Workflow Hub

I 3D-printed a custom threaded barrel nut without ever opening AutoCAD. I use my 3D printer to make parts for various projects, including a pinball machine and a boat, but I struggle with AutoCAD. As an alternative, I described the part to Claude in plain English and asked it to create a `.3mf` file. I opened the file in Bambu Studio and printed the part without using AutoCAD. Step-by-step: 1. I described the custom threaded barrel nut to Claude in plain English. 2. I asked Claude to create a `.3mf` file for the part. 3. I opened the file in Bambu Studio. 4. I printed the part on my 3D printer.

I had about $2K in contributions from past jobs stuck in a government scheme for more than two years. The portal was slow, spread across several forms, and unclear about how to withdraw the money. I gave the task to Claude and Perplexity Comet. Claude worked through the rules and found the withdrawal route that kept my tax bill lowest. Comet then verified and implemented that route. It ran the portal in my browser, filled in and submitted the claim forms, and let me watch the screen and check each detail before submission. Two weeks later, the $2K arrived. After that, Claude compared the amount I received with the scheme’s online statement and found a gap: interest that had not been paid out. It filed a second form for the difference, and I’m waiting for the payment now. I’ll use the same technique to solve this for my wife too. Step-by-step: 1. I gave Claude the details of the contributions stuck in the government scheme and asked it to work through the withdrawal rules. 2. Claude identified the withdrawal route that kept my tax bill lowest. 3. I had Perplexity Comet verify and implement that route in the scheme’s browser portal. 4. Comet filled in and submitted the claim forms while I watched the screen and checked each detail before submission. 5. Two weeks later, I confirmed that the $2K had arrived. 6. I asked Claude to compare the payment with the scheme’s online statement. 7. After Claude identified unpaid interest, Comet filed a second form for the difference. I’m waiting for that payment now.

I run an out-of-home advertising agency in Malta, covering billboards, buses, hotel screens, and radio. Our entire business ran on Monday.com boards for CRM, deals, bookings, supplier bills, and bus-campaign reconciliation. The system was expensive, difficult to change, and full of broken formulas. I’m not a developer, but in about two weeks I worked with Claude to replace it with our own CRM built on Google Sheets and Google Apps Script. The team now uses it every day. Step-by-step: 1. I mapped our real processes first, explaining in plain language how we sell, book, invoice, and pay partners. Claude read our existing Monday.com boards and imported the data. 2. I built the system screen by screen, releasing each part and testing it with live data before moving on. The CRM now includes contacts, companies, deals with order lines, bookings, billing, partners, tasks, and a dashboard. 3. I automated repetitive tasks. When I upload a signed order form, the app reads the lines. Bookings are created automatically from deals, and a Gmail side panel and shared mailbox file client emails under the correct contact or deal. 4. I connected QuickBooks Online. The system pulls invoices and supplier bills, calculates each partner’s revenue share according to its own rules, produces the monthly partner report, and creates the bill. I approve anything that writes to the accounts. 5. I turned a monthly spreadsheet chore into an automatic check for bus campaigns. The app compares what we committed to the client with what the bus operator billed us and flags overbilling or margin problems month by month. The first run found a supplier bill that appeared to be a duplicate. 6. I made the system safe to hand over. Every change is logged and can be undone, with user roles and a shared drive in place. We also wrote a short user guide and test checklist before the team started using it. The main lesson I learned was to treat AI like a capable builder who needs your business rules spelled out. Starting with real data, releasing small pieces, and checking each one before adding the next made the build manageable. The tools I used were Claude, Google Sheets, Google Apps Script, Gmail, and QuickBooks Online.

Start with the property, not a generic landscaping template. Upload photos, measurements, site constraints, current problems, future plans, budget limits, and the look you want. Then use AI to build a complete picture of how the property functions today and how it should evolve over time. Next, work area by area. For overcrowded garden beds, map every tree and shrub, then assess mature size, spacing, health, irrigation coverage, sightlines, and maintenance demands. From there, use AI to determine what should stay, what should move, what should be removed, and how each bed should be reshaped and edged. Convert each recommendation into an execution plan that includes: Step-by-step: 1. The target design 2. A step-by-step build sequence 3. Required materials and tools 4. Budget and priority level 5. Seasonal timing 6. A year-by-year maintenance plan Finally, connect every individual project into one master roadmap. Plan the garden beds, trees, lawn, irrigation, drainage, driveway, shelterbelts, recreation areas, and future buildings together so one improvement does not create a problem somewhere else. The result is a living property operating system. Add a new photo, issue, or idea, and the plan updates with the next best action.

