Scheduled Jobs

Hand your weekly jobs to Claude

Set up a skill for the job, test it, then put it on a schedule. Three pastes, and it only ever writes drafts.

Step One, Set Up A Skill For The Job

Here from the video? This is where it starts. Paste it into the Claude app, or Claude Code if you use it. A skill is the instructions for one job, saved once so Claude does it the same way every time, and Claude writes it for you by asking what you would tell a new assistant.

Paste this into Claude

I want to hand you one job I do every week, so that you do it without me asking. First ask me which job it is, then interview me one question at a time until you could do it the way I would, like where the information comes from, what a good result looks like and what I want back. Two rules hold whatever I say later. You only ever write drafts, so you never send, reply to or forward an email or post anything as me, and you never delete anything. Then save it as a skill with a short name and the steps in order, and show me what you wrote. If this setup cannot save a skill itself, give me the file and tell me where to add it.

Step Two, Test It

Before anything goes on a timer, run it once on your real inbox and read what it made. The first run usually gets something wrong that you would never think to say out loud, and each fix goes into the skill, so the job on Friday is the one you checked.

Paste this once the skill is saved

Run that skill once now on my real data, as if today were the day it runs, and change nothing except writing drafts. Show me what you did and why. Then ask me what you got wrong, turn each answer into a line in the skill, and run it again until it looks like mine.

Step Three, Put It On A Schedule

Once the test run looks right, Claude puts the job on a schedule. In the Claude app it shows under Scheduled in the left sidebar, where you can see every run and switch it off, and from then on it happens without you asking.

Paste this once the test run looks right

Put that skill on a schedule so it runs on its own, using whatever this setup offers. Ask me what day and time. Then tell me exactly what you created, where I can see it, whether it needs anything on my computer to run, and how to switch it off.

Make Sure It Can Only Draft

The skill already tells Claude never to send, and this makes it impossible, because a job that runs while you are away is one nobody is watching. It takes a minute in the Claude app.

01Open the Gmail connectorIn Claude go to Settings, then Connectors, then Gmail, or from a chat press the plus, then Connectors, then Manage connectors, and choose Gmail.
02Block all three that sendUnder Tool permissions set every tool that sends, replies or forwards to Blocked, because blocking send alone still lets it reply and forward.
03Leave drafting onThe tool that creates a draft stays on, so the job can still write the whole email for you to read and send.

Where It Runs

A scheduled job in the Claude app runs on Anthropic's computers, so a job that only uses your connected apps, like Gmail, runs on its day even with your laptop shut. A job that needs files saved on your computer only runs while the computer is on, which is why the schedule paste asks Claude to tell you which kind yours is.

Jobs Worth A Timer

The test for a job is whether it comes round at the same time whether or not you remember it. These are the ones I hear most from people who run their own business.

The week's newslettersFriday, 4pmThe five headlines worth your time, as a draft email to you. The job two co-founders of a consultancy asked me for on a call.
What's waiting on whomMonday, 8amEvery thread where a client or someone on your team is waiting on you, and every one where you are waiting on them, as one draft.
Invoices to chaseWeekdays, 9amA polite chaser drafted for each invoice past its due date, if your accounts are connected to Claude.
Your inbox, tidiedEvery morningEverything already dealt with filed away, which tidy your inbox with a brief sets up.

How I Run Mine

I have eight jobs on timers, my inbox, my handwritten notes, the morning's actions and the rest, and I never start any of them. Mine run in Claude Code on my own computer, using the timer the computer already has, because they read files the Claude app cannot reach. The idea behind it is working hours, part 2.06 of the free course, and setting it up on your own computer is stage seven.

One Honest Bit

Scheduled jobs are on the paid Claude plans and still rolling out, so if you cannot see Scheduled in your sidebar yet, the schedule paste will tell you what your setup can do instead. Every run uses your plan's allowance like a chat does, and a job you never read is one that can drift, so read the first few drafts properly and tell it what to change.

Anthropic's own pages, Schedule recurring tasks, Use skills in Claude and Google Workspace connectors.

Want to get better at this?

Let's set up your agent ecosystem.

This page is one job. The whole thing is a set of them running off the same foundation, the folder your AI works out of, the brief on how you like things done, the accounts it can reach and the skills that run off all of it, so your admin gets done the way you would do it. It is what I teach one to one, on your own machine and against your own work, and the quickest way to find out what yours would look like is a proper chat about it.

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