7 automations I set up with Claude to save me 20 hours a week (and how to set them up)

I used to hear "automation" and assume it meant code, APIs and probably a developer.

I'm not a developer and I've never learned to code.

What I've actually found is that a lot of it is just explaining a job to Claude properly, the same way I'd brief a new assistant, then setting things up so it can keep doing that job without me.

These are the seven I've set up with Claude that save me 20 hours a week. I didn't write a single line of code for any of them. I explained what I wanted in plain English and Claude built it with me.

The seven, at a glance

1. A morning brief that reads my day and tells me the one or two things that actually matter.
2. An inbox that sorts itself every hour and drafts the replies that need me.
3. Meeting notes that file themselves in the client's folder, with every task in ClickUp.
4. A knowledge base updater that updates every client's log and status page at midnight.
5. A post idea generator that turns my day into content ideas overnight.
6. A keyword builder that builds the ManyChat flow behind every keyword on my posts.
7. A posting assistant that publishes an approved post when I change one status.

Each one comes with a download: a zip folder with the skill, the routine, and a readme that tells Claude exactly how to set it up with you. You paste one prompt with your details filled in, and Claude does the rest. You don't need all seven. Pick the one that would give you back the most time this week and start there.

What you need before you start

• Claude on a paid plan, with the Claude desktop app. The automations that run on a timer are set up from the Routines page in the Code tab.
• Your AI brain. Every one of these reads your business from somewhere. If Claude doesn't know who your clients are or what you're working towards, the brief is generic and the drafts don't sound like you. If you haven't got one yet, that's the foundation: The Co-Founder Setup.
• The tools you already use, connected to Claude. Your calendar, Gmail and your task manager (I use ClickUp) connect in Settings, then Connectors. You sign in on their own screen. Each kit checks what's connected and helps you connect anything that's missing.
• Your computer awake with the Claude app open when a timed one runs. If your laptop's shut, it runs when you next open it.

You don't need a developer, and you never need to open the terminal.

How to set up any of them

Every download sets up the same way, so I'll show you once.

1. Download the zip for the automation you want and double-click it to unzip it.
2. Open the Claude desktop app and click the Code tab.
3. Start a new chat and click the + at the bottom to attach your AI brain folder.
4. Drag the unzipped folder into the chat.
5. Paste the prompt for that automation, with the blanks filled in.

Claude reads the readme in the folder first. It checks your connections and walks you through anything that's missing, asks you one question at a time about anything you left blank, sets it up and runs it once while you watch. When it asks permission to read something or save a file, choose Always allow, so it never stops and waits for you at 6am.

Keys and passwords never go in the chat. Connectors use your normal sign-in. If anything ever asks you to paste a password or a key into a message, don't.

1. A morning brief

At 6am it reads my calendar, my ClickUp, my emails and every client's status page and turns it into one page: what's on, what's due and the one or two things that actually matter today. It even tells me the best time to walk Obe.

Mine also opens with what the rest of my team did overnight, flags any client work that has nothing scheduled, and tells me how many posts I have ready for the week. I read it with my coffee and I know where everything is before I've opened a single app.

Needs: your calendar, your task manager and Gmail (optional), plus your AI brain folder. The kit checks each one and walks you through connecting anything missing.

Download the Morning Brief

I've downloaded the Morning Brief kit (attached). Read README FOR
CLAUDE.md first & set it up with me, one step at a time. Check my
connections first. Here's how I want mine:
- My name: [NAME]
- My town, for the weather: [TOWN]
- List any quirky things you want your morning brief to include:
- My calendar: [Google Calendar / Outlook / none]
- My task manager: [ClickUp / Notion / Asana / Trello / none]
- What wins when two things compete, in order: [e.g. paying clients,
  content, new leads, my own projects]
- My goal right now: [ONE LINE]
- Where my leads come in: [e.g. a form, an email label, or "none"]
- Time it runs: [e.g. 06:00, weekdays only]
- How I like it written: [e.g. warm, short, emojis welcome]
- Anything else it should always tell me: [e.g. "which client I
  haven't spoken to in a fortnight"]
- My timezone: [e.g. Europe/London]

The full story of how I built mine is in the morning brief routine.

2. An inbox that sorts itself

Every hour it files everything that isn't a real person into the right folder and drafts replies to the ones that need me, so my inbox is now basically only people.

It never sends anything. The drafts sit in my Drafts folder, threaded under the email they answer, and anything it can't know, like a price or a date, goes in square brackets for me to fill in. Each one also becomes a task in ClickUp, so a reply I owe can't get lost.

