Claude Code Routines: How to Run Automated Dev Tasks While You Sleep

Anthropic just shipped one of the most practically useful Claude Code features since its launch: Routines. Claude Code Routines let you define scheduled, automated workflows that run without you — overnight code reviews, morning test reports, weekly dependency audits, daily documentation updates. The promise is simple: your AI coding assistant no longer needs you to be at the keyboard. You define what you want done, when, and under what conditions. Claude Code executes it, commits the results, and you wake up to completed work. Alongside Routines, Anthropic shipped a significant desktop UI overhaul — a dedicated Claude Code app for macOS and Windows that gives Routines a home outside the terminal and makes multi-session management significantly easier. This post covers what Routines actually are, how to set them up, practical patterns that work today, and how to think about automating your development workflow with scheduled AI execution.