Trivet is a recipe box for one household. I can photograph a recipe card—handwritten, printed, or a PDF—and get back a structured recipe with ingredients, quantities and units, numbered steps, prep, cook and rest times, oven temperature, and equipment. I can plan a dinner for each night of the week, and the shopping list builds itself: quantities are combined across meals, grouped by aisle, and texted to my phone. I built it because my family’s recipes were scattered across index cards in a drawer, including decades-old handwriting and cards from defunct meal services. Typing everything in was never going to happen. The entire AI workflow uses one model call. The photo is sent to Claude Opus as an image block with a Zod schema attached as the structured output format, so the response is already typed and validated—there’s no JSON parsing, retry loop, or “please respond only with valid JSON.” The extraction schema is intentionally looser than the database schema, with nullable numbers throughout. If a card has no cook time, the model returns `null` instead of inventing a plausible-looking value. The load-bearing instruction in the system prompt is that a missing cook time is a small gap, while an invented one is wrong every time somebody cooks from it. Nothing saves automatically. The extraction first appears in an editable review screen. The model also returns a confidence field, so a blurry card or a page that is not a recipe gets flagged instead of silently becoming a bad entry. Step-by-step: 1. I built a Next.js app with Postgres via Prisma and deployed it on Vercel. 2. I made the upload accept an image or PDF. I check the file size before encoding because the API limit applies to base64, which inflates the bytes by about a third; a 7 MB raw ceiling is the real limit. 3. I defined the extraction shape in Zod and sent it as the output format instead of describing JSON in the prompt. 4. I described fields in the schema. For example, `.describe("Unit as written, e.g. 'tbsp'")` does more than a paragraph of instruction. 5. I render the result into a review form and save it only when the form is submitted, never immediately after the model responds. 6. I store quantities as numbers with separate units so servings can be scaled and ingredients can be combined across recipes later. This is the decision that cannot be retrofitted easily. 7. I sum ingredients across planned meals, round at the end, group them by aisle, and send the list via Twilio. The pattern is not limited to recipes. Anything I would otherwise have to retype—receipts, notes, or forms—can use the same three moves: a schema looser than the database, a model told that `null` is better than a guess, and a review screen between the response and the database write.

While traveling abroad, my partner and I became quite sick near the end of our trip and remained ill after returning home. Because we were in a country where we did not speak the language, we used Google Translate at the pharmacy and used Claude to track our symptoms as they changed from day to day. Claude helped us keep the symptom history organized and research what to ask for at the pharmacy, including differences between the medicines we were familiar with and those commonly used in that country. When our symptoms worsened after we got home, we continued using Claude as a symptom tracker and photographed everything in our medicine cabinet. We often forget what we bought or why, and medicines in the United States can be marketed for different uses in ways that are not always clear. Using the symptom history and medicine photos, we asked Claude what we might be able to use, what to avoid, when to take things, and when to contact a doctor, use telehealth, visit urgent care, or go to the emergency room. It also surfaced newer research suggesting that some medicines once thought to be effective may no longer be supported by current evidence. This simple workflow helped us manage the situation and decide whether we needed to buy anything new or seek additional care. Step-by-step: 1. I used Google Translate to communicate at the pharmacy while traveling in a country where we did not speak the language. 2. I described our symptoms to Claude and kept the symptom history updated as they changed from day to day. 3. I asked Claude to research what to ask for at the pharmacy, taking into account the medicines we were familiar with and those used in the country we were visiting. 4. After we returned home and our symptoms worsened, I continued tracking them in Claude. 5. I photographed the medicines in our cabinet so Claude could help us review what we had, what we might be able to use, and what we should avoid. 6. I used the symptom history and medicine information to think through timing, whether we needed to buy anything new, and whether to contact a doctor, use telehealth, visit urgent care, or go to the emergency room. 7. I also asked Claude to check current research, including whether newer studies had changed the understanding of some medicines’ effectiveness.

