What you will learn
- Workflow automation 2: the weekly review
Watch the class
Video links coming soon
Submit your homework
Submit: ① 原则一的三句话：材料在哪、到点时那台电脑开着吗、电脑关了会怎样；② 你的小生意记录里的几行（可以把名字和金额换成大概的说法）；③ 它自己写的一份周回顾；④ Run now 时它停下来的每一处，你是怎么处理的（总是允许 / 写进规矩 / 故意留着）；⑤ 打开看的结果：文件在不在、你对的两个数字对不对、改了什么；⑥ 一两句话：三条原则里哪一条你最容易忘。
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▶ AI Grading Rubric
| Dimension | Weight | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | 20% | States where the inputs live, whether that computer is on at run time, and what happens if it is off or asleep, matching the student's real setup. |
| Breakpoints | 20% | Lists each stop during the test run and how it was handled; irreversible actions stay with the human. |
| Verified it | 25% | Opened the output of an unattended run and checked two numbers against the ledger; mismatches led to a rule fix. Relying only on the AI's own report earns at most half. |
| Useful review | 20% | Numbers are computed from the ledger with gaps marked not invented; next week's three items are concrete and owned by the student. |
| Authenticity | 15% | The student's own work in their own words, with personal context, not AI boilerplate or a copied example. |
90-100 Excellent: every part done, clearly their own · 70-89 Solid, one or two things to improve · 50-69 Done but missing parts or thin · 30-49 Mostly not done · 1-29 Nearly empty
Further notes
Expand full notes
<!-- page: Principle one: which computer does it work on -->
**In this lesson you build one more digital employee: it writes your small business review by itself every Friday.** It works the same way as Lesson 4, and this lesson adds three principles. They all come from where Shufen got stuck during her two weeks. First, hear it from her (in Chinese), from 3:17 to 5:39: https://youtu.be/vYKcR2JYFvc?t=197
This lesson has two sittings. **The first** (about 40 minutes): think it through, set up a log, and put it on a schedule. **The second**, after it has run on its own for the first time (about 15 minutes): open it, look, and check the numbers. What you need is the same as Lesson 4: Claude Pro + the Code tab and scheduled tasks in the desktop app.
**Where Shufen got stuck.** She started on October 6, and at first she had the scheduled task run on Claude's side. But her journal and notes were on her own computer, and Claude's side couldn't reach them. And every time, she still had to keep the desktop app open and click "Allow" on the spot. She ran it for several days, and no results came out. On October 12 she changed her approach: she had her computer's alarm clock, the Windows "Task Scheduler," wake up Claude Code at the set time, so it read files and wrote drafts right on her own computer. That evening at 7:52 p.m., with no one clicking anything, it finished on its own. After that, it ran successfully seven nights in a row.
**Claude's "brain" is always in the cloud, and it only does the thinking. Which computer its "working hands" are on decides whether it can reach your things.** There are only three places AI can work at a set time:
| Where it works | Example | Can it reach files on your computer when you're not there? | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| A computer on Claude's side (the cloud) | A scheduled task with no local folder chosen | No, only cloud files you've connected | Runs even when your computer is off; your files have to be stored with someone else |
| Your computer, called by the desktop app | The Lesson 4 way | Yes | Computer on, desktop app open, not asleep |
| Your computer, called by the system alarm clock | Shufen's final way | Yes | Computer on; desktop app doesn't need to be open |
**Think about your review employee, and write down three sentences:**
1. Where are the things it needs to read? (a file on my computer / a Google Sheet / somewhere else)
2. Every Friday at the set time, is that computer on?
3. If that computer is off or asleep, what happens?
**Principle one: when you're not there, can it reach what it needs? First get clear on which computer it works on.** A classmate asked, "Can I turn the computer off?" The answer: if it works on your computer, the computer can't be off. When Bill went to France for two weeks without his computer, it all ran on the one at home that stays on.
<!-- page: A small log, and one review together -->
**A review needs material.** Shufen's review employee reads the time records, spending, income, and calendar in her Google Sheets. We'll start with the simplest thing: a text file, one line a day.
