Scrape weekly Substack rankings and write a report
Scheduled tasks is the best thing that happened to Claude in the past few months. Task: Scheduled tasks is the best thing that happened to Claude in the past few months I’ve been obsessed with automation since I learned to code. I used to spend hours writing scripts to automate the web, Excel reports, etc. Thanks to Claude, now anyone can do this in minutes without writing code! The best part? You can schedule tasks directly in Claude, so it runs them automatically on a recurring basis. Set it once and it just works, while you focus on everything else. In this guide, I’ll show you step by step how to use Claude to schedule tasks like: Weekly research: Track topics, competitors, or industry news Weekly research: Track topics, competitors, or industry news Daily reports: Compile data from spreadsheets into a formatted summary Daily reports: Compile data from spreadsheets into a formatted summary Daily file organizer: Sort and clean up files in your downloads folder Daily file organizer: Sort and clean up files in your downloads folder For this, we’ll use two tools: Claude in Chrome to automate the web, and Claude Cowork to automate your files. Twice a week, I share the best ways to get more out of Claude. Click here to read our best Claude guides and consider becoming a paid subscriber if you like my Claude guides 👇 Claude in Chrome: Automate the Web Claude in Chrome is a Chrome extension that automates the web. To work with it, follow these steps: Open Google Chrome Open Google Chrome Go to Claude in Chrome → Click “Add to Chrome” to install Go to Claude in Chrome → Click “Add to Chrome” to install Sign in with your Claude account Sign in with your Claude account Grant permissions so Claude can interact with your browser Grant permissions so Claude can interact with your browser The Claude icon will appear in your Chrome toolbar. Click it to open Claude in a side panel that stays visible while you browse. Anything that involves repetitive web actions can be automated with this extension. Just click the Claude sidebar while browsing any site, describe the task, and Claude will control your browser until it’s done. Here’s one way Claude in Chrome has automated my work. Every week, I track which Substack newsletters break into the top 200. I analyze what's working and spot potential collaborations. To get data for my analysis, I have Claude scrape Reletter’s Substack charts with this prompt: Build a table with the following columns for the first 250 elements in the table: Ranking Ranking Newsletter Newsletter Date (today’s date) Date (today’s date) Type = free/paid Type = free/paid Give me a link to download the file in csv format Here’s a video demo. If you do this manually (clicks, copy-paste, etc), it takes forever. With Claude, it takes a couple of minutes. It gets even better with the scheduled tasks feature. You can turn a prompt that works into a task that runs any time you want. Just click the three dots (at the top of the chat) and select “Convert to task.“ You’ll be redirected to the Claude in Chrome settings with the window below. Mine is empty, but if you clicked on “convert to task,“ the fields should be automatically filled based on your prompt. Claude might tweak your prompt to make it more robust. Review it and adjust if necessary. Also, toggle on “schedule” and pick when the task should run. Once you’re happy with it, click on “Create shortcut.“ To edit a shortcut later: Go to Claude in Chrome settings (under the three dots) → Settings → Shortcut You’ll see all your scheduled tasks listed there. I schedule mine to run every Tuesday. Now every week, Claude scrapes the site and downloads the data for me. That’s how you automate the web. Now let’s see how to automate your desktop. Scheduled tasks only run while your computer is awake Important Note: I recommend you run Claude in Chrome from Claude Cowork (Cowork chat → + → Connectors → toggle on “Claude in Chrome“) Why? Because the automations you build within Chrome are isolated. They can’t connect with skills and other things you build in Cowork. Cowork: Automate Your Files Claude Cowork feels like a virtual employee, capable of managing files, organizing data, and performing multi-step tasks directly on your computer. Recently, Cowork also got scheduled tasks! It works a lot like Claude in Chrome. Write a prompt once, and Cowork can turn it into a scheduled task. Here’s how to create a scheduled task from scratch: Download Claude for desktop Download Claude for desktop Open the app and choose “Cowork“ Open the app and choose “Cowork“; tools: Claude in Chrome, Claude Cowork. Human role: The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.; limitations: Scheduled tasks only execute when the computer is awake and the application is open. Chrome automations are isolated unless connected via Cowork. Each scheduled task consumes daily usage allowances, potentially requiring higher-tier plans for heavy workflows. Source reliability is secondary, based on a blog post..
