you.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to

schedule your skill as a scheduled task, in Manual mode;
write robust instructions, correct even if the task runs late;
monitor a routine: its history, its permission requests, its results;
pause it or stop it.

Why it matters to you

Once scheduled, a routine works without you. That is the whole point, and the whole risk: if it gets stuck, makes mistakes or runs at an unexpected time, nobody sees it. This lesson sets up a green routine (it only reads and summarizes), then the habit that keeps it reliable: five minutes per week.

Before you start


You need	The Claude app (Code tab), your `point-semaine` skill (lesson 4), and your mon-espace-ia folder
Cost	The agent subscription: Claude Pro at minimum, €18 per month excl. VAT, price shown in France on 24/10/2026. Each run uses up your usage limit. If you have turned on usage credits (Settings, then Usage, in your Claude account), runs beyond the limit are billed on top, at API rates: keep them turned off for this exercise
Duration	40 minutes, then 5 minutes per week
Reminder	A routine only does green tasks at first: reading and preparing

Understand it in 3 minutes

What the documentation says about local scheduled tasks (24/10/2026):

they start a new session at the planned time, only if the app is open and the computer is awake: if it is asleep, it skips the run. The app’s “Keep computer awake” setting prevents automatic sleep, but not closing a laptop lid;
each run takes place a few minutes after the planned time, and a single catch-up run takes place on waking if the computer was asleep, the most recent one;
each task has its own mode; in Manual mode, an action that is not allowed blocks the run until you answer;
the permission rules in your personal settings file (~/.claude/settings.json) also apply to the tasks’ sessions: an action they already allow will not be asked again;
the task’s page shows its history (including skipped runs), lets you use Run now, pause (status Paused) and delete, and lists the saved approvals (Always allowed), which you can remove.

Robust instructions. Since a run can be shifted, write instructions that stay correct: “the last 7 days” rather than “this week”, and “do not change any file” in every case. The documentation gives this example of a safeguard: stating in the instruction what to do if the task runs too late.

Your connectors are there too. The connectors you connected in lesson 3 (Gmail, Calendar, Drive) are available in the app’s sessions, so in your routine’s runs, even if its instruction only talks about the journal. “Do not send anything” is an instruction, not a barrier.

Before scheduling it, disconnect the ones it doesn’t need (Customize, then Connectors): according to Claude Code’s documentation, that is the move that keeps them out of the app’s sessions. Your barrier is Manual mode, as long as you do not grant “Always allow” to a tool that writes or sends.

In the cloud? A cloud task runs even with the computer off, but without your local files, and starts in Auto mode (lesson 2). For a routine that reads your local journal, the local task is enough.

Do it together

1Step 1: Create the task

In the app, Code tab, open Scheduled in the sidebar (or in its More menu), then New task (or Routines, then New routine, if your sidebar still shows the old name). Depending on the app version:

if a choice Create with Claude or Set up manually appears, take Set up manually;
if Only on this computer is offered at the top, or a choice between Local and Cloud, choose your computer (Local) before filling in the rest;
otherwise, open Advanced settings, General tab, and turn on Only on this computer.

Warning: without this setting, the task does not run on your computer, and does not read your journal.

Then fill in:

the name: point-semaine-auto;
the instructions: “Use the point-semaine skill. Do not change any file, do not send anything. If the journal of the last 7 days is empty, write only: nothing to report.”;
the folder: mon-espace-ia;
the mode: Manual;
the schedule: every Monday morning.

Click Create: the button stays grayed out until a folder is chosen, and the app may ask you to trust the folder.

2Step 2: The first run, watched

On the task’s page, click Run now. Open the run’s session:

if a permission request appears for reading, and you have read and understood it, choose “always allow”: according to the documentation, the following runs will accept it without asking you; otherwise, Monday’s run will stay blocked waiting for your answer;
if it concerns a write or a send, refuse: your instruction says not to change anything, so there is a problem in the task or the skill.

Reread the update produced with the four questions of lesson 4.

3Step 3: The week’s monitoring

Every Monday, 5 minutes:

open the task’s page, look at its history: a run, or a skipped run (and why);
open the run, reread the update;
look at the list of saved approvals: remove whatever has no reason to be there.

4Step 4: Know how to stop it

Test it now: set the status to Paused, then back to Active. Note on your task sheet: “Stop: Scheduled, point-semaine-auto, Paused. Deletion: Delete.”

Deleting the task does not erase everything: the sessions of its runs are archived, not deleted, and the task’s folder stays on your computer (~/.claude/scheduled-tasks/point-semaine-auto/). These sessions may contain what the routine read: if you want to erase everything, delete them too, and delete that folder yourself.

Your turn

The module 8 deliverable, first half: your green routine, scheduled in Manual mode, run once with Run now, monitored for two weeks, with its stop procedure noted on your task sheet.

Check your work

It worked if:

the task exists, in Manual mode, on your folder, with instructions that forbid changing and sending;
the first run was started with Run now and reread;
you looked at its history at least two weeks in a row;
you know how to pause it and delete it, and it is noted on your task sheet.

Common mistakes:

scheduling an orange or red task to start with;
allowing everything “forever” on the first run without reading;
no longer looking at the history: a blocked or skipped routine goes unnoticed;
instructions that depend on the exact day (“this week”).

Keep it and pick it up later

Your task sheet now says: the rung (lesson 2), the skill (lesson 4), the routine and how to stop it (this lesson).
Monday’s monitoring is added to your monthly upkeep (module 5, lesson 7).

Going further

optional

According to the documentation, you can also ask Claude, in an app session, to list or pause your tasks (“pause my point-semaine-auto task”).
Cloud tasks, in English: code.claude.com/docs/en/routines (still in preview).

New words

4 words explained

Word	What it means
Routine	A task that comes back at a fixed rhythm, started on its own
History	The list of a task’s runs, including those that were skipped
Catch-up run	The run started when the computer wakes up for a missed time
Robust instruction	An instruction that stays correct even if the task runs late

To be checked: creating and monitoring a task has not been tried in the app (screenshots to be taken).

Date, version, sources Written on 24/10/2026. Checks on 24/10/2026 on code.claude.com/docs/en/desktop-scheduled-tasks: creating a task (Scheduled, New task, Set up manually; Only on this computer setting, Create button, “always allow” on the first run, checked on 25/10/2026; the app’s French labels: test T65), run conditions, a delay of a few minutes, single catch-up run on waking, safeguard in the instruction, mode per task and blocking in Manual mode, Run now, history, Paused, Delete, saved and revocable approvals, managing tasks by asking Claude. Cloud tasks: code.claude.com/docs/en/routines. Price of Claude Pro: claude.com/pricing. claude.ai connectors available in Claude Code: code.claude.com/docs/en/mcp. Usage credits: support.claude.com, “Manage usage credits for paid Claude plans”.