The Rundown recently held our first in-person retreat in Portugal, which was also my first time traveling to Europe. Claude and ChatGPT were amazing resources throughout the trip, from helping me navigate a chaotic international airport to providing personalized advice on cultural differences, tipping, translating menus, and using public transportation. My wife accompanied me and had plenty of time for solo exploration during the day. She is already a big planner, but a ChatGPT project containing our trip information helped her create a detailed plan, including a packing list, pre-trip checklist, and well-structured day-by-day itinerary for seeing as much of Lisbon as possible. As someone who gets stressed by travel, having an expert with context about my life available in my pocket to answer questions whenever I needed it is something I can’t imagine taking trips without. Step-by-step: 1. I used Claude and ChatGPT for personalized travel guidance during my first trip to Europe. 2. I asked for help navigating a chaotic international airport and handling cultural differences, including tipping, translating menus, and using public transportation. 3. My wife created a ChatGPT project with our trip information to support her planning. 4. She used it to create a packing list, pre-trip checklist, and day-by-day plan for exploring Lisbon during her solo time. 5. I used the tools throughout the trip to answer questions with context about my life and reduce the stress of traveling.

Instead of relying on a single AI chat, I structure the work as an executive team of specialist perspectives. I define the problem, assign roles such as CTO, product leader, economist, marketer, and skeptic, and have each expert analyze it independently. Then I run several rounds of critique so they can challenge one another’s assumptions before synthesizing their areas of agreement and disagreement. The process ends with a recommendation that includes the rationale and any remaining uncertainties. Step-by-step: 1. Define the problem clearly. 2. Assign specialist roles, such as CTO, product leader, economist, marketer, and skeptic. 3. Have each expert analyze the problem independently. 4. Run several rounds of critique in which the experts challenge one another’s assumptions. 5. Synthesize the areas of agreement and disagreement. 6. Produce a final recommendation with its rationale and remaining uncertainties.

AI is good at generating polished answers, but polished answers are not always your answers. When people ask AI for help with writing, strategy, or difficult decisions, it can jump too quickly to a conclusion and fill in beliefs the user has not fully examined. I created a thought-partner agent that interviews me before producing recommendations or drafts. Its job is to ask probing questions, challenge weak assumptions, surface contradictions, and separate my actual views from ideas suggested by the AI. Instead of writing for me immediately, it helps me clarify my position first. Step-by-step: 1. I give the agent the topic, decision, or idea I want to explore. 2. I tell it not to draft the final output yet. Its first job is to interview me. 3. I have it ask one focused question at a time about my reasoning, evidence, assumptions, audience, and uncertainty. 4. I require it to challenge vague claims and point out contradictions or overlap with my previous thinking. 5. I ask it to clearly separate: - conclusions I stated - ideas the AI proposed - issues that remain unresolved 6. I continue until the central belief, argument, or decision becomes clear. 7. I have the agent create a structured synthesis containing the core thesis, supporting reasoning, counterarguments, open questions, and useful language from the discussion. 8. I pass that synthesis to a writing, planning, or execution agent. I end up with a position that reflects my actual thinking rather than a plausible answer generated by AI. The final writing or strategy is more original, more consistent, and easier for downstream agents to execute.

I built a family calendar with Lovable and Claude that integrates with our Google Calendars and Todoist projects. My husband, son, dog, and I were struggling to track our schedules in one place. Although we had shared our calendars through Google, we did not have a central view displayed in the house, and the interface became cluttered when we tracked multiple calendars. We had considered buying a Skylight calendar for years, but it costs $300, and we were not convinced we needed all of its extra features. I decided to build my own instead. Step-by-step: 1. I created a product requirements document (PRD) for a family calendar in Claude. It prompted me to choose the available views, decide how to organize each family member’s calendars, support both events and tasks, and add extras such as the day’s weather and a photo background. 2. I shared the PRD with Lovable, which built the first version of the calendar. Lovable helped me integrate my Google Calendars and Todoist projects so that all of our events and tasks appeared in one place. It also helped me integrate Google Photos so our family photos could rotate in the background. 3. I launched the calendar as a password-protected website so any family member could access it from anywhere. 4. I placed the calendar on an iPad in our kitchen and edited it as we used it, learning which features were most and least helpful. I also added calendars for my in-laws when they visited for several months at a time. Claude continues to help me draft new requirements, which I share with Lovable. The calendar is tailored to our needs and costs much less than the Skylight option. The photo feature also makes it feel personal, and I look forward to continuing to evolve it over time.

