Automation with Claude

From manual to automatic

Until now we have used Claude interactively — you write, Claude responds. Automation takes it one step further: Claude runs on a schedule or is triggered by events, completely without human involvement.

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Time-based — cron jobs that run Claude daily, weekly or every minute.

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Event-driven — Claude is triggered when something happens: new email, new database row, webhook from external service.

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Batch processing — Claude processes hundreds of items in one run: articles, emails, product descriptions.

Key patterns

Daily summary: A Python script fetches RSS articles, sends titles and summaries to Claude Haiku, and emails the result. Run via cron at 07:00 daily.

Batch processing: A PHP script fetches products without descriptions (LIMIT 50), sends name and properties to Claude Haiku, saves the result back. Add a 0.5 second pause between calls to avoid rate limits.

Webhook analysis: When a customer submits a support form, a PHP endpoint sends the message to Claude with a system prompt requesting JSON output with category, urgency and summary.

⚠️ Important:
Always set a daily cost limit in Anthropic Console under Billing → Usage limits. A bug in an infinite loop can generate large costs in a short time.

"Automation is not lazy — it is smart. You free up time for what only you can do." — On the value of AI automation

🎯 Test your knowledge

Test yourself — completely optional, but fun! 🎯

Question 1 of 3

Which Claude model should you use for repetitive batch tasks to keep costs down?

claude-haiku-4-5 is dramatically cheaper than Sonnet and Opus — perfect for simple, repetitive automation tasks.

Question 2 of 3

Why should you add a pause between batch calls to the Anthropic API?

To avoid rate limit errors from Anthropic — too many calls in a short time can result in 429 errors and interrupted processing.

Question 3 of 3

What is the most important security setting in Anthropic Console for automation?

A daily cost limit under Billing → Usage limits — a bug in automation can generate large costs in a short time.