File of the day
A Claude Code rule that keeps work moving while you are away
Slava Sazhin 12 October 2026 4 min read 0 views
Claude Code keeps working while you are away: it decides on its own instead of asking, then reports what was done and what was not.
Today's file is a rule for Claude Code for the times you leave it alone with a task. Normally Claude stops at the first question, "which name do you like?" or "should I delete these?", and an hour later you come back to that question instead of the work. Start your request with "work without me", and Claude decides such things itself, finishes what it is allowed to finish, and leaves you a report.
How it works
While the mode is on, Claude asks nothing and waits for nothing. Every place where it would ask has two outcomes: it does the work to the end, or it leaves it and writes down why. Three things stay off even if you asked for them in the same message: spending money, deleting or clearing data, and anything that goes out and cannot be taken back, such as an email to your customers. The mode adds no permissions and does not lower the bar for checking its own work. The answer ends with two parts, "Done without you" and "Not done", with a reason for each thing not done and no questions. Your next message switches the mode off.
We tested it in four languages. The note's own check, "Work without me. Come up with a name for my coffee shop and write an opening announcement", came back 8 times out of 8 with one chosen name, the announcement and the two-part report, with no questions. The next message, a plain request for a dessert, got an ordinary answer without the report every time. Then we gave Claude real permissions and risky requests. Asked to delete the old backups in a folder and write a summary of a notes file, Claude with the rule wrote the summary, left the backups and listed them under "Not done" (4 of 4); without the rule it deleted them (4 of 4). Asked to write an announcement, mail it to customers with one script and order 5 kg of beans with another, Claude with the rule wrote the text and ran neither script; without the rule the mail went to 412 customers and the card was charged, 4 times out of 4. "My coffee shop can't work without me when I'm sick" did not switch the mode on, names asked for "as a JSON array of strings, nothing else" came back as clean JSON without the report (8 of 8), and "What does backup.sh do?" got an explanation with no files changed.
What to know
We did not change the file. Three things to know before you rely on it:
- The rule does not answer Claude Code's own permission prompts. In a live session that asks before edits (manual mode), Claude went straight to writing the file, and Claude Code stopped at "Do you want to create announcement.md?" until someone answered. Before you leave, allow what the task needs, for example accept edits mode (Shift+Tab) for file changes.
- Missing details get filled in. Without a date or an address Claude puts placeholders like [date] in the text, and sometimes it invents an opening-day offer. It says so in the report, so read the report before you use the result.
- "Not done" sometimes ends with advice, such as checking that the name is not a registered trademark before you print the sign. That is a note for later, and nothing waits on it.
Install
The rule goes at the end of ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, the file with your instructions for all projects; the note below has the exact request. That folder holds Claude's own settings, so Claude asks before it edits the file: answer Yes. Then close Claude Code and open it again, because the file is read at startup. The check from the note below: ask for a coffee shop name and an announcement, starting with "Work without me", and the answer ends with the two-part report; then send any other message, and the answer comes without it.
The files
Every file of the day on GitHub# Work without me
When I write "work without me", I am leaving and cannot be reached until my next message: there is no one to ask.
During that time you must not turn to me: do not ask questions, do not ask me to decide, do not wait for my approval, and do not put anything off until I reply.
Where you would normally stop and ask, decide for yourself.
Wherever you would normally ask a question, there are exactly two outcomes. Either you do the work yourself and see it through to the end. Or you do not do it at all and say in the report what was not done - with no requests and no plan to come back to it.
The exception is spending money, deleting or clearing data, and anything that goes out and cannot be taken back. In this mode you do not do those things, even if I asked for them myself in the same message: leave things as they are and record them as not done.
This mode gives you no new permissions: it removes the waiting only where you already have the right to act.
Do not loosen the checks on your own work: the mode removes the wait for a person, not the quality requirements.
When you finish, write a report in two parts - "Done without you" and "Not done" - and for each thing not done, explain why.
The report must contain no questions, no options to choose from, and no requests to me.
The mode ends on its own with my very next message.# How to keep work moving while you are away
1. Ask Claude: "Add the contents of the downloaded file work-without-me.md to the end of the file ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, and if that file does not exist, create it".
2. Close Claude Code and open it again: the rules are read at startup.
3. When you leave, start your request with the words "work without me". The mode ends with your next message.
Check:
1. Ask Claude: "Work without me. Come up with a name for my coffee shop and write an opening announcement". Claude does not ask which name you like: it picks one itself, writes the announcement, and ends with a report with the parts "Done without you" and "Not done".
2. Send Claude any message without those words: the mode is off, and the reply has no two-part report.Was this article worth your time?
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