Some thoughts after messing around with Claude and Claude Code over the last six months and trying to build out a system of tools.
The tiers
Every capability in the system sits at one of these levels:
- Work is the starting point. Claude and I are thinking together in real-time. It’s high-interaction: back and forth, judgment calls, improvisation. This is where new things get figured out.
- Skill is a repeatable workflow I’ve given a name. I invoke it, Claude runs it, I review the output. Less talking, more executing. The structure is defined; I’m just pressing go.
- Agent is delegated work. I hand off a goal and Claude handles it — either in a session or on a schedule — without needing to loop me in for every decision. I’m out of the loop until it’s done.
- App is code running on its own. No Claude, no me. Fully autonomous, fully deterministic. Runs whether I’m paying attention or not.
How things move up
Promotion between tiers has signals, not schedules.
Work becomes a Skill when I’ve done the same interactive sequence three or more times. Repetition is the signal – if I keep showing up for the same conversation, it’s time to codify it.
A Skill becomes an Agent when I have enough confidence it can run without judgment calls from me. If I keep second-guessing the output, it’s not ready.
An Agent becomes an App when I know it well enough to codify it entirely – and the logic is algorithmic, not inferential. Some things never make it here, and that’s fine.
A few principles that matter
Skipping tiers is fine. A simple automation doesn’t need to pass through Work and Skill before becoming an App. The ladder describes maturity levels, not a required pipeline.
Some skills exist to spawn agent-tier work. /claude-do is an example of something I use – it’s a dispatcher, not a doer. The tiers describe the work unit, not the entry point.
Agents are not Apps. An agent uses Claude to reason; an app is deterministic code. A scheduled Claude agent running on a cron is still agent-tier – scheduling doesn’t change what’s doing the work.
Apps are peers, not rankings – different complexity, different frequency of use, same tier. An app used once a year is still an app.
The real goal
Ultimately, each time something moves up a tier, The system handles more. What’s left is the work that actually needs me.
CM 