In **Documents**, make a new folder called **My Small Business**. Open the **Code** tab in the desktop app, and just like Lesson 4, choose **Local**, choose the **My Small Business** folder, set the permission to **Accept edits**, and say:
```
Please create a "business-log.txt" in this folder for me, one line a day, in this format:
date · how much time · what I did · who asked about or used my things · income · spending · one sentence on how I felt
First, following what I tell you, fill in a few lines for this week: [in plain words, what you did this week].
```
Once it's set up, **spend one minute a day adding a line**. If you can't remember, write "not recorded." Don't make it up.
**Then walk it through one review:**
```
Please read the last 7 days in "business-log.txt" and write a "weekly-review-today's date", saved in this folder:
1. This week's numbers: total time spent, how many things I did, how many people asked about or used my things, and how much income and spending;
2. What worked: which thing got a response from people;
3. Where I got stuck: which thing took time but got no result;
4. Three things for next week: for each, say what to do and how long it takes.
Numbers can only come from the log. If you can't work one out, write "not recorded". Do not make things up, do not estimate, do not promise results.
Before you start, tell me how you plan to do it.
```
Open the review it wrote and look at "Three things for next week": do you agree with them? If not, change them, until you're willing to actually do them. Then, just like Lesson 4, have it write this way of working into the folder's **CLAUDE.md**: when I say "Start Friday review," or when a scheduled task calls it, write one like this.
<!-- page: Principle two: every "wait for a person to confirm" is a breakpoint -->
**Shufen's second big trap: it kept stopping to wait for her to confirm.** She said, "It's only automation if no person has to approve it." At the set time nobody is sitting there, so when it stops, that week's run is wasted.
**First, put it on a schedule.** Follow page three of Lesson 4 to create a new scheduled task: **Name** `weekly-business-review`; in the box write "Start Friday review: follow the rules in CLAUDE.md in this folder, and save the result as a new file when done"; turn on **Only on this computer**; for **Local folder** choose **My Small Business**; for **Weekly** choose a Friday morning time when the computer is on; permission **Accept edits**; click **Create**.
**Then click Run now, sit next to it and watch it run once, and write down every place it stops to ask you something.** For each one, pick one of three:
1. **Things it should do by itself** (reading the log, creating the review file): choose **Always allow**, and it won't ask next time.
2. **Things it's unsure about** (a day with nothing recorded, a number that doesn't add up): add a line to CLAUDE.md: "When running on your own, don't stop to ask me. Put anything you're unsure about under 'Needs my decision' at the end of the review."
3. **Things that can't be taken back** (sending email, posting, paying money, deleting files): **leave these on purpose. Don't let it do them automatically.** It only writes the first draft. Before anything goes out, you check it.
Click Run now again, until it runs from start to finish without stopping and the review gets written.
**Principle two: every "wait for a person to confirm" is a breakpoint.** Remove the ones you can. Keep the one right before anything goes out.
<!-- page: Principle three: it saying "done" doesn't count; open it yourself -->
**Shufen's fifth small trap, and the most dangerous one:** once it said it was finished, but no result came out. Another time it said it failed, but the result had actually been written. She said: "What the system tells you happened isn't always what really happened. A person still has to go check and decide."
**After it first runs on its own on schedule, do these four things (second sitting, about 15 minutes):**
1. **Open the My Small Business folder** and see if there's a "weekly review" with today's date. Look at the file, not just what it says.
2. **Open it** and check that all four parts are there.
3. **Pick two numbers and check them against business-log.txt**: for example, "how much time," add it up yourself. If it doesn't match, tell it, and have it spell out how to calculate it in CLAUDE.md.
4. **On the Scheduled page, click this task** and look at **History** (the run record): did it run, or was it skipped? For a skipped run, hover your mouse over it to see why, for example the computer was asleep.
Shufen ran into a few more small traps, and you might too: when your login expired, it couldn't run; files are saved by date, and she looked at the wrong date and thought it hadn't run. So every time, **open it and look yourself**.
Then keep a run record for two weeks, one line a week:
| Date | Did it run on its own? | Is the file there? | Do the two numbers match? | What I changed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | |
**Principle three: it saying "done" doesn't count. Open it and look yourself.** Once the file is there, you still have to read what's in it.
**AI does the work, a person checks it.** At first it's slow, because it's new to you. Shufen says if she doesn't use it for two days, she forgets. Once you know it well, it's your most capable helper.
