[BUG] Cowork scheduled tasks always created local-only; no remote option or toggle exposed

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

The Cowork help doc "Schedule recurring tasks in Claude Cowork" states that scheduled tasks run remotely by default — continuing to fire even when the computer is asleep or the Claude Desktop app is closed — unless the task requires local files or apps, in which case it falls back to running locally.

In practice, every scheduled task I create (via the in-chat create_scheduled_task tool and via "Scheduled" in the sidebar) is created as a local-only task:

• The task is stored on disk at ~/Claude/Scheduled/<taskId>/SKILL.md.
• The tool's own description states the task "runs while this app is open" and "if the app is closed when a task is due, it runs on next launch" — i.e. it does not run remotely/in the cloud.
• This happens even for tasks with no dependency on local files, folders, or apps (e.g. a task that just needs to send a plain greeting message, with no connected folder in the session).
• There is no visible toggle in the "Set up manually" flow to choose remote vs. local execution, contradicting the documented step that a folder selection is optional and only forces local execution "if the scheduled task requires local files or apps."

Expected vs Actual

• Expected: Task runs remotely per docs, since it has no local dependency.
• Actual: Task is local-only, with no way to request or toggle remote execution.

What Should Happen?

Per the documented behavior, a scheduled task with no local file/folder/app dependency should be created as a remote task (running in the cloud on its cadence, independent of whether the desktop app is open), or the UI should expose an explicit remote/local toggle so the user can tell which mode a task is in.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open a Cowork session with no folder connected.
2. Ask Claude to create a scheduled task with a simple prompt that needs no local files (e.g. "say hello every morning at 9am").
3. Task is created via create_scheduled_task; inspect the confirmation output and/or ~/Claude/Scheduled/<taskId>/SKILL.md.
4. Task only fires while the desktop app is open; closing the app delays the run to next launch rather than firing remotely as scheduled.

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.218

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

<img width="889" height="559" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8271189b-b651-4dc9-b1f4-2967917601ef" />

Related to the reserved-path/Scheduled folder handling discussed in #71307, though this issue is specifically about the missing remote execution path rather than folder-mount conflicts.