It’s Monday morning. Before staff meeting, you open the attendance sheet and the event sign-up sheet.

You copy the numbers into a doc and compare them to the week before. Then you write two lines about what changed.

At the end of the week, you scroll back through your team’s Slack channel. You try to piece together what got decided and what is still open.

You do the same steps by hand every week. Claude can do them for you on a schedule.

WHAT SCHEDULED TASKS ARE

A scheduled task is a job you set up one time. You describe the task once, pick when it runs, and Claude does it on that schedule. You can also run it any time you want.

Each run gives you a finished result, like a report or a briefing. You review it when it’s ready, the same way you would review any other task in Claude.

Scheduled tasks can use the tools you have already connected to Claude, plus your skills and plugins. So a task can read your Slack channels or pull numbers from a spreadsheet in Google Drive.

Scheduled tasks run remotely. They keep running on time even when your computer is asleep or the Claude desktop app is closed.

There is one exception. If a task needs files or apps that are on your computer, it will only run on your computer.

HOW TO SET ONE UP

Anthropic’s help center gives a simple way to create a task from any conversation.

1. Describe the task and how often it should run. For example: “Every Monday at 9 AM, summarize last week’s messages in my team’s Slack channels.”
2. Answer any questions Claude asks about the schedule or the task.
3. Look over the task name, schedule, and instructions Claude proposes.
4. Click “Schedule.”

You can also click “Scheduled” in the left sidebar and then “New task.” From there you can let Claude help you build it, or you can set it up yourself.

If you set it up yourself, you give it a name, a prompt, an approval mode, and how often it runs. You can pick hourly, daily, weekly, on weekdays, or manual. You can also choose a model and a folder for Claude to work in.

The “Scheduled” page lists every task you have made, with upcoming and past runs. From there you can edit a task, change how often it runs, pause it, start it again, delete it, or run it right now.

3 REPORTS TO HAND OFF FIRST

Start with a Monday morning numbers briefing. Keep your weekly attendance and sign-up numbers in a Google Drive spreadsheet. Then set a task for Monday at 7 AM that reads the sheet, compares this week to last week, and writes a short summary.

When you sit down for staff meeting, the briefing is ready. You add the context only you have, like a snowstorm that kept families home.

Next, set up a Friday summary of your team channel. Ask Claude to read your staff Slack channel every Friday afternoon. Have it list what the team decided and what is still open, with an owner for each open item.

Then add a midweek volunteer check. If your volunteer sign-ups are in a shared spreadsheet, set a task for the middle of the week. Ask Claude to list every Sunday role that still has no one signed up, so your volunteer coordinator has time to fill the spots.

HOW TO WRITE A GOOD TASK PROMPT

Start with the report you build by hand most often. Write the prompt the way you would explain the job to a new staff member. Say where the data is, what to compare, and how you want the summary to look.

GUARDRAILS FOR CHURCHES

A scheduled task can read whatever your connected tools let it read. So be careful about which channels and folders you point it at.

Keep tasks away from channels and folders with pastoral care notes, counseling details, or prayer requests that include health news. If you report on giving, have the task report totals and trends. Leave donor names out of the prompt and out of the summary you ask for.

Think about who sees the results. A Monday briefing that goes to your whole staff should only include numbers your whole staff should see.

On Team and Enterprise plans, admins control access to this part of Claude through an admin toggle. Decide as a team who sets up recurring tasks, and keep a short list of what each one does. When a task is no longer needed, pause it or delete it.

WHICH PLANS HAVE SCHEDULED TASKS

Scheduled tasks are available on all paid plans: Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise.

Pick one report you build by hand every week, and give it to Claude.

If you want to learn this with peers, join The Builder Collective. It’s a community of executive leaders learning how to put AI to work. You can find it at thebuildercollective.ai.