How I built my AI chief of staff on Claude
An AI chief of staff is a folder on your laptop that Claude Code reads before every task: your mail, calendar, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and files, plus written rules for what it may do alone. Mine has run my business from one folder on my Mac since 22 July 2026 and logged 1,629 jobs by 25 October.
Elena
I call it Elena. Its job is the one a human chief of staff does: know who's waiting on me, what's due and what we agreed with someone in May, and have the reply drafted before I open the thread.
Every job gets written down the day it's done, which is how I can count them. 1,629 between 22 July and 25 October 2026.
It reads six inboxes. 11,542 mails, 3,082 LinkedIn conversations, 988 WhatsApp chats and 94 Telegram chats run through one queue, each person matched across the channels they use. Three runs a day, at 07:30, 13:00 and 18:00, sort what came in and draft the replies that have a pattern.
Every reply waits for my press… except a few narrow cases I switched on myself, each with its own off switch.
One day
| Time | What it did |
|---|---|
| 07:30 | Read all six inboxes, sorted them, drafted the replies that have a pattern |
| 08:00 | My day on one page: who's waiting on me, what's due, today's meetings with their history |
| 09:45 | Before a call: everything this person and I ever said, on one page |
| 11:00 | After the call: the notes became todos, a recap and a follow-up draft |
| 13:00 | Second pass on the inbox. The urgent ones went to the top |
| 15:00 | "What did we agree with them in May?" Found across mail, chats and files |
| 16:30 | Follow-ups due today, drafted in my words |
| 18:00 | Last pass. Tomorrow's page ready, the day's files indexed |
07:30, 13:00 and 18:00 are the scheduled runs. Everything between them is me asking, or reading what a run left on the page.
Parts
- The folder. One folder on my Mac with the state files, the todos and a changelog of every job. Each Claude Code session begins with a fresh context window, so the folder is the memory and a session is disposable.
CLAUDE.md. The first file in the folder: who I am, how I write, where everything is and the ritual for every session. Claude reads it at the start of every session.- Protocols. One plain-text file per job: how to sort the inbox, how to prep a meeting, which mails never to touch. When a result is wrong I fix the protocol, and the next run reads the fix.
- Skills. A job I repeat, saved in
.claude/skills/and called by name, such as/brieffor the morning page. - Agents. Specialists for the inbox, meetings, calendar and admin, in
.claude/agents/. Each runs in its own context window with its own instructions. - Semantic search. An index on my laptop, built with Ollama and the bge-m3 model. A keyword search finds the word you typed… this finds the thread where you said it differently, in any of the languages I work in.
- Rules. Three lists: what it does silently, what it drafts and asks about, and what it never does.
Limits
In the course, every reply stays a draft until you press send. Three things go on the never list on day 7: payments, deleting data and accepting terms.
Gmail and Google Calendar connect through Claude's own connectors. You sign in with Google yourself, Claude asks for your approval before it sends by default, and nobody, me included, ever sees a password.
LinkedIn and WhatsApp are read only through routes that keep your account safe. LinkedIn's own data export includes your messages: you request it, drop the file in the folder and Claude Code reads it. LinkedIn bans software that scrapes or automates activity on its site, and members who use it risk having their accounts restricted or shut down.
On a Mac, the WhatsApp desktop app keeps a copy of the history your phone synced to it, and that copy is what gets read. On Windows you export the chats you want from your phone. WhatsApp says linking your account to unofficial apps breaks its terms and can get the account banned, so the course uses no bridges and no bots.
It doesn't run while the laptop sleeps. Scheduled tasks in the desktop app only fire while the app is open and the computer is awake. A missed run is skipped, and one catch-up run starts when it wakes.
Cost
- Claude Pro: $20 a month billed monthly, or $17 a month on the annual plan. Claude Code comes with it, as the Code tab in the desktop app.
- Claude Max: from $100 a month, if you live in it.
- Semantic search: €0. It runs on your laptop.
- Server: none. API key: none.
- The course: €29, once.
Build
Mine took three months of daily use… and it isn't finished. I didn't design it upfront. It grew one job at a time, and most rules in the folder carry the date I added them.
Anthropic publishes its own chief of staff agent in the Claude Cookbook: a Python notebook on the Claude Agent SDK that builds one for a 50-person startup. If you write code, it's a good place to start. If you don't, the course is the other route: the Claude desktop app, one folder and prompts you paste, with your Claude typing every command and saying what it does first.
The 7 days rebuild the same structure for one person.
- Day 0 · Install. Claude, one folder, one paste.
- Day 1 · The job. The work that repeats every day and costs you most.
- Day 2 · The folder. Your
CLAUDE.md, written from your answers. - Day 3 · Mail and calendar. Connected, read, sorted.
- Day 4 · LinkedIn, WhatsApp, files. Every person on every channel, in one list.
- Day 5 · Memory. Semantic search over everything you have.
- Day 6 · The first job. Running on your real data, with your morning page.
- Day 7 · Rules and rhythm. What it may do alone. Three runs a day.
- Bonus · The team. Inbox, meetings, calendar and admin agents.
Each day is one video, one prompt, one file and one question. You answer the question, and your Claude writes your setup from it.
Questions
Do I need to code?
No. You answer questions and paste prompts. Your Claude types every command and tells you what it does first. Claude Code is the Code tab in the Claude desktop app, on Mac and Windows.
Which Claude plan do I need?
Pro, at $20 a month, is enough to start and includes Claude Code. The free plan doesn't. Max starts at $100 a month if you use it all day.
Does it run when my laptop is closed?
No. The three daily runs need the Claude app open and the computer awake. A run it sleeps through is skipped, and one catch-up run starts when the computer wakes.
Can it read my WhatsApp and LinkedIn?
Yes, without automating either account. LinkedIn comes from LinkedIn's own data export, which includes your messages. WhatsApp comes from the desktop app's history on a Mac, or from chats you export from your phone on Windows.
Do you see my data?
No. Your answers, mail and files stay in your folder and your Claude. I never see them.
The course rebuilds this on your laptop in 7 days, for €29.