Most days I run Claude Code at one speed. A steady jog: one task, then the next.
Last month I started using its gears more. It can sprint. It can run a marathon. And there’s a different tool for each.
For me that’s two features that levelled up my setup: /loop and workflows.
The marathon = /loop
/loop is my marathon mode. For when there’s a lot to get through, each step needs care, and I don’t want it done in one frantic burst.
It’s simple: a recurring prompt that lives in your session and runs until you close it. You hand it a job, it comes back to it again and again in a certain interval.
My favourite use is a backlog: a pile of things that each need a human glance. Say I’m drafting a batch of emails. The loop drafts the next, I review, I correct… and it gets a little better every time around. Like a short-living skill (read more about skills here).
That’s the magic: the process improves while it runs. I stay in control, I review, and I’m not babysitting an agent doing everything at once.
The main downside is that a loop dies with its session. Laptop should be on, session should be open. And if you don’t manage it, it slowly clogs its own context.
A marathon asks for a marathon’s commitment.
The sprint = workflows
Workflows are the opposite gear. Instead of one agent pacing itself, a workflow spawns a whole team that works in parallel.
For me that’s meant work coming back 10 to 20 times faster as all those agents running at once instead of in a line. That’s why it’s a sprint.
And it’s repeatable. Save it, run the same thing again next week. Huge, tedious, predictable work? Build the workflow once, press go whenever it returns.
The main downside is the flip side of the speed: workflows are token-heavy and spit out a mountain of output. Anything mass-produced is hard to check. Twenty agents, twenty results at once. Validating them becomes its own job.
So I reach for a workflow when the work is big, fast, and deterministic - something I can check against a checklist, not read line by line.
TL;DR
/loop (marathon) | Workflow (sprint) | |
|---|---|---|
Speed | Steady, one step at a time | Many agents at once, 10-20x faster |
Control | High - you review each pass | Lower - results arrive in bulk |
Lifespan | Lives and dies with the session | Quick burst. Save it, run it again next week |
Best for | A backlog you approve one by one | Big, deterministic heavy lifting |
/loop when you want to stay in the loop (pun intended). A workflow when you want it done before lunch.
An Idea For This Week
Try one of these gears.
Backlog you want to chew through carefully? Type /loop then your task.
Big, repeatable heavy lifting? Just say: Create me a workflow that does [your task]. Claude takes it from there.
You don’t have to know which is “correct.” Pick the one that matches your week, and let it run.
Most of the time you don’t need a smarter agent. You just need to know when to sprint and when to settle in for the long run.
Shipyard updates
Brim is finally out! And I’m in shock that the first users are already coming from Canada, Saudi Arabia, Madagascar!
I still can’t imagine someone in Madagascar opened a little app that I use to remind myself to drink water.
I feel blessed, and stupidly energised to go fix bugs and make it better. What an incredible world we get to build in.
What’s a marathon on your list this week - and what’s a sprint?
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