Needs: Gmail and your task manager. The kit checks it can read your inbox, create labels and save drafts, and walks you through connecting anything missing.

Download the Inbox Assistant

I've downloaded the Inbox Assistant kit (attached). Read README FOR
CLAUDE.md first & set it up with me, one step at a time. Don't move
any email until I've agreed the labels with you. Here's how I want mine:
- My name: [NAME]
- The inbox to start with: [EMAIL ADDRESS - start with your busiest]
- My task manager & the list reply tasks go in: [e.g. ClickUp, Inbox]
- The files that describe my business: [e.g. my offers, my clients -
  or "find them for me"]
- The hours it should run: [e.g. every hour, 7am to 9pm]
- My timezone: [e.g. Europe/London]
- Never: [e.g. draft replies to family, touch anything from my bank]

The whole build, labels and voice included, is in how I use Claude to sort my inbox every hour.

3. Meeting notes that file themselves

After a call it saves the notes in that client's folder and puts every task I agreed to into ClickUp, so nothing gets lost between back-to-back calls.

It works out which client the call was with, writes one note with the decisions and actions, and adds a line to that client's daily log. Anything I owe becomes a task for me. Anything the client owes goes on a separate "waiting on" task, so I can see at a glance who I'm chasing.

Needs: a notetaker on your calls, wherever it saves the notes (Google Drive for Gemini, ClickUp for ClickUp's notetaker), and your task manager. The kit finds where your notes land and helps you switch a notetaker on if you don't have one.

Download Meeting Notes

I've downloaded the Meeting Notes kit (attached). Read README FOR
CLAUDE.md first & set it up with me, one step at a time. Show me the
first note before you create any tasks. Here's how I want mine:
- My name, as it shows in my meeting notes: [NAME]
- My calls are on: [Google Meet / Zoom / Teams]
- My notetaker: [Gemini / ClickUp AI Notetaker / both / "help me pick"]
- Where my client folders are: [FOLDER IN MY AI BRAIN, or "find them"]
- My task manager: [ClickUp / Notion / Asana / Trello]
- Who joins calls for a client: [e.g. "Jo is Bright Studio's assistant"
  - or "nobody"]
- My working hours: [e.g. 8am to 9pm]
- My timezone: [e.g. Europe/London]

The full walkthrough is in the routine that turns every client call into tasks.

4. A knowledge base updater

Every night at midnight it reads the day's chats, finished tasks and files and updates each client's log and status page. I never write a status update anymore.

This is the one the others rely on. The morning brief is only right because the status pages are right, and the status pages are only right because something updates them every night. It also writes a one-page memory of the day, so whichever chat I open tomorrow already knows what I decided today.

Needs: your AI brain folder, and your task manager (optional) so it can see what moved that day. The kit checks both and walks you through connecting the task manager if you want it.

Download the Knowledge Base Updater

I've downloaded the Knowledge Base Updater kit (attached). Read
README FOR CLAUDE.md first & set it up with me, one step at a time.
Here's how I want mine:
- My name: [NAME]
- My clients or projects are in: [FOLDER, or "find them for me"]
- Time it runs every night: [e.g. 23:30]
- Documents it can keep up to date: [e.g. my processes, my tools list]
- Documents it must never touch: [e.g. my brand guide, my offers, my
  goals - or "suggest a list"]
- My task manager: [ClickUp / Notion / Asana / Trello / none]
- My timezone: [e.g. Europe/London]
- Anything else it should know: [e.g. "I have two businesses"]

How mine works is in the AI employee that updates my AI brain.

5. A post idea generator

Overnight it goes back through everything I did that day and turns the interesting bits into content ideas. Most mornings I wake up to five or six and I genuinely can't keep up with them.

Every idea points back to something that really happened that day, with where it saw it. It never writes hooks or scripts, because I write those from my own brain dump. I reply with the numbers I want and they go into my content calendar.

Needs: your AI brain folder, plus your task manager and Google Drive if you want them (Drive only if your content calendar is a Google Sheet). The kit checks what's there and makes you a content calendar if you don't have one.

Download the Post Idea Generator

I've downloaded the Post Idea Generator kit (attached). Read
README FOR CLAUDE.md first & set it up with me, one step at a time.
Here's how I want mine:
- My name: [NAME]
- What I post about & who it's for: [ONE OR TWO LINES]
- Where I'm heading: [MY GOAL, WITH A DATE IF I HAVE ONE]
- What counts as a post-worthy moment: [e.g. something I built, a
  client win, a setback & what I did about it]
- Never include: [e.g. client names, personal admin]
- The formats I make: [talking head / carousel / B-roll / stories]
- Where my content calendar is: [A SHEET, A NOTION PAGE, A LIST - or
  "make me one"]
- Time it runs every night: [e.g. 23:45]
- My timezone: [e.g. Europe/London]

The prompt version you can try tonight is in the routine that turns my day into content ideas.

