---
title: "Run long tasks in the background with Claude Code"
description: "Run long tasks in the background with Claude Code"
canonical: "https://ian.is/claude-background-tasks"
language: "en"
---

[Ian Nuttall](https://ian.is/)

# Run long tasks in the background with Claude Code

June 25, 2025

Claude Code pro tip:

add this line to your .zshrc or .bashrc (ask CC to do it for you) and you can move long running tasks to the background to keep chatting

```text
export ENABLE_BACKGROUND_TASKS=1
```

![Image from the original X post](https://ian.is/media/tweets/1937985342378021275/1937985342378021275/7427b84e12423d0e2bdebba2b800b30a8a2738ccf03c0394db00aba720ed0ee7.jpg)

Found this via [@ryoppippi](https://x.com/ryoppippi) but props to [@SIGKITTEN](https://x.com/SIGKITTEN) who was first to discover it

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