Disclaimer: This article was AI generated from my YouTube video transcript.
In 2026, having an AI chatbot in your business isn’t a competitive advantage anymore - it’s the bare minimum. The real value is what you build around the model: the context that lets it actually execute tasks like a real employee. I run my business fully through Claude because of the structure I’ve built around it. Claude knows my business, my clients, my CRM. It drafts proposals, raises invoices in Xero, and manages my inbox. Below is exactly how to move from AI-as-chatbot to AI-as-24/7-agent inside your own business.
What You Need to Get Started
- A Claude licence - the Pro plan starts at around USD 17/month.
- Git installed on your machine - version control so your files sync between devices.
- Fork - a free Git GUI that makes staging, committing and pushing changes painless.
- VS Code - an IDE where you can view files and run Claude Code inside your project.
- A free GitHub account - cloud storage for all your business context. Keep every repo private.
Step 1: Create a Private Repo for Your Business
Log in to GitHub and create a new repository. For the walkthrough I called mine John’s Plumbing. Make sure Private is ticked before you hit create. Think of this repo as a folder that holds everything Claude needs to know about your business.
Copy the repo URL, open Fork, press Ctrl + N, paste the URL and click Clone. That pulls a local copy onto your device. From Fork’s top right, click Open in and choose Visual Studio Code.
Step 2: Install Claude Code in VS Code
Inside VS Code, open the Extensions tab on the left and search for Claude. Install Claude Code for VS Code. Once installed, click the Claude icon in the top right and log in. You’re now running Claude directly inside your project folder - same Claude as the web app, but with full access to the files in your repo.
Step 3: Let Claude Build Your Context Structure
With nothing in the repo yet, ask Claude Code to set up a folder structure for organising your business information. Approve the command when prompted. You’ll end up with something like:
CLAUDE.md- the overall system instructions Claude reads every time.docs/- subfolders for business info, clients, communications, integrations, marketing and sales.skills/- your automated workflows (created as you go).
You can tweak this structure to match your business - the point is that every piece of information has a home Claude can find.
Step 4: Feed In Your Business Documents
Now the fun part: filling Claude’s “brain” with your actual business. For John’s Plumbing I dropped in a marketing brief, a business overview, a sales funnel doc, and an invoice template. Each file went into the matching folder.
To test it, I asked Claude: “Create an invoice using the sales template for Jim Jones, 8 hours of work, $120 per hour, invoice 01, use placeholders for the rest.” About 10 seconds later it had run a Python script against the template and produced a fully populated invoice ready to send.
Step 5: Turn Repeatable Tasks Into Skills
You don’t want to describe the invoice process every single time. That’s where skills come in. A skill is a saved set of instructions Claude follows whenever the trigger fits. Ask Claude to turn the work it just did into a skill and it’ll write a skill.md inside skills/, often with a helper Python script alongside.
Open skill.md and you’ll see the when-to-use rules, the inputs, and the steps. Edit it over time to improve accuracy. Any process you repeat in your business - proposals, onboarding emails, meeting prep, social posts - is a candidate to become a skill.
Step 6: Commit and Push So Everything Stays Safe
Files show up green in VS Code until they’re pushed. Green means “only on this device”. Open Fork, stage the changes, write a short message like “Added structure and invoice skills”, then click Commit and Push.
Why bother? Two reasons:
- Multi-device access - clone the same repo on another machine and you’re instantly up to date.
- Safety net - if a skill goes rogue or something gets deleted, you can roll back to any previous commit.
Make committing and pushing a habit after every meaningful change.
Step 7: Connect the Software You Actually Use
Context is powerful, but the real magic starts when Claude can reach into the tools you run your business on. Open the Claude desktop or browser app, go to Customize › Connectors, then Add › Browse Connectors. You’ll see options for Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Notion, Canva, GitHub, Xero, HubSpot and plenty more.
The most universal one is email. Every business owner drowns in inbound - leads, clients, staff, suppliers. Connect Gmail or Outlook, restart Claude and VS Code, and you can ask things like “Pull my latest lead email about a hot water cylinder leak and draft a reply in Gmail using my email response skill.” A minute later the draft is sitting in your inbox, written in your voice, ready to send.
Pair that with the Google Calendar connector and Claude can also propose actual available times - no more back-and-forth over meeting slots.
Step 8: Chain Skills and Integrations Into Real Workflows
This is where a 24/7 agent starts to earn its keep. In my own setup:
- Every client meeting is transcribed automatically.
- Email threads with that client are accessible via the Gmail connector.
- I leave voice notes against each client as context builds up.
- When it’s time to write a proposal, Claude reads the transcripts, emails and notes, runs my proposal skill and drafts a version that’s usually 99% right on the first try.
- Once the client approves, Claude raises the invoice directly in Xero.
None of that requires custom code - just good context, a few skills, and the right connectors stacked together.
A Note on Models: You’re Not Locked Into Claude
Because your business context lives in plain files inside a repo, you can point different models at it. Tools like Ollama let you run open-source models locally on a powerful enough machine - zero API or subscription costs. Staff can clone the (appropriate) repo and use it on their own devices, or you can maintain different versions for different teams.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. The setup is deliberately custom - your business information, your software, your workflows. If you want to stop playing with AI chatbots and start getting real wins from agents, reach out through the link in the video description. I’ve helped over 25 NZ and Australian businesses do exactly this.
