Run Claude Code on a schedule in the cloud

A cron job on your laptop runs only while the laptop is awake, so a schedule needs a machine that stays on. On a box, Claude Code runs headless (claude -p) with your sign-in, either from cron on the box or from any scheduler that calls the API, which wakes the box first.

11. Put your project on a box

Sign up at prized.dev: the tour starts a box on $30 of free credit with no card, then shows one command that installs the CLI and signs this machine in (Quickstart). Or install it yourself, then sign in:

curl -fsSL https://prized.dev/install.sh | sh

prized login

Then, in your project folder:

prized setup --agent claude

It syncs this folder with ~/code/myproject on the box and copies your Claude Code sign-in there (Credentials). BOX below is your box's name, from prized box ls.

22. Schedule it with cron on the box

A sleeping box runs no cron, so keep this one awake:

prized box auto-pause BOX off

Then prized ssh and, on the box, save the job as a script. #!/bin/bash -l gives it your login shell's PATH, where claude is; cron's own PATH does not have it.

#!/bin/bash -l
cd ~/code/myproject
claude -p --dangerously-skip-permissions "run the test suite and fix what fails" >> ~/nightly.log 2>&1

chmod +x ~/nightly.sh
(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "0 7 * * * $HOME/nightly.sh") | crontab -

Cron reads the time in UTC, the box's time zone. claude --dangerously-skip-permissions runs any command your user on the box can, with your synced projects and sign-ins in reach; to limit it, leave the flag out and list what it may run, such as claude -p "…" --allowedTools "Bash(npm test)" Edit. Its edits sync to your laptop with the folder (Sync).

Or let the box sleep between runs

Any scheduler that can run curl can start the run instead: POST /prompts wakes a sleeping box and runs Claude Code there headless (Prompt an agent remotely). Give the box an auto-pause window longer than a run, so it sleeps again once the run is done: a run counts as use for one window after it starts, then only while it keeps the CPU or network busy (Auto-pause).

prized box auto-pause BOX 2h

Make a key at API keys with Boxes: Write and a year's lifetime (the default is 90 days), save it as a PRIZED_API_KEY repository secret, and this workflow starts a run every morning at 07:00 UTC (GitHub can start a scheduled workflow late):

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 7 * * *"
jobs:
  claude:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - env:
          PRIZED_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.PRIZED_API_KEY }}
        run: |
          AUTH="Authorization: Bearer $PRIZED_API_KEY"
          EDGE=$(curl -s -H @<(echo "$AUTH") https://api.prized.dev/api/v1/me | jq -r .edge.url)
          curl -s --fail-with-body -X POST "$EDGE/v1/box/BOX/prompts" -H @<(echo "$AUTH") -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"provider":"claude","cwd":"code/myproject","auto":true,"prompt":"run the test suite and fix what fails"}'

"auto": true runs claude --dangerously-skip-permissions (Approvals). Once the box is awake, prized prompt ls lists the runs with how each ended.

Before you rely on it

• Quiet hours. On a workspace with quiet hours, a box woken inside the window is paused again after 15 minutes; the owner marks the box Exempt on its page.
• The sign-in. The copied Claude Code sign-in refreshes on the box, and one side eventually asks you to /login again. For runs nobody watches, a long-lived token from claude setup-token, set on the box as CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN, avoids that (Prompt an agent remotely).

What it costs

The model's usage is billed by your Claude plan or API key, not by Prized (Billing).