What is Claude Code?#
Claude Code is an AI tool by Anthropic that works as your digital assistant in the terminal or desktop application. It reads your files, drafts emails and documents, manages tasks in tools like ClickUp, and automates repetitive workflows. Unlike simple chatbots, Claude Code actually carries out actions in your applications - it doesn't just reply.
In this blog I open up my daily setup. Ai Solucija is a one-person agency - me. Claude Code does everything else.
Why I wrote this post#
Every week someone asks me: "How can one person run an entire agency?" The answer is Claude Code. But "Claude Code" is an abstract term - a lot of people think it is a smarter ChatGPT.
It isn't. Claude Code is more like an invisible assistant that sits inside my computer, knows all my processes and carries out tasks instead of me. When I work, I talk to it like a colleague. The difference is that my colleague works 24/7 and doesn't need holiday.
Below is a real overview - tools, workflows, what it does, what it does NOT do, and how much it costs me.
My basic setup#
Everything rests on the following building blocks:
| Component | Role | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code (Max 5x) | Primary AI assistant | 95 EUR/month |
| ClickUp | Project management + source of truth | 12 EUR/month |
| Google Workspace | Email, Drive, Sheets, Docs, Calendar | 7 EUR/month |
| Hostinger | Website + email domain | 4 EUR/month |
| Kie.ai | Image generation for social media | ~10 EUR/month |
| Blotato | Automated publishing on social media | 15 EUR/month |
| Trigger.dev | Cron job runner for daily automations | 0 EUR (free tier) |
Total: ~143 EUR per month. That is less than one hour of expert consulting. For that price I get infrastructure that, in a classic company, would require 2-3 employees.
What connects everything
Claude Code is the core. All other tools are plugged in via:
- MCP (Model Context Protocol) - Claude Code connects directly to ClickUp, Google Sheets, Playwright (for website testing), Jina AI (for web scraping) and Context7 (for documentation)
- CLI tools - Google Workspace CLI (
gws) for Drive, Gmail, Calendar, Sheets - Python scripts - for specific tasks, such as image generation or publishing on social media
When I tell Claude Code "create a new blog and publish it," it knows what that means. It takes over the steps I have taught it via instructions in the .claude/ folder.
A typical day: what Claude Code does instead of me#
Morning (08:00 - 09:00)
I open the laptop. Claude Code greets me with a summary:
- 3 emails are waiting for a reply (drafts already prepared)
- 2 ClickUp tasks were completed yesterday - goals updated
- Today's LinkedIn post was published at 08:00 (automatically via Trigger.dev)
- Analytics: the site had 47 visitors yesterday, 2 clicks on the contact form
These are data points that would take me 30-45 minutes to gather in a classic setup. Claude Code prepares them in 10 seconds.
Late morning (09:00 - 12:00)
I work on concrete things - coding, writing, advising clients. Claude Code follows along:
- If I am writing a blog post, it corrects it as I go and optimises it for SEO
- If I am coding, it completes the code and checks for errors
- If I have a meeting, it produces a summary from the Google Meet transcript and adds it to ClickUp
Afternoon (13:00 - 17:00)
When I have outreach or administrative work:
- Claude Code drafts cold emails for new clients
- Updates ClickUp tasks based on progress
- Generates weekly reports from Google Sheets
Evening (automatic, without me)
While I am not working, cron jobs run:
- 08:00 the next day: LinkedIn post
- 09:30: Twitter post
- 10:30: Facebook post
- Once per week: weekly summary into my Gmail inbox
Seven concrete workflows that run automatically#
1. Content pipeline (blog + social)
Input: "Create blog #9 on the topic of my Claude Code setup."
What Claude Code does:
- Writes a 2000-3000 word blog post in Slovenian (this post)
- Generates 4 LinkedIn + 4 Facebook + 4 Twitter posts from the blog
- Prepares prompts for 13 infographic images (1 blog header + 12 social)
- Generates images via the Kie.ai API
- Uploads images to Google Drive
- Adds 13 rows to the Google Sheet "Content Calendar"
- Creates 13 tasks in ClickUp with the correct custom fields
My time: 10 minutes of review. Before: 8-12 hours of manual work.
