Field Note — First Automation

SYSTEMS NOTE // 08  ·  JULY 2026  ·  SGI RESEARCH

BUILD YOUR 1ST
CLAUDE AUTOMATION

Original walkthrough by Charlie Hills — charliehills.substack.com

The same skill, moved through three levels of hands-off. Level one you still run yourself. By level three it's on the cloud, fanning out to every tool you have, while your laptop is closed.

PINNED0Levels of autopilot
PINNED0Skill file, reused every level
PINNED0Hands needed by level three
Skills◆ Claude Chat◆ Cowork◆ Claude Code◆ Schedules◆ Triggers◆ Autopilot◆ Skills◆ Claude Chat◆ Cowork◆ Claude Code◆ Schedules◆ Triggers◆ Autopilot◆
01Skills In Claude Chat

A straight line you run by hand, start to finish. Save a task you repeat into one skill, then fire the whole workflow with a single trigger word.

SET1
Describe it onceClaude writes the whole .md skill for you.
SET2
Connect your toolsNotion, Gmail, Drive — whatever the task touches.
SET3
Test, fix, save/reel runs it from any chat.
PINNED
A straight line you run by hand, start to finish
/reelyou type it in Claude Chat
Skill runsthe .md workflow fires
Outputsaved to your calendar
02Scheduled In Cowork

A loop on a timer, it reruns itself with no hands. Hand the same skill to Cowork and tell it which one to run and when, like you'd ask a person.

SET1
One setup chatrun my skill, 9am — no code.
SET2
Answer a few questionsClaude asks, then the task goes live.
SET3
It runs itselfSame files, finished work waits for review.
PINNED
A loop on a timer, it reruns itself with no hands
Cowork timerfires every Monday, 9am
Skill runsthe same .md file
Result readywaiting for your review
↻Loops back into the timer every week — no hands
03Claude Code

A cloud runner that fans out to every tool you have. Move the same skill onto Claude Code so it runs on the cloud, reaching any tool, at any hour.

SET1
Install it onceDrop the same skill into Claude Code.
SET2
Schedule it/schedule — pick a time, it runs on the cloud.
SET3
Walk awayManage every run from the browser, laptop closed.
PINNED
A cloud runner that fans out to every tool you have
/schedule
Claude Coderuns your skill on repeat
Runs daily · laptop closed
Your files
Any API
Agents

ONE SKILL FILE.
THREE LEVELS OF
HANDS-OFF.
SAME WORKFLOW EVERY TIME.

More Automations.
More Notes.
Original walkthrough Charlie Hills — charliehills.substack.com