Tools
Published on Agent Work Atlas:
Overview
Scheduled tasks is the best thing that happened to Claude in the past few months
Workflow
Scheduled tasks is the best thing that happened to Claude in the past few months I’ve been obsessed with automation since I learned to code. I used to spend hours writing scripts to automate the web, Excel reports, etc. Thanks to Claude, now anyone can do this in minutes without writing code! The best part? You can schedule tasks directly in Claude, so it runs them automatically on a recurring basis. Set it once and it just works, while you focus on everything else. In this guide, I’ll show you step by step how to use Claude to schedule tasks like: Weekly research: Track topics, competitors, or industry news Weekly research: Track topics, competitors, or industry news Daily reports: Compile data from spreadsheets into a formatted summary Daily reports: Compile data from spreadsheets into a formatted summary Daily file organizer: Sort and clean up files in your downloads folder Daily file organizer: Sort and clean up files in your downloads folder For this, we’ll use two tools: Claude in Chrome to automate the web, and Claude Cowork to automate your files. Twice a week, I share the best ways to get more out of Claude. Click here to read our best Claude guides and consider becoming a paid subscriber if you like my Claude guides 👇 Claude in Chrome: Automate the Web Claude in Chrome is a Chrome extension that automates the web. To work with it, follow these steps: Open Google Chrome Open Google Chrome Go to Claude in Chrome → Click “Add to Chrome” to install Go to Claude in Chrome → Click “Add to Chrome” to install Sign in with your Claude account Sign in with your Claude account Grant permissions so Claude can interact with your browser Grant permissions so Claude can interact with your browser The Claude icon will appear in your Chrome toolbar. Click it to open Claude in a side panel that stays visible while you browse. Anything that involves repetitive web actions can be automated with this extension. Just click the Claude sidebar while browsing any site, describe the task, and Claude will control your browser until it’s done. Here’s one way Claude in Chrome has automated my work. Every week, I track which Substack newsletters break into the top 200. I analyze what's working and spot potential collaborations. To get data for my analysis, I have Claude scrape Reletter’s Substack charts with this prompt: Build a table with the following columns for the first 250 elements in the table: Ranking Ranking Newsletter Newsletter Date (today’s date) Date (today’s date) Type = free/paid Type = free/paid Give me a link to download the file in csv format Here’s a video demo. If you do this manually (clicks, copy-paste, etc), it takes forever. With Claude, it takes a couple of minutes. It gets even better with the scheduled tasks feature. You can turn a prompt that works into a task that runs any time you want. Just click the three dots (at the top of the chat) and select “Convert to task.“ You’ll be redirected to the Claude in Chrome settings with the window below. Mine is empty, but if you clicked on “convert to task,“ the fields should be automatically filled based on your prompt. Claude might tweak your prompt to make it more robust. Review it and adjust if necessary. Also, toggle on “schedule” and pick when the task should run. Once you’re happy with it, click on “Create shortcut.“ To edit a shortcut later: Go to Claude in Chrome settings (under the three dots) → Settings → Shortcut You’ll see all your scheduled tasks listed there. I schedule mine to run every Tuesday. Now every week, Claude scrapes the site and downloads the data for me. That’s how you automate the web. Now let’s see how to automate your desktop. Scheduled tasks only run while your computer is awake Important Note: I recommend you run Claude in Chrome from Claude Cowork (Cowork chat → + → Connectors → toggle on “Claude in Chrome“) Why? Because the automations you build within Chrome are isolated. They can’t connect with skills and other things you build in Cowork. Cowork: Automate Your Files Claude Cowork feels like a virtual employee, capable of managing files, organizing data, and performing multi-step tasks directly on your computer. Recently, Cowork also got scheduled tasks! It works a lot like Claude in Chrome. Write a prompt once, and Cowork can turn it into a scheduled task. Here’s how to create a scheduled task from scratch: Download Claude for desktop Download Claude for desktop Open the app and choose “Cowork“ Open the app and choose “Cowork“
Reported result
The source describes the workflow as taking a couple of minutes compared to manual effort, but provides no measured business outcomes, error rates, or specific time savings data. It is unclear if the generated reports were used for actual collaboration decisions or if the automation ran without failure over time.
Human role
The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.
Limitations
Scheduled tasks only execute when the computer is awake and the application is open. Chrome automations are isolated unless connected via Cowork. Each scheduled task consumes daily usage allowances, potentially requiring higher-tier plans for heavy workflows. Source reliability is secondary, based on a blog post.
Try it
Act as an automation specialist. I need to set up a recurring workflow using Claude in Chrome and Claude Cowork. 1. **Context**: I track Substack newsletter rankings weekly. 2. **Step 1 (Scrape)**: Use Claude in Chrome to visit [replaceable URL, e.g., Reletter Substack charts]. Prompt: 'Build a table with columns: Ranking, Newsletter, Date, Type (free/paid) for the first [replaceable number, e.g., 250] elements. Provide a CSV download link.' 3. **Step 2 (Schedule)**: Convert this prompt into a scheduled task in Claude in Chrome settings. Set it to run every [replaceable day, e.g., Tuesday] at [replaceable time, e.g., 5 PM]. Ensure the computer is awake. 4. **Step 3 (Analyze)**: Use Claude Cowork to analyze the downloaded CSVs in [replaceable folder path]. Prompt: 'Generate an analysis showing top 10 rank gains, top 20 new entrants, and top 10 rank losses. Separate results for Paid and Free datasets.' 5. **Step 4 (Schedule Analysis)**: Schedule this Cowork task to run at [replaceable time, e.g., 5:10 PM] on the same day. **Deliverables**: A working scheduled scrape task and a scheduled analysis task. **Quality Check**: Before finalizing, run a manual dry run for one cycle. Verify the CSV downloads correctly and the analysis report is generated in the folder. Confirm with me before enabling the recurring schedule. Handle errors by pausing the schedule if the source site layout changes.
Source reports are not independently verified. Publication date is the catalog publication date, not the original article date.