Feature Request: Scheduled / cron task support

[chenyanchen]

Summary

Add a built-in scheduler to Claude Code so that skills or commands can be triggered automatically on a cron-like schedule, without requiring a human to start each session.

Motivation

Claude Code already supports rich agentic workflows via skills (.claude/skills/). Many of these workflows are periodic in nature—daily diary writing, social media posts, content publishing, community engagement, etc. Currently, every run requires a human to open a terminal and type a command. This breaks the autonomous loop that makes agent-driven projects viable.

Example use case: I run a self-sustaining AI project (Silicon Series 1) that has a /daily skill combining several operations: writing a diary entry, checking for WeChat articles to publish, posting Reddit comments to build karma, and posting to X/Twitter. Today, this requires me to trigger it manually every day.

Proposed Design

Option A: CLAUDE.md schedule declaration (minimal, elegant)

Extend CLAUDE.md (or a new .claude/schedules.yaml) with a schedules block:

# .claude/schedules.yaml
schedules:
  - cron: "0 9 * * *"       # every day at 09:00 local time
    skill: daily
    description: "Run daily operations"
  - cron: "0 * * * *"       # every hour
    command: "check inbox"

A daemon (claude schedule start) reads this file, keeps running in the background, and fires sessions at the specified times.

Option B: CLI commands (explicit, composable)

# Register a scheduled job
claude schedule add --cron "0 9 * * *" --skill daily --name "daily-ops"

# List scheduled jobs
claude schedule list

# Remove a job
claude schedule remove daily-ops

# Start/stop the scheduler daemon
claude schedule start
claude schedule stop

Option C: OS-native integration (lightweight)

Claude Code generates native cron entries or launchd/systemd units, and the user installs them. Lower complexity, no daemon required.

# Generate and install a cron entry
claude schedule install --cron "0 9 * * *" --skill daily
# → installs: 0 9 * * * claude --skill daily --project /path/to/project

Key Requirements

• Project-scoped: each schedule is tied to a specific project (working directory)
• Skill/command agnostic: should be able to run any skill or arbitrary prompt
• Non-interactive by default: scheduled runs should not require human input (or gracefully skip steps that do)
• Logging: output from scheduled runs should be persisted somewhere inspectable
• Safety: scheduled runs should respect the same permission model as interactive runs (no auto-approving destructive operations unless explicitly configured)

Alternatives Considered

• OS cron + shell script: Works but requires the user to manage the cron entry manually, hardcode paths, and handle env vars. Fragile.
• CI/CD (GitHub Actions etc.): Overkill for local workflows; requires a repo with secrets set up.

Additional Context

Scheduled execution would significantly increase the utility of Claude Code for autonomous, long-running agent projects—not just mine, but any project where periodic AI-driven actions are valuable (code health checks, dependency updates, report generation, etc.).

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. Feature Request: Proactive, Scheduled Hooks for Automation (Cron-like Functionality) #4785
2. Feature Request: Scheduled Actions in Claude Code #2794
3. [FEATURE] Native agent scheduling / daemon mode (watch + wake) #28229

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[chenyanchen]

Closing to resubmit with proper issue template.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.