2. Cold email outreach
Input: A list of 20 companies in a Google Sheet.
What it does: Reads each company's website, finds the director's name, writes a personalised cold email, adds it to a sequence in the CRM, prepares a follow-up sequence.
My time: 15 minutes for approval. Before: 4-5 hours.
3. ClickUp task management
Input: "What is on the agenda today?"
What it does: Reads all my lists, filters by deadlines, suggests priority, updates statuses when I finish a task, and automatically moves completed items to "Done."
Before: I was opening and closing ClickUp 20 times a day.
4. Blog SEO optimisation
Input: A blog draft.
What it does: Adds the meta title and description, inserts definition blocks for AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity), generates JSON-LD schema, suggests internal links to other blog posts, prepares an FAQ section.
All in one step.
5. Google Sheet automation
Input: Update the Content Calendar, Goal Tracker or Client Pipeline.
What it does: Reads and writes directly into Google Sheets via the gws CLI, preserves formulas, fixes formatting, adds new rows in the correct format.
Before: open the Sheet, add manually, double-check.
6. Deploy to Hostinger (website)
Input: npm run deploy.
What it does: Generates a sitemap from the Google Sheet (blog posts), builds the Vite React app, checks correctness (type check, tests), FTP uploads dist/ to Hostinger.
My time: 30 seconds. Before: 15-20 minutes of manual work.
7. Weekly reports
Input: Automatic, every Friday at 17:00.
What it does: Collects data from ClickUp (completed tasks), Google Analytics (traffic), Google Sheet (content pipeline) and prepares a PDF, which it sends to my Gmail.
Without me. No more "oh, I forgot to prepare the report."
How much time and money I save#
A conservative estimate of my real numbers for the last 60 days:
| Task | Before (h/week) | With Claude Code (h/week) | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content pipeline | 10 | 1.5 | 8.5 h |
| Cold email | 8 | 2 | 6 h |
| ClickUp management | 4 | 0.5 | 3.5 h |
| Blog SEO | 3 | 0.5 | 2.5 h |
| Administration | 5 | 1 | 4 h |
| Reporting | 2 | 0 | 2 h |
| Total | 32 h/week | 5.5 h/week | 26.5 h/week |
26.5 hours per week = 106 hours per month.
If my hour is worth 50 EUR (a modest estimate for an AI consultant), that is 5,300 EUR of saved time per month. For 143 EUR of infrastructure cost.
ROI: 3,706 %.
Those are hours I can give to clients, to new business, or actually to a holiday. In a classic company, this would require 2-3 employees.
For a more detailed ROI analysis by plan, see the previous post How much Claude Code costs and whether it is worth it.
Where I do NOT use Claude Code#
Let me be honest: there are things for which I do not use AI.
1. Direct client contact
The first Zoom, the first call, the first meeting - that is me. Clients buy from a person, not from an AI assistant. Claude Code prepares me for the meeting (reads their website, prepares questions), but at the meeting it is ME.
2. Strategic decisions
"Should I launch a new service?" "Should I raise prices?" "Is this the right client?" - these are questions that require judgement, intuition and responsibility. Claude Code gives me the data, but I make the call.
3. Contracts and legal matters
I review every contract myself or with a lawyer. AI can draft something, but the legal implications are on me.
4. Creative work that interests me
Logo, brand, the company's core hypothesis - I did this myself. Claude Code is excellent at execution, but the vision has to come from a human.
5. Context that stays in my head
If I remember that a client mentioned a problem with their old IT team - Claude Code does not know that. I have to write such nuances down, otherwise they are lost.
What I learned in the first 6 months#
Lesson 1: AI without a system is chaos
For the first 2 months I used Claude Code but had no structure. Things got lost. Since I have the .claude/ folder with instructions, rules, skills and context, everything runs in order.
Lesson 2: Document processes for AI
I wasn't writing instructions for Claude Code - I was writing instructions for "anyone who would take over my work." If a write-up is good enough for a human, it is good enough for AI. The reverse also holds: good AI instructions are good human instructions.
