Anthropic: Claude Code Routines Transform Development

Automations That Run Without an Open Session

On Tuesday, April 14, 2026, Anthropic introduced a new feature in Claude Code: routines. Currently in research preview, these routines allow for the automation of tasks by executing them autonomously on Anthropic's cloud, even when the user's computer is offline. This advancement aims to alleviate the burden of repetitive tasks in the development cycle, often managed by third-party tools. This announcement is part of a series of recent updates, including an auto mode and a Code Review system.

Routines can be triggered in three different ways:

• Scheduling: Routines can be programmed to run at regular intervals, such as every hour, every night, or weekly.
• API: Each routine has its own HTTP endpoint and an authentication token, allowing a session to be initiated from any external tool.
• GitHub Webhook: Routines can respond to specific events on a connected repository, such as opening a pull request, a push, or creating an issue.

A routine can combine multiple types of triggers, giving developers the ability to manage tasks such as ticket prioritization, pull request control, or deployment verification in the background, without requiring additional infrastructure.

How to Create and Configure a Routine with Claude Code

To create a routine via the web interface, the user must navigate to the dedicated page and click on New routine. The following steps should be followed:

• Name the routine and write a clear and autonomous prompt, precisely describing what Claude should accomplish.
• Select one or more GitHub repositories to clone during each execution and choose an appropriate cloud environment, including network access, environment variables, and configuration scripts.
• Configure one or more triggers (scheduled, API, or GitHub) and check the available MCP connectors, such as Slack, Linear, or Google Drive.
• Click on Create to finalize the creation. The Run now button allows for an immediate first execution.

It is also possible to create routines via the CLI using the /schedule command, or from the desktop application by selecting Schedule > New task > New remote task. For detailed trigger configuration, Anthropic provides a dedicated documentation.

Six Use Cases Proposed by Anthropic:

• Backlog Management: Every evening, identify new tickets, assign a responsible person, and publish a summary in Slack.
• Documentation Update: Every week, detect pages referenced by modified APIs and open PRs to update them.
• Post-Deployment Verification: The pipeline calls the endpoint, Claude tests the build, and publishes a go/no-go in the release channel.
• Alert Management: The monitoring tool calls the endpoint, Claude correlates the stack trace with recent commits, and suggests a fix.
• Library Porting: Every merged PR on a Python SDK triggers the porting to the Go SDK and opens the corresponding PR.
• Custom Code Review: Upon opening a PR, Claude applies the internal checklist and leaves comments before human verification.

Availability and Usage Limits of Claude Code Routines

Routines are available for subscribers of the Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans using Claude Code on the web. They consume the usage quotas of the subscription, similar to an interactive session, with an additional daily cap:

• Pro Plan: 5 executions per day,
• Max Plan: 15 executions per day,
• Team and Enterprise Plans: 25 executions per day.

It should be noted that additional executions beyond these limits are possible for an extra fee, which can be activated from the billing settings.