I built a reusable AI skill that turns any topic and source material into a self-paced course. It follows the same assembly line every time: modules with learning goals, real lesson text, working YouTube videos, quizzes with explanations for wrong answers, and a simple local web course packaged in a folder-based library. Each new course gets its own folder. It works across subjects, but I still review high-stakes content myself. I also treat video quality as more than whether a link works. Step-by-step: 1. I provide a topic and source material. 2. The skill splits the topic into modules and defines learning goals for each one. 3. It writes the lesson text. 4. It finds real YouTube videos and verifies that they work. 5. It builds quizzes that explain incorrect answers. 6. It packages everything as a simple local web course. 7. It adds the new course to the folder-based library in its own folder. 8. I review high-stakes content and assess video quality beyond whether the links work.

My father takes a ton of different medications every day for various conditions, and also sees a lot of different doctors. I was concerned about how they were all interacting with each other and if the doctors at different practices were even getting the full picture. I gave Claude a comprehensive list of all of the drugs and his medical history, and asked for a deep research report about potential interactions. Claude provided a thorough list of issues to bring up to his doctors about dangerous interactions and situations that might be getting missed, referencing up-to-date journals, guidelines, and research that would've taken me days. It also laid everything out in an easy-to-read format, and provided specific instructions on who to contact and what specific questions to ask — helping turn a potentially stressful and disjointed doctor conversation into a strong action plan. Step-by-step: 1. I assembled a comprehensive list of medications, medical history, conditions, and the different doctors involved. 2. I asked Claude for a deep research report on potential interactions and risks that might be missed across separate practices. 3. I required the report to reference current journals, guidelines, and research. 4. I had it organize the findings into concrete issues, who to contact, and the exact questions to ask. 5. I used the report as a doctor-ready conversation plan rather than trying to interpret or act on the findings alone.

I use a Claude skill to reduce the manual work involved in my job search. It searches for the latest roles, assists with my applications, and tracks my application journey. I can fully automate the process with Claude scheduling. I download the SKILL file from my GitHub repository (https://github.com/petehawtree/job-search-tracker-skill) and launch it in Claude Desktop. Alternatively, I can download the entire repository and recreate it in my Claude skills directory. I schedule it to run each day or trigger it manually. Each run summarizes the latest activity and tracks it against previous runs. The workflow includes a dashboard for monitoring roles and applications, along with a daily digest that guides me through the new roles it finds. Step-by-step: 1. I download the SKILL file from https://github.com/petehawtree/job-search-tracker-skill. 2. I launch it in Claude Desktop, or download the entire repository and recreate it in my Claude skills directory. 3. I put the workflow on a schedule or trigger it manually each day. 4. I review the daily summary, which is tracked against previous runs. 5. I use the dashboard to monitor roles and applications. 6. I review the daily digest for guidance on the new roles the workflow finds.

I needed home insurance and was asked to estimate the value of all my personal belongings. I asked Claude to search my personal email and make a list of all the purchases I had made in the past year. I asked my husband to do the same and share his list with me. I also made a list of our valuables and took a picture of each room in the house. I gave all of that information to Claude, which produced a list of everything I owned and estimated its rough value. It cross-referenced the purchases with the items visible in the photos to make sure I did not double-count anything. I sent the list to my insurance broker, who said it was extremely helpful and could also serve as supporting evidence if I ever needed to submit an insurance claim.

The week before leaving for a multi-day hiking trip, I used to spend hours tracking weather sites, trail conditions, and flood and closure alerts—even though I knew everything could change the next day or by the time I left. Now I have Claude handle the research. First, I give it the basics: trail details, entry and exit points, dates, group size, and permit information. These details do not change, so they provide context for everything else. Then I ask it to search for current weather, fire, flood, and closure alerts; permit status; and recent trip reports covering water and trail conditions. I ask it to cite the source for each item. I do not let it answer from memory because conditions are too time-sensitive. I also ask it to build me a Plan B. After years of living in the mountains, I know how quickly conditions can change. Most people skip this, but I recommend always having a backup plan. I ask Claude to turn the terrain into specific decision rules, such as "Turn back if snow above 8,000ft" or "skip the crossing if water's above knee height". Finally, I set it up to give me a daily report—usually five days before the trip, two days before, and on the morning of departure—and to flag only what changed. Step-by-step: 1. I provide Claude with the trail details, entry and exit points, dates, group size, and permit information. 2. I ask it to search for current weather, fire, flood, and closure alerts, permit status, and recent trip reports about water and trail conditions. 3. I require a source citation for each item and do not let it rely on memory because the conditions are time-sensitive. 4. I ask it to create a Plan B and turn the terrain and conditions into clear decision rules, such as "Turn back if snow above 8,000ft" or "skip the crossing if water's above knee height". 5. I schedule reports for five days before the trip, two days before, and the morning of departure, with updates limited to what changed.

