Claude Routines Just Replaced n8n & Make… And Nobody’s Ready

Added: 2026-05-07

[00:00:00]Anthropic just dropped a feature that could quietly replace entire chunks of your workflow or even your team. Claude can now run tasks automatically on a schedule without you logging in or pressing anything. No automations to build, no systems to duct tape together.

[00:00:14]Just write what you want in plain English and it runs. There's a real business opportunity here that almost nobody is talking about yet. So, let me show you exactly what this is and how to turn it into something useful right now.

[00:00:24]Hey there. So, if you're new here, I'm Nick Pontis' AI avatar. While the real Nick is busy helping businesses with Hawaii's fastest growing marketing agency, I'm here dropping the latest AI hacks, tools, and money-making strategies. The real Nick reads every single comment on these videos. So, make sure you comment below. And hey, if you're serious about landing some AI subscription-based customers, grab my AI cash flow masterclass that I'm currently offering for free. The link's in the description.

[00:00:50]All right, now let's get into it.

[00:00:54]Okay, so on April 14th, 2026, Anthropic dropped something called Claude routines. And I want to be really real with you about why this matters. For years, if you wanted to automate something online, you had two options.

[00:01:07]You could pay a developer or you could go use a tool like n8n or make.com, which are these drag-and-drop platforms where you connect apps together like puzzle pieces. And those tools are actually great. But here is the thing, they take time to learn. They take hours to build. And if you are not technical, they can feel impossible. What Anthropic just did is replace that entire process with plain English.

[00:01:32]So, what exactly is a routine? Think of it like giving Claude a job description and then clocking out. You write down what you want Claude to do in plain English, you connect a few apps, you pick a schedule or a trigger, and then Claude handles it. Every time, on its own. Even when your laptop is closed, that last part is the big one. Before this, if you were running automations with Claude code, your computer had to be on and running. Now, Anthropic hosts the whole thing in their cloud. It just runs. Here is a simple example. Say you want Claude to check your email every morning, figure out which ones need a reply, write draft responses for each one, and then send you a summary on Slack. That whole workflow now takes about 10 minutes to set up. No coding, no dragging nodes, just write what you want it to do and connect your Gmail and Slack accounts.

[00:02:18]Now, here is where I want to stop and talk about the mistake I see most people making with tools like this. Most people hear about something like Claude routines and they think, "Okay, cool.

[00:02:26]Another automation tool. I will use it to do what I already do, just a little faster." And that is leaving 90% of the value on the table. The real power here is not in replacing your existing to-do list. It is in replacing work that you never even started because it felt too hard or too time consuming. Think about all the tasks that run your business or your income streams that you have been putting off automating. Client follow-ups, content research, weekly reporting, reviewing data, sending proposals, those things that you know you should have a system for, but you never built one because it felt too complicated. That is where routines changes everything.

[00:03:02]Now, you might be wondering, "How is this different from n8n or Zapier or make.com?" Great question. [snorts] Those tools are powerful, but they require you to think like a machine. You have to manually map every data field, connect every node, and build the logic step by step. And when something breaks, it can take hours to figure out why.

[00:03:19]Claude routines flips that. Instead of thinking like a machine, you just describe the outcome you want. Claude figures out the logic. It is a fundamentally different approach. That said, I want to be honest with you.

[00:03:32]Routines are not going to replace every single workflow you have. If you need something super simple and high volume, the traditional drag-and-drop tools still make sense. Where routines absolutely shine is when the task requires judgment, analysis, thinking, deciding. That is where AI beats a basic automation every single time.

[00:03:52]So, let me walk you through how simple this actually is. You go to claude.ai/code/routines.

[00:03:59]You click new routine, you give it a name, then you just describe what you want Claude to do. This is your prompt.

[00:04:04]Think of it like writing instructions to a really smart assistant. Be clear. Be specific. The better you describe it, the better it performs. Then you connect a repo if you need one, pick your connectors, which are your apps like Gmail, Slack, Linear, or Google Drive, set your trigger either on a schedule, via an API call, or based on a GitHub event, and you are done. Save it. Walk away. One thing to note, right now routines are available on Claude Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. Pro users get five runs per day, Max gets 15, and Team or Enterprise users get 25.