Lesson 3: Trust, but verify
In the first month I trusted Claude Code blindly. It made a mistake twice - once it published a blog with the wrong date, once it sent an email to the wrong address. Since then, every output goes through a critical Review step where I have to confirm it.
Lesson 4: Most "AI mistakes" are my mistakes
When Claude Code made a "mistake," in 80% of cases it was due to my instructions. Unclear, ambiguous, incomplete. AI is good, but it is not telepathic. The more clearly I speak, the better the results.
Lesson 5: I save time on preparation, not on execution
People think AI speeds up writing. In my practice, the speed-up is in preparation - research, gathering data, structuring. Execution (writing, coding, communicating) is still 60-70% of my time.
What I recommend if you are starting out#
Step 1: Start with the Pro plan (19 EUR)
Do not buy Max 5x straight away. The Pro plan is enough for 2-4 hours of daily use. Once you see the potential, upgrade.
Step 2: Pick ONE process
Do not try to automate everything at once. Pick one repeating process - writing email replies, preparing weekly reports, publishing on LinkedIn - and start with that.
Step 3: Write your "rules"
In the .claude/rules/ folder, write down what you want. As if you were writing instructions for a new employee. I have rules for:
- Communication style (short, no corporate language)
- Memory (how to record things)
- Website (where the code is, how to deploy)
- ClickUp (which tasks go where)
Step 4: Expand gradually
Add one new thing each week. After 3 months you have solid automation. After 6 months you are running an agency on your own.
Step 5: Do not expect "set and forget"
Claude Code needs maintenance. Tweaking instructions, fixes, improvements. This is not a tool you set once and walk away from. But the same is true of every process - including human ones.
Frequently asked questions#
Do I need programming knowledge for this kind of setup?
The basics help (using the terminal, git, basics of Python), but you do not need to be a programmer. Many of my processes I set up by telling Claude Code in natural language - it wrote the code.
How much time do you need for the initial setup?
A basic setup (Claude Code + one process) takes 4-6 hours. A full setup like mine, around 40-60 hours spread over 2-3 months.
Is it safe to give Claude Code access to my data?
Claude Code runs locally on your computer. API calls go to Anthropic's servers. Anthropic has a clear "Privacy First" approach - your data is not used to train models unless you explicitly opt in. For sensitive data (clients, finance), take the Max or Enterprise plan with additional security features.
What if Claude Code does not work well?
In 90% of cases, the fix is better instructions. Review .claude/rules/ and add concrete examples of what you want. Claude Code learns from context files - the more detailed they are, the better the results.
Can I run a company with just Claude Code?
Yes, I do. But only for a certain type of business - one where most of the work is digital (writing, communication, analytics). For physical services or complex sales, you need a team.
How much does the whole infrastructure cost?
Mine costs 143 EUR per month (see the table above). The basics without extra tools come to 19 EUR (Pro plan only). Everything else is an add-on that I recommend as you grow.
Is this suitable for a company with 5-10 employees?
Yes, Claude Code Team Premium (95 EUR/person) is built for that. It includes centralised administration, shared projects and admin tooling.
How long does it run autonomously without my intervention?
With well-tuned processes, all day. I have cron jobs running between 08:00 and 18:00 and one review per day. At night and at weekends everything runs on its own.
Conclusion#
Claude Code is not magic. It is a tool that requires the right infrastructure, clear instructions and patience for the setup.
But once the setup is in place, it does the work of 2-3 employees. For 143 EUR per month. 24/7. No holiday, no sick leave, no drama.
I am not saying you do not need people. Sooner or later you will. But you can start on your own - with an AI assistant that works instead of you - and hire when you actually need a person, not when you just need someone to click through ClickUp.
This is the future of small companies. Not "AI replaces the human." Rather, "AI replaces time-consuming admin, the human does the work that requires judgement."
If you are thinking about a similar setup for your company, get in touch. Every month I take on 3 companies for a free pilot project - I set up Claude Code for one of your processes, you see the results, then you decide.
Tit Dolinsek is the founder of Ai Solucija, the only Claude Code specialist in Slovenia. He helps small and medium-sized companies put in place AI infrastructure that works instead of them. Contact: tit@aisolucija.com