I recently bought a house & had an inspection done as a closing condition. I uploaded the inspection report (80 pages) to Claude and asked it to make a list of home maintenance tasks by timeline (closing week, seasonally, etc.). Then, based on that list, I had it create one-off or annually recurring calendar events in my personal Google Calendar, with my husband invited to each event. It was super helpful because the inspection report clearly noted when the maintenance tasks were completed and suggested a frequency for the future. Step-by-step: 1. I uploaded the full 80-page home inspection report to Claude. 2. I asked it to extract every maintenance item and organize the work by closing week, season, and recurring frequency. 3. I had it use the report’s completion dates and recommended intervals to calculate when each task should happen next. 4. I reviewed the list for anything that needed to be corrected or combined. 5. I asked Claude to create one-off and annually recurring Google Calendar events and invite my husband to each one.

Many organizations have critical process knowledge that exists only in employees’ heads. When someone has a question, they have to track down the right expert, ask questions others may have already asked, and hope they remember every detail. This doesn’t scale and creates knowledge silos. I built a workflow that turns conversations with subject matter experts into structured, searchable organizational knowledge. Instead of asking employees to write documentation, an AI interviewer guides them through the process they know best, converts the conversation into well-structured documentation, and publishes it to an AI-powered knowledge base that anyone can query. Step-by-step: 1. Ask an employee to choose a business process they know well. 2. Have an AI interviewer ask follow-up questions to capture the complete workflow, decisions, exceptions, and best practices through a natural conversation. 3. Save the interview transcript. 4. Use an LLM to convert the transcript into structured documentation with clear sections, steps, decision points, and FAQs. 5. Store the documentation in a searchable knowledge repository and index it in a vector database. 6. Let employees ask questions through an AI assistant that retrieves the most relevant documentation and answers in natural language. 7. Repeat the process over time as processes evolve or additional experts contribute new knowledge. Instead of repeatedly interrupting the same subject matter experts, employees can get consistent answers from an AI assistant backed by documented organizational knowledge. The organization captures valuable expertise before it’s lost, reduces knowledge silos, improves onboarding, and creates documentation simply by having conversations.

I used Claude and Nano Banana 2 to create a detailed landscaping plan for my property. The plan included precise recommendations for plant types and locations, soil testing, purchase lists, local suppliers, expected wholesale pricing, and photorealistic images of the mature planting beds. I refined the plan through 20–30 iterations, incorporating all of my requirements. Because I have previous experience working with landscape architects, I was able to use the AI-generated plan effectively and legitimately saved $5,000 in fees. Step-by-step: 1. I used Claude and Nano Banana 2 to develop a landscaping plan for my property. 2. I included requirements for plant types and locations, soil testing, purchase lists, local suppliers, expected wholesale pricing, and photorealistic images of the mature planting beds. 3. I refined the plan through 20–30 iterations until all of my requirements were incorporated. 4. I used my previous experience working with landscape architects to evaluate and apply the plan. 5. I saved $5,000 in landscape architecture fees.

I have set up Claude to give me a daily outfit recommendation based on the local weather and the type of brands that fill 70% of my closet. I've provided examples and feedback, so suggestions become more and more accurate to my style and what I would normally wear without needing to think about it. Step-by-step: 1. I told Claude my location and gave it access to the local weather context for the day. 2. I described the brands and clothing styles that make up most of my wardrobe. 3. I provided examples of outfits that felt like me and examples that did not. 4. I asked for one daily recommendation that fit both the weather and my existing style. 5. I kept giving feedback so the recommendations became more accurate over time.