Rail parts business run on AI
How I run a family rail and industrial parts business with about a dozen AI routines. Hiring, sales, suppliers and the daily status page all run on scheduled Claude tasks that draft the work while I send it.
- Why
- I came from data science and walked into an industry that still runs on calls and PDF drawings. I needed to learn it fast and run every part of the business every day without a big team. The routines turned a pile of threads into one morning list.
- How long
- Built up over about seven weeks, late August to October 2026
How I built it
- I wrote one page mapping the business: five workstreams (hiring, sales, supply, operations, knowledge and brand), who owns each, and where every file lives.
- I connected Claude to Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive and Otter, and installed Claude in Chrome for LinkedIn and Google Sheets, since those need my login.
- For each recurring job I wrote the instructions as a plain note, then created a scheduled task in Claude Code whose prompt only says: read the note and follow it.
- Every tracker is a Google Sheet, one row per person or deal, with stage, last contacted and next step columns. The runs read the sheet and write back to it.
- I set the send rules once: email is always a draft, LinkedIn connection requests can go out on their own, calendar invites go out once both sides agree.
- To copy it you need
- Claude, or the AI of your choice, plus Claude Code for scheduled tasks, connectors to your email, calendar and Drive, and Claude in Chrome for sites that need a login. The gotcha: your tracker under-reports. Make every run check the real email thread before it trusts the sheet.
Try it yourself
Copy this prompt and paste it into ChatGPT or Claude to try it yourself.
I'm looking at Shweta Kamble's desktop on whatarewebuilding.ai. Shweta runs a family rail parts business on about a dozen scheduled Claude tasks: each task's prompt only says 'read this note and follow it', the trackers are Google Sheets, and email is always a draft. Help me set up the first one for my own business. Ask me which job eats the most of my week, then write its instructions as a plain note with the steps, the sheet it reads, and what it may and may not send. The gotcha Shweta hit: the tracker said 'not started' for people already emailed three times, so tell the run to check the real email thread before trusting the sheet. Start with one routine, not ten. Ask me for anything you need.
Tools I used for this project
Claude Code: Runs every scheduled task on my Mac, each one a pointer to instructions in my notes.
Claude in Chrome: Does the LinkedIn and Google Sheets work, since those need my login.
Gmail: Every email the runs write lands here as a draft. I send.
Google Drive: Every plan, tracker and brief lives here first, so I can share it.
Google Calendar: Runs read my meetings and send invites once both sides agree.
Otter: Records my calls so the runs can read what was actually said.
Obsidian: Holds the instructions and the lessons every run reads first.
