You’re paying $20–$200/month for Claude and using it like a paid version of ChatGPT. 9 out of 10 users have never set up automation that runs without them clicking buttons.
No /loop, no scheduled tasks, no Routines, no triggers. The tool that’s supposed to work while you sleep is still waiting for you to type. This is the 14-step roadmap to the full automation stack - and the hours back in your week.
> Follow my Substack to get fresh AI alpha: movez.substack.com
Claude Code has been quietly shipping an entire automation stack over the last three months. /loop launched.
Auto Mode landed March 24. Cloud Routines opened in research preview April 14. By May 2026, the picture is complete: three layers of automation that go from your terminal to Anthropic’s cloud, each one earning its place by removing a different reason for you to babysit.
This is the 14-step roadmap to all three layers - every detail verified against the official docs at code.claude.com/docs as of June 2026. The arc is simple: get the manual loop right, make it persist across restarts, push it to the cloud where your laptop doesn’t matter.
14 steps. 3 tiers. One Claude that works while you sleep.
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## 01. The /loop command. Explicit and natural language, both work.
The fastest way to make Claude Code do anything on a schedule. Inside any session, run /loop <interval> <prompt>.
Under the hood it calls three native tools: CronCreate, CronList, CronDelete. The intervals use a number plus unit: m for minutes, h for hours, d for days. The minimum is 1 minute - 30s rounds up.
> /loop 1m say hello
▲ Claude
CronCreate(*/1 * * * * : say hello)
✓ Scheduled c21d95a0 (Every minute)
- Job: say hello
- Cadence: Every 1 minute (*/1 * * * *)
- Job ID: c21d95a0
- Duration: Recurring tasks auto-expire after 7 days
- Cancel anytime: CronDelete c21d95a0You don’t actually need to type /loop at all. Claude understands natural language schedules just as well:
• every 10 minutes, check the deployment status
• every weekday at 7am, summarize the overnight commits
• at 6:30pm today, post a status update to Slack
Times use the local machine’s time zone, not UTC. Any slash command available in Claude Code can be placed inside a /loop - including /run, /review, even another /loop if you’re feeling adventurous.
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