6. A keyword builder

When you comment a keyword on one of my posts, the DM you get was set up by Claude. It picks the post up from ClickUp, builds the flow in ManyChat and hands it back to me to test.

ManyChat is the tool that watches the comments on a post and sends a DM when someone writes the keyword. Mine builds every flow from one template I made, so every DM looks the same and every button goes to the right blog post. It checks the keyword isn't already used for a different post before it builds anything.

ManyChat flows can only be built on the ManyChat website, so this one works in your browser through the Claude in Chrome extension, where you're already signed in. The kit checks you have it and walks you through installing it if you don't.

Needs: the Claude in Chrome extension, a ManyChat account connected to your Instagram professional account, and your task manager (optional). The kit checks each one and walks you through anything missing.

Download the Keyword Builder

I've downloaded the Keyword Builder kit (attached). Read README FOR
CLAUDE.md first & set it up with me, one step at a time. Help me build
my template flow by hand with you first, so we have one before you build
any on your own. Here's how I want mine:
- My name: [NAME]
- My Instagram account: [@HANDLE]
- Do I already have a template flow in ManyChat: [yes - it's called … /
  no, build it with me]
- What every DM should say first: [e.g. "Just to confirm, you're here
  for …?"]
- Where my posts are planned: [e.g. ClickUp, Notion - or "nowhere, I'll
  ask you in a chat"]
- Add the keyword to the end of each link: [yes / no / "explain it"]

If you haven't used ManyChat yet, start with how I use ManyChat to build my email list.

7. A posting assistant

Once I've approved a post in ClickUp, I change one status and that's it. It picks up the finished post, sends it where it needs to go and publishes it at the time I've set, so I'm not manually copying things between platforms or sitting there hitting publish.

Mine posts through Blotato, a tool that publishes to Instagram, LinkedIn and other platforms for you. The due date on the task is when it goes live. It takes the caption and the images from the task, and it will never post the same thing twice. If something's missing, like a caption that still has a placeholder in it, it sends the task back to me with one line saying what to fix, and nothing goes out.

You'll need a paid Blotato plan, because the connection Claude uses isn't in the free trial. Blotato connects to Claude with its own sign-in, so there's no key to copy anywhere.

Needs: a paid Blotato plan with your social accounts connected inside it, the Blotato connector in Claude, and your task manager. The kit checks each one and walks you through connecting anything missing.

Download the Posting Assistant

I've downloaded the Posting Assistant kit (attached). Read README FOR
CLAUDE.md first & set it up with me, one step at a time. Walk me
through connecting Blotato. I'll sign in on Blotato's own screen,
never in this chat. Here's how I want mine:
- My name: [NAME]
- My task manager: [ClickUp / Notion / Asana / Trello]
- Where my approved posts live, & which account each list posts to:
  [e.g. "IG Content" → Instagram @handle]
- The status that means "post this": [e.g. ready to post]
- What I post: [e.g. Instagram carousels & single images, LinkedIn
  text posts]
- The hours I post: [e.g. 7am to 9pm]
- My timezone: [e.g. Europe/London]

The first run is a test that shows you exactly what it would post without sending anything. It only goes live when you say yes.

The catch, and the fix

An automation that runs on a timer can stop and wait for a permission click, and nobody's there at 6am or midnight to click it. There's no error. It just doesn't run.

The fix is to run every one once while you watch, choose Always allow for everything it asks, and check the next morning that it did its job. If the brief isn't there, that's your signal to open Claude and see what it's waiting for. If you want to understand what runs on a timer and what needs an employee, I wrote that up in Claude routine or AI employee?.

The second catch is what they read. Every one of these is only as good as the AI brain and the task manager underneath it. If your status pages are out of date, the morning brief is confidently wrong. That's why the knowledge base updater matters more than it looks.

What this looks like as a business

Every business owner you work with is doing at least three of these jobs by hand: sorting the inbox, writing up calls and working out what matters today. These are good first builds for a client, because most of them only read and suggest.

You're not being paid for setting up a scheduled task. You're being paid for knowing which job to hand over first, and for writing it down well enough that Claude can do it without them.

Start with one

Don't install all seven this week. Pick the one job you dread most, download that one, and run it for five days before you change anything. The things that are wrong in those five days show you where your setup doesn't match how you actually work.

If you haven't got your AI brain set up, that's the foundation for all of this: start here.