Seven stops from zero to a research operation that runs itself. Tell Claude your mission, connect the tools, plant the record, and let a scheduled agent tend it while you sleep.
Before you build anything, brief Claude on your operation. Everything after this gets tailored to it.
Open Claude Cowork and describe your world in your own words: what you run, what keeps slipping, what done looks like. This tour uses my research lab as the worked example, but the same line runs a clinic, a sales pipeline, or a case log.
Before we build anything, here's my mission. I run [describe your operation — for example: an academic research lab with a dozen trainees and fifteen manuscripts in flight]. The things that keep slipping are [deadlines, follow-ups, who's blocked on me]. I want one system where a single database holds the truth, my meetings and email feed it, and you keep it current on a schedule. Ask me up to five questions to sharpen this, then propose the database schema you'll build for me at the next stop.
Nothing moves until the agent can actually reach your tools.
In Cowork, open Connectors and link Notion, Gmail, and Granola if you use it. One-time plumbing; every stop after this assumes it's on.
List every connector you can currently see and use. I'm expecting Notion and Gmail at minimum. If either is missing, tell me exactly how to connect it.
A Notion database the model can read and write, and a human still enjoys opening.
Claude already proposed a schema shaped to your mission at Stop 1. If you want to start from mine, the prompt below builds the exact record I use for the lab. Trainees edit these rows by hand; the agent edits the same rows on a schedule.
In Notion, create a database called "Trainee Projects" with these properties: - Project (title) - Trainee (text) - Institution (select) - Pillar / Theme (select) - Status (select: Idea, Drafting, Under Review, Revise, Submitted) - Stage (select) - Owner (select: Me, Trainee, Shared) - Priority (select) - Last Contact (date) - Target (text) - Next Action (text) - Last Update (text) - Link (url) Adjust these fields to fit the mission I gave you earlier. Add 3 realistic example rows so I can see the shape, then send me the link.
The record is only as good as what flows into it, so make filing effortless.
Granola rides along on your meetings and transcribes them. Close each one by telling it to file the update into Notion — you can dictate the entry out loud on your way out the door.
Gmail: teach one two-second habit to everyone who emails you.
Stackable: [RESEARCH][DEADLINE] AAOS abstract
It keeps the record current while you sleep. It never owns the truth.
Create a weekly scheduled task in Cowork with the prompt below. The rule that makes it trustworthy: it writes the routine updates and flags what it's unsure about instead of guessing.
Every Thursday at 3:00am ET, run my research sync: 1. Read my Gmail from the last 14 days for subjects tagged [RESEARCH], [DEADLINE], or [MENTORSHIP]. 2. Read my Notion "Trainee Projects" database. 3. Reconcile them. Update Status, Next Action, and Last Update from the newest evidence in mail + notes. 4. Flag every project with no update logged in 21 days. 5. List any new inbound student / collaborator leads. Write routine updates back to Notion. Where you are NOT sure, do not guess — put it in a "Needs me" summary instead. Then refresh my dashboard and send me the summary.
A read-only mirror you check before a meeting, not another place to edit.
Ask Claude to render the surface from your record. Keep it read-only and stamped with its refresh date, so there's only ever one editable copy of the truth — and it lives in Notion.
From my Notion "Trainee Projects" database, build one self-contained HTML dashboard: - KPI tiles: total projects, no update logged, mine, idle >14 days, deadlines within 90 days - Project cards, filterable + groupable by trainee / theme / stage, each with a status pill and a days-idle counter - A conferences & grants deadline-countdown strip Make it a read-only mirror stamped with today's date. Save it as an artifact I can reopen, and refresh it on the weekly sync.
The system fetches and files. You prune once a week: merge, retire, correct, connect.
This build tour — narrated stations, copy-paste prompts, and the downloadable skill pack — is for Techy Surgeon members.