**Optional, if you want it to run even with the desktop app closed:** This is the way Shufen used in the end: use your computer's own alarm clock (Windows calls it "Task Scheduler," Mac calls it launchd) to wake up Claude Code. There are more steps, so you can have Claude walk you through them one at a time:
```
I'm a beginner and I can't write code. I want the Friday review in my "My Small Business" folder to run automatically every Friday morning at [what time] using my computer's built-in scheduler, even when the desktop app isn't open. My computer is [Windows / Mac].
Please teach me step by step, giving me only one step at a time. Sign in with my own Claude account. Don't ask me to paste any key or password into the chat. When it runs automatically, it must not stop to wait for my confirmation. If the computer was off and missed a run, run it once after it starts up. Once it's set up, do a test run right away, and walk me through opening the result to look.
```
**In this lesson you build one more digital employee: it writes your small business review by itself every Friday.** It works the same way as Lesson 4, and this lesson adds three principles. They all come from where Shufen got stuck during her two weeks. First, hear it from her (in Chinese), from 3:17 to 5:39: https://youtu.be/vYKcR2JYFvc?t=197
This lesson has two sittings. **The first** (about 40 minutes): think it through, set up a log, and put it on a schedule. **The second**, after it has run on its own for the first time (about 15 minutes): open it, look, and check the numbers. What you need is the same as Lesson 4: Claude Pro + the Code tab and scheduled tasks in the desktop app.
**Where Shufen got stuck.** She started on October 6, and at first she had the scheduled task run on Claude's side. But her journal and notes were on her own computer, and Claude's side couldn't reach them. And every time, she still had to keep the desktop app open and click "Allow" on the spot. She ran it for several days, and no results came out. On October 12 she changed her approach: she had her computer's alarm clock, the Windows "Task Scheduler," wake up Claude Code at the set time, so it read files and wrote drafts right on her own computer. That evening at 7:52 p.m., with no one clicking anything, it finished on its own. After that, it ran successfully seven nights in a row.
**Claude's "brain" is always in the cloud, and it only does the thinking. Which computer its "working hands" are on decides whether it can reach your things.** There are only three places AI can work at a set time:
| Where it works | Example | Can it reach files on your computer when you're not there? | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| A computer on Claude's side (the cloud) | A scheduled task with no local folder chosen | No, only cloud files you've connected | Runs even when your computer is off; your files have to be stored with someone else |
| Your computer, called by the desktop app | The Lesson 4 way | Yes | Computer on, desktop app open, not asleep |
| Your computer, called by the system alarm clock | Shufen's final way | Yes | Computer on; desktop app doesn't need to be open |
**Think about your review employee, and write down three sentences:**
1. Where are the things it needs to read? (a file on my computer / a Google Sheet / somewhere else)
2. Every Friday at the set time, is that computer on?
3. If that computer is off or asleep, what happens?
**Principle one: when you're not there, can it reach what it needs? First get clear on which computer it works on.** A classmate asked, "Can I turn the computer off?" The answer: if it works on your computer, the computer can't be off. When Bill went to France for two weeks without his computer, it all ran on the one at home that stays on.
<!-- page: A small log, and one review together -->
**A review needs material.** Shufen's review employee reads the time records, spending, income, and calendar in her Google Sheets. We'll start with the simplest thing: a text file, one line a day.
In **Documents**, make a new folder called **My Small Business**. Open the **Code** tab in the desktop app, and just like Lesson 4, choose **Local**, choose the **My Small Business** folder, set the permission to **Accept edits**, and say:
```
Please create a "business-log.txt" in this folder for me, one line a day, in this format:
date · how much time · what I did · who asked about or used my things · income · spending · one sentence on how I felt
First, following what I tell you, fill in a few lines for this week: [in plain words, what you did this week].
```
Once it's set up, **spend one minute a day adding a line**. If you can't remember, write "not recorded." Don't make it up.
**Then walk it through one review:**
```
Please read the last 7 days in "business-log.txt" and write a "weekly-review-today's date", saved in this folder:
1. This week's numbers: total time spent, how many things I did, how many people asked about or used my things, and how much income and spending;
2. What worked: which thing got a response from people;
3. Where I got stuck: which thing took time but got no result;
4. Three things for next week: for each, say what to do and how long it takes.
Numbers can only come from the log. If you can't work one out, write "not recorded". Do not make things up, do not estimate, do not promise results.
