Claude Code Automation Skill

Claude Code Automation

Map of automation surfaces in Claude Code and which one to reach for. Internal-only — relies on what the user already has installed.

Decision matrix — which surface to use

| Need | Surface | Lives in | |---|---|---| | Run shell command on every tool event | Hook | settings.json hooks: | | Encapsulate domain knowledge + workflow | Skill | .claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md | | Deterministic multi-step flow the user invokes | Slash command | .claude/commands/<name>.md | | Isolated worker spawned from main agent | Sub-agent | .claude/agents/<name>.md | | Coordinated multi-agent pattern | Agent team | .claude/agent-teams/<name>.yaml | | External tool surface (APIs, CLIs) | MCP server | .mcp.json or settings.json mcpServers: | | Package the above for reuse | Plugin | plugins/<name>/.claude-plugin/plugin.json | | Runs on a cron | Scheduled task (Desktop) or Routine (CLI) | Desktop MCP scheduled-tasks / ~/.claude/routines/ | | Non-interactive CI run | Headless mode | claude -p "..." --output-format stream-json | | Programmatic embed | Agent SDK | @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk (TS) or claude-agent-sdk (Python) | | Structured cross-session chat | Channel | channels.json + channels-reference | | Rich in-CLI UI | Fullscreen mode | claude --fullscreen or TUI extensions |

Hooks — the three lifecycle events that matter most

PreToolUse — veto or mutate a tool call. {"decision":"block","reason":"..."} blocks.
PostToolUse — react to tool results (auto-format, audit logs).
Stop / SubagentStop — cleanup when work concludes.

{
  "hooks": {
    "PreToolUse": [{
      "matcher": {"tool_name": "Bash"},
      "command": "bash .claude/hooks/protect-sensitive-files.sh"
    }]
  }
}

Skills vs commands vs sub-agents

Skills are knowledge + procedure — auto-invoked by description match. Use for domain expertise.
Commands are deterministic invokable flows — user types /name. Use for repeatable operations.
Sub-agents are isolated workers — spawn for parallelism or to protect context window.

MCP — internal pattern

Prefer MCP tools over shell wrappers when available. Check tool surface first:

# From this session
mcp__harness__*           # Harness platform ops
mcp__kubernetes__*        # K8s resources
mcp__9c1c57f5_..._atlassian__*    # Jira + Confluence
mcp__384a610f_..._*       # M365: Outlook, SharePoint, Teams
mcp__MCP_DOCKER__azure_*  # Azure services
mcp__scheduled-tasks__*   # Desktop scheduled tasks

Plugins — what to bundle

A plugin is one coherent outcome: a marketplace item a user can install and get value from. Bundle:

.claude-plugin/plugin.json — metadata.
skills/ — auto-invoked knowledge.
commands/ — user-invoked flows.
agents/ — specialized workers.
hooks/ — lifecycle scripts.
rules/ — always-loaded instructions.
README.md — what it does + install.

Scheduled tasks (Desktop)

mcp__scheduled-tasks__create_scheduled_task
  name: "harness-daily-health"
  cron: "0 9 * * *"
  prompt: "Run /wa-pipeline status for all thelobbi pipelines and post to Slack"

Headless mode — CI pattern

claude -p "run /wa-report for work-unit-14" \
  --output-format stream-json \
  --allowed-tools "Read,Bash" \
  --max-turns 10

Use in Harness CI steps where Claude runs a specific flow without TTY.

Permissions — the four-mode model

| Mode | When | |---|---| | default | Interactive — user approves novel calls | | acceptEdits | File edits pre-approved, tools still ask | | plan | Read-only — for analysis | | bypassPermissions | CI / trusted automation only |

Set in settings.json permissions.mode or per-invocation --permission-mode.

Memory (`memory/` + `MEMORY.md`)

MEMORY.md is the always-loaded index. ≤150 chars per entry, one line.
Entries written to memory/<name>.md with frontmatter (type: user | feedback | project | reference).
Never write memory content into MEMORY.md directly.

Checkpointing

File checkpointing preserves state across sessions. Enable via settings.json "checkpointing": { "enabled": true }. Use for long-running analyses that must survive restarts.

Common automation recipes

Auto-format on edit — PostToolUse hook on Edit/Write + per-language formatter.
Protect secrets — PreToolUse hook on Bash matching .env|*.pem|*.pfx|*.key patterns.
CI gatekeeper — headless Claude + --allowed-tools whitelist + stream-json output parsed by pipeline.
Daily report — scheduled task runs /wa-report + posts to Slack/Teams via MCP.
Work-unit close — SubagentStop hook emits audit event + triggers report generation.

skills/harness-automation — CI/CD side.
skills/work-unit-protocol — the reporting contract this automates toward.
rules/ultra-mode.md — constraints every automation respects.

Agent Skills: Claude Code Automation

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files