Most people use Claude Code for one-off tasks — ask a question, get an answer, close the tab. Claude Code Routines are something completely different. They’re always-on, trigger-based workflows that run automatically, read context from your repos and tools, and take action without you having to start a session.

If you’ve ever wanted to automate bug triage, code reviews, or deploy verification without writing a custom script — this is how you do it.

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A 2-page PDF covering all 3 trigger types, the 5-element prompt formula, and the top workflows to build first.

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What Are Claude Code Routines?

A Claude Code Routine is a saved prompt + trigger combination that Claude executes automatically. You write the prompt once — describing what to check, what counts as important, and what to do about it — and Claude handles the rest on the schedule or trigger you set.

Unlike a regular automation tool (n8n, Zapier, cron), a routine doesn’t just run fixed steps. It reads context and reasons about what it finds. That’s the key difference. A cron job runs the same command every night. A routine reads your issues, understands what just happened in your codebase, decides what’s worth flagging, and posts a meaningful summary to Slack.

Routines are available on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. Get started at claude.ai/code/routines.

Note: If you were using /schedule tasks before — those have been automatically converted to routines. No migration needed.

The 3 Trigger Types

Every routine needs at least one trigger. You can combine multiple triggers on the same routine — the same prompt, multiple entry points.

Trigger 1: Scheduled

Set a cadence — hourly, nightly, weekly — and Claude runs your prompt on that schedule automatically. This is best for recurring tasks that need to happen even when you’re not at your desk.

Example use cases:

• Nightly bug triage — read new issues, label by code area, assign owners, post a Slack summary
• Weekly docs drift check — scan merged PRs and flag any documentation that references old behavior
• Monday morning PR cleanup — find stale PRs and notify authors

Trigger 2: API

Every routine gets its own HTTP endpoint and bearer token. Send a POST request from anywhere — your deploy pipeline, n8n, Zapier, a monitoring alert — and Claude executes the prompt with your optional context included.

Example use cases:

• Deploy verification — CD pipeline calls the routine after each deploy, Claude runs smoke checks and posts go/no-go to Slack
• Alert triage — monitoring tool detects an error, sends the alert body, Claude correlates with recent commits and opens a draft PR with a proposed fix
• Customer feedback pipeline — feedback comes in, Claude determines bug vs. feature request and creates the issue in Linear

Trigger 3: GitHub Events

Subscribe a routine to fire automatically on GitHub repository events: pull requests, pushes, issues, releases, check runs, and more. For PRs, Claude opens one session per PR and continues responding as reviewers comment or CI updates — you don’t re-trigger it manually.

Example use cases:

• Automated code review — triggers on every PR open, leaves inline comments for security and performance issues
• Release notes generation — triggers on release published, reads all merged PRs and writes human-readable notes to CHANGELOG.md
• Docs update on merge — Anthropic uses this internally: every merge to the release branch fires a routine to synthesize and update documentation

How to Create Your First Routine

Option 1 — Through the browser: Go to claude.ai/code/routines → click “New Routine” → give it a clear name → write your prompt → choose the model → link your repos and connectors → add one or more triggers. It’s live immediately.

Option 2 — Through the CLI: Type /schedule in Claude Code, provide a description, and it registers the routine. You can also use /schedule to list and modify existing routines.

Writing Prompts That Actually Work

Each routine run is stateless — the prompt carries the entire job specification. There’s no memory between runs unless you explicitly write state to a file in your repo.

Every reliable routine prompt answers these five questions:

1. What to check — be specific. “Read issues opened since the last run” beats “check for new issues”
2. What counts as important — define your criteria clearly so Claude makes consistent decisions
3. What to do about it — describe the exact actions: open a PR, post to Slack, create an issue
4. When to stop or escalate — “If the fix requires changes to more than 3 files, don’t attempt a PR — post to Slack asking for human review instead”
5. What to do on failure — “If you can’t access the repo, post an error to #routines-errors with the routine name and failure reason”

Pro tip: Test your prompt manually in a regular Claude Code session 3–5 times before converting it to a routine. Once it produces reliable results, then automate it.

3 Routines Worth Building First

Don’t try to automate everything at once. Start with the one that saves you the most repetitive time.

1. Nightly Bug Triage Trigger: Scheduled, every weeknight at 11pm. Reads all issues opened since the last run, labels them by area of code, assigns owners based on your CODEOWNERS file, flags regressions by cross-referencing recent PRs, and posts a summary to Slack. Your team walks in to a groomed board every morning.

2. Automated Code Review Trigger: GitHub event, pull_request.opened. Reads the diff, applies your review checklist, leaves inline comments for security and performance issues, and adds a summary comment. Human reviewers focus on architecture and design — not mechanical catches.

3. Deploy Verification Trigger: API, called by your CD pipeline after each deploy. Runs smoke checks against the new build, scans error logs for regressions, and posts a go/no-go to your release Slack channel before the deploy window closes.

Start Automating Today

Claude Code Routines are the difference between using Claude reactively and building a system that works while you sleep. Pick one workflow, write the prompt, set the trigger, and check the output tomorrow morning.

Grab the free Claude Code Routines Cheat Sheet — a 2-page PDF covering all 3 trigger types, the 5-element prompt formula, and the top workflows to build first.

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