Before you start, tell me how you plan to do it.
```
Open the review it wrote and look at "Three things for next week": do you agree with them? If not, change them, until you're willing to actually do them. Then, just like Lesson 4, have it write this way of working into the folder's **CLAUDE.md**: when I say "Start Friday review," or when a scheduled task calls it, write one like this.
<!-- page: Principle two: every "wait for a person to confirm" is a breakpoint -->
**Shufen's second big trap: it kept stopping to wait for her to confirm.** She said, "It's only automation if no person has to approve it." At the set time nobody is sitting there, so when it stops, that week's run is wasted.
**First, put it on a schedule.** Follow page three of Lesson 4 to create a new scheduled task: **Name** `weekly-business-review`; in the box write "Start Friday review: follow the rules in CLAUDE.md in this folder, and save the result as a new file when done"; turn on **Only on this computer**; for **Local folder** choose **My Small Business**; for **Weekly** choose a Friday morning time when the computer is on; permission **Accept edits**; click **Create**.
**Then click Run now, sit next to it and watch it run once, and write down every place it stops to ask you something.** For each one, pick one of three:
1. **Things it should do by itself** (reading the log, creating the review file): choose **Always allow**, and it won't ask next time.
2. **Things it's unsure about** (a day with nothing recorded, a number that doesn't add up): add a line to CLAUDE.md: "When running on your own, don't stop to ask me. Put anything you're unsure about under 'Needs my decision' at the end of the review."
3. **Things that can't be taken back** (sending email, posting, paying money, deleting files): **leave these on purpose. Don't let it do them automatically.** It only writes the first draft. Before anything goes out, you check it.
Click Run now again, until it runs from start to finish without stopping and the review gets written.
**Principle two: every "wait for a person to confirm" is a breakpoint.** Remove the ones you can. Keep the one right before anything goes out.
<!-- page: Principle three: it saying "done" doesn't count; open it yourself -->
**Shufen's fifth small trap, and the most dangerous one:** once it said it was finished, but no result came out. Another time it said it failed, but the result had actually been written. She said: "What the system tells you happened isn't always what really happened. A person still has to go check and decide."
**After it first runs on its own on schedule, do these four things (second sitting, about 15 minutes):**
1. **Open the My Small Business folder** and see if there's a "weekly review" with today's date. Look at the file, not just what it says.
2. **Open it** and check that all four parts are there.
3. **Pick two numbers and check them against business-log.txt**: for example, "how much time," add it up yourself. If it doesn't match, tell it, and have it spell out how to calculate it in CLAUDE.md.
4. **On the Scheduled page, click this task** and look at **History** (the run record): did it run, or was it skipped? For a skipped run, hover your mouse over it to see why, for example the computer was asleep.
Shufen ran into a few more small traps, and you might too: when your login expired, it couldn't run; files are saved by date, and she looked at the wrong date and thought it hadn't run. So every time, **open it and look yourself**.
Then keep a run record for two weeks, one line a week:
| Date | Did it run on its own? | Is the file there? | Do the two numbers match? | What I changed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | |
**Principle three: it saying "done" doesn't count. Open it and look yourself.** Once the file is there, you still have to read what's in it.
**AI does the work, a person checks it.** At first it's slow, because it's new to you. Shufen says if she doesn't use it for two days, she forgets. Once you know it well, it's your most capable helper.
**Optional, if you want it to run even with the desktop app closed:** This is the way Shufen used in the end: use your computer's own alarm clock (Windows calls it "Task Scheduler," Mac calls it launchd) to wake up Claude Code. There are more steps, so you can have Claude walk you through them one at a time:
```
I'm a beginner and I can't write code. I want the Friday review in my "My Small Business" folder to run automatically every Friday morning at [what time] using my computer's built-in scheduler, even when the desktop app isn't open. My computer is [Windows / Mac].
Please teach me step by step, giving me only one step at a time. Sign in with my own Claude account. Don't ask me to paste any key or password into the chat. When it runs automatically, it must not stop to wait for my confirmation. If the computer was off and missed a run, run it once after it starts up. Once it's set up, do a test run right away, and walk me through opening the result to look.
```