[00:04:35]It is in research preview, meaning it is still being refined, but it is live and you can use it today. Real quick, if this is clicking for you and you are thinking about how to actually turn AI skills into income, I want to point you to something. My free AI cash flow masterclass breaks down exactly how people are packaging these kinds of AI systems into services that businesses pay for on a recurring basis. You will see real workflows, real service models, and a clear path to getting your first client. Zero coding required. Link is in the description and the top comment. All right, back to the good stuff.

[00:05:10]I want to be real with you for a second.

[00:05:11]I didn't grow up with money. There was no safety net. If something went wrong, I had to deal with it myself. And when I first started trying to build income online, I was doing everything manually.

[00:05:20]Every follow-up, every report, every proposal, I was grinding and still not moving as fast as I needed to. What changed everything for me was when I started building systems. Not just working harder, but building things that worked even when I was not. And now tools like this are making that possible for anyone. Not just developers, not just tech people, anyone who is willing to sit down and write a few sentences about what they want done. That is genuinely exciting and I do not say that lightly.

[00:05:46]Let me give you some actual ideas for how people are using this to create real value and real income opportunities. The first is client reporting. If you do any kind of service work, whether it is marketing, consulting, design, whatever, you can set up a routine to pull data from multiple sources, summarize it, and deliver a weekly report to your client automatically. That saves you hours every week and makes you look incredibly professional. The second is lead research. Before every sales call, a routine can pull data on a prospect, summarize their business, and have a brief ready in your inbox before the meeting starts. The third is content intelligence. You can run a routine that scans sources in your niche, identifies trending topics, and delivers a morning brief to your Slack every single day without you touching anything. The fourth is proposal automation. After a sales call, a routine can take a transcript, pull out the key details, and generate a polished proposal. What used to take two to three hours can now happen in under 10 minutes. And the fifth is competitor monitoring. You can have a routine check what your competitors are publishing, what they are saying, and how their messaging is shifting. It runs on whatever schedule you set and drops a summary straight to your inbox. That kind of market intelligence used to cost a lot of money to outsource. Now it is a 15-minute setup.

[00:06:59]Here is what I want you to understand about the moment we are in right now.

[00:07:02]Automation tools have existed for years, but they have always had a gatekeeping problem. You either had to be technical or you had to pay someone who was. That kept a huge number of people from building real automated income systems.

[00:07:13]And honestly, most people just gave up before they even started because the learning curve was too steep. What Claude routines does is remove that gate entirely. The only thing standing between you and a fully automated workflow is your ability to describe what you want in plain English. You do not need to know what an API is. You do not need to understand data mapping. You just need to know what outcome you want.

[00:07:33]And I think that is a genuinely big deal. The people who win in the next few years are going to be the people who understood this early and built their systems while everyone else was still doing things manually. You are here. You are watching. That tells me something about you. Most people scroll right past this stuff. You stopped.

[00:07:54]One more thing I want to flag that almost nobody is talking about. The real money in AI automation right now is not in using these tools for yourself. It is in offering these services to other businesses. Most small and medium businesses know they should be automating more. They see their competitors moving faster. They feel the pressure. But they have no idea how to build any of this. That gap is a real income opportunity for anyone willing to learn these tools and offer to set them up. The best clients are the ones I call AI guilt clients. They know they are behind. And when you show up with a working routine that solves a problem they have right now, the conversation gets easy fast. So, to recap, Claude routines lets you build automations using plain English. It runs on Anthropic's cloud. It works even when your laptop is off. It can connect to Gmail, Slack, Google Drive, GitHub, and more. And right now, while it is still in early preview, is the best time to start experimenting. If you want to go deeper on how to turn this kind of AI knowledge into a real income stream, grab my free AI cash flow masterclass.

[00:08:57]It shows you step by step how people are packaging these tools into subscription-based services that businesses happily pay for every single month. Plus, I will give you access to a free 30-day trial of the AI platform I personally use to run client campaigns and internal workflows. And honestly, for the specific kind of automated client work we are talking about here, the platform inside that masterclass is even more suited to delivering results for clients than Claude alone. The link is in the description and the top comment. And if you want to surround yourself with other people building their AI businesses right now, come join the AI Control Room. It is a free community with thousands of agency owners and online entrepreneurs all figuring this out together. Link is also in the description. Drop a comment below and tell me what routine you would build first. I read every single one and I will see you in the next one.