Part 1 built the recipe. Part 2 connects it to real data (Gmail and Calendar), runs it on command, and puts it on a schedule that fires even when your laptop is closed.
In Part 1 your Skill learned how to do the job — but you had to hand it the ingredients. Now we give it the ability to fetch its own, and to run when you're not watching.
We're still building the morning briefing. In Part 1 the Skill learned the format and the guardrails. Part 2 has three moves: hand the Skill real data (Gmail + Calendar), run it on command to confirm the output you want, then put it on a schedule.
By the end, tomorrow's briefing lands in your inbox at 7:30am — built from your real calendar and real inbox, formatted the way your Skill specifies — even if your laptop is closed.
Three words that mean overlapping things. One analogy, then we move on.
Connector — the waiter for one restaurant. Gmail has its own waiter. Calendar has its own. Slack has its own. You wave one over and it handles that kitchen for you — you never go back there yourself.
Tool — a single item on the menu. "Read my inbox." "Put this on my calendar." "Send this reply." One tool, one specific thing you can order.
MCP (Model Context Protocol) — the shared menu format. Every Claude-compatible service publishes its tools in the same structured way (name, description, inputs, outputs). That's why Claude can walk into a new restaurant and read the menu without anyone teaching it a new convention. You don't write MCP; services already publish in it, and you just turn them on.
For the rest of this session we'll just say connector — the waiter for whichever restaurant we're ordering from.
Each method gives Claude more access — and asks for more trust. Connectors sit at the high end of this spectrum. Worth knowing what the other tiers look like before you hand over the keys.
You manually upload a PDF or doc. Claude sees it only in that conversation, then forgets.
Docs you add to a Project or a Skill. Claude has persistent access across every conversation in that workspace.
Claude searches the open web for current info. Sees public data only — nothing behind a login.
Claude reaches directly into Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Slack. Sees live, continuously updating data in your real tools.
Connectors are the right call for the morning briefing — it needs live, recurring data. But connectors aren't the default for everything. If you just need to analyze one document once, file uploads stay simpler and safer. Start on the left, move right as you build trust. Avoid granting connector access to services that hold sensitive financial or health information unless you've thought it through.
Anthropic runs a connectors panel in your Claude settings where you can hook up services like Gmail and Google Calendar with one click each. Once connected, any Claude surface — Claude on the web, Claude Code, and the scheduled routine you'll set up in Step 3 — can use them.
Two services, two clicks each. No terminal commands.
A tool is one specific thing Claude can do. A connector isn't one tool — it's a bundle of them. Turning one on expands what Claude can reach for.
Calendar adds tools like read today's events, find free time, create an event. Gmail adds tools like read my inbox, search messages, send a reply. When Claude builds your briefing, it's calling a handful of these one at a time.
If the OAuth flow offers separate permissions for read vs send (especially on Gmail), only approve what you need today. A briefing reads. You can widen scope later; you can't untick a box in the past.
If your Google account is managed by a workspace admin (usually a work account), connecting may require their approval. If the flow won't complete, it's usually an admin policy, not something you did wrong — ping IT rather than retrying.
Test each service by asking Claude — at claude.ai or in Claude Code — a prompt only that connector can answer. Tick the boxes below as you confirm each works.
Just for your own progress tracking.
Both connectors show as connected in your Claude settings, and both test prompts return real data from your Google account.
Your Skill from Part 1 describes what a briefing should look like. Your connectors from Step 1 give it real data to work from. Let's put the two together — Claude Code invokes the Skill, the Skill uses the connectors, you get a briefing.
Part 2 picks up where Part 1 left off — it expects a Skill file to already exist inside your context directory's Admin folder, at ~/Desktop/context/Admin/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md. If you haven't done Part 1, finish it first and come back.
The one you created in Part 1. Default is briefing — change it if you picked a different name.
Start a new Claude Code conversation (home folder, not a project repo), and try either of these prompts:
Or just describe what you want — if your Skill's description is good, Claude matches automatically:
What you should see:
Remember the success criteria you wrote in Part 1? "I know what workout I have coming up. I know what messages need a reply today."
Until now, those were aspirational. Your Skill couldn't actually fetch your calendar; it worked with whatever you pasted in. Now the connectors feed it real data. Your criteria finally become testable.
Run the briefing three days in a row. For each run, grade it against your criteria. If one keeps failing — your evals just told you what to fix next.
You ask for your briefing and get back a real one, drawn from your actual calendar and inbox, that passes your eval criteria from Part 1.
Before we schedule, one thing worth knowing: on-demand and scheduled briefings run in different places.
When you asked for the briefing in Step 2, Claude Code ran it on your laptop using your local Skill and the connectors linked to your Anthropic account.
A scheduled routine fires in Anthropic's cloud, independent of whether your laptop is open. Same connectors (they live on your account, not your machine), but the prompt itself has to be self-contained — the cloud can't read your local Skill file.
The schedule prompt in Step 3 inlines the briefing instructions directly, rather than saying "run my briefing Skill." That way it works from the cloud, with or without your laptop awake.
A routine is a scheduled prompt that Claude runs in Anthropic's cloud. It gets: a schedule (cron), a model, access to whichever connectors you grant it, and a prompt that tells it what to do on each run. Once created, it fires at its scheduled time whether your laptop is open or closed.
Claude Code's built-in /schedule skill is how you create a routine. Fill in the three fields below, then paste the rendered prompt into Claude Code.
If you connected Gmail as read-only back in Step 1, the routine can't email you the briefing — it'll create successfully, then fail silently. Go back to claude.ai/settings/connectors, disconnect Gmail, and reconnect — this time approving the "send email on your behalf" scope. Calendar can stay read-only.
Natural language for the schedule is fine — /schedule will turn it into a cron expression. Include your timezone in the schedule text so there's no ambiguity.
Claude Code will confirm the routine and give it a name. The next run fires at your scheduled time — even if your laptop is closed.
/schedule handles create, list, update, and delete. In any Claude Code session, ask: "list my scheduled routines," "pause my morning briefing routine," or "delete the routine named X." Same skill, different verbs.
Claude Code confirms the routine is created (and names it), and the briefing lands in your inbox at your chosen time on a weekday — whether your laptop is open or closed.
Scheduled agents run when nobody's watching. Four things that keep them from drifting into expensive or embarrassing territory.
Step 2 was your dry-run. Run the briefing manually for two or three days before scheduling. Fix any spec issues while you're watching — not while you're asleep.
Scheduled costs compound when nobody's watching. Haiku is almost always right for a briefing. Reach for Sonnet or Opus only when the task genuinely needs more reasoning.
If your briefing dedupes articles day-over-day, it needs somewhere to remember what it already showed you. Simplest version: have it check today's Gmail for a prior briefing before sending the next one.
Don't give a scheduled agent write or send tools until you've watched three clean runs in a row. Silent agents with send privileges are how you end up emailing your whole team a weather report.
Claude doesn't just answer questions — it can act. Here's the range, and where Part 2 leaves you.
One task at a time across email, calendar, Drive, Notion. Claude works alongside you in the conversation.
Runs on autopilot — daily briefings, weekly digests, recurring reports. Same tools, no human kickoff.
Multi-step projects — research, compile, draft, deliver. You kick it off with a goal; Claude reports back when done.
Clicks buttons, fills forms, navigates apps for you. Most autonomous; requires the most trust.
You've done Cowork and Scheduled Tasks — the friendliest two modes. Next up: Managed Agents (when you want Claude to take on a multi-step project — research, synthesize, deliver), and Computer Use (when you need Claude to act inside an app that doesn't have a connector yet). Start on the left; move right as you build trust.