For business owners who use Claude Code every single day.

Claude Mods
Do This First.

Mods are live, and most people get them wrong. They install someone else's. Do this first instead. Get Claude to read your own chats. Mine found four questions I ask every single day.

Inside

The prompt

Claude reads your chats and tells you which mods you need

Inside

My mods

Seven of my thirteen, running in my Claude Code

Inside

Build yours, safely

No code to write, and the traps to check first

claude-mods-audit.txt

Written 12 October 2026. Mods went live on 1 October and still change between releases.

What A Mod Is

What Claude Mods Are

Skills, hooks and MCP servers sit outside Claude Code. A mod sits inside, for the whole session.

Here's the quick version. Skills, hooks and MCP servers all sit outside Claude Code. Claude calls them when it needs them. A mod sits inside. It runs for the whole session. It sees everything as it happens. And it can change it.

Skills

Hooks

MCP

Claude Code

Mod

Outside tools get called, do one job and leave. A mod is there from the first message to the last.

On your screen

It can put something in front of you and keep it there.

Remembers

It can hold on to things while you work.

Stops and asks

It can stop Claude and check with you first.

Instant commands

It can add a command that runs straight away, with no waiting on the model.

Where a mod can show up. Tap one.

Above the prompt

A strip that sits just above where you type. It stays there and updates as you work.

Mine shows three next steps, and what is left before I close the chat.

Why should you care? Because you run a real business. And every day you lose minutes to the same small things.

What do I do next?What's left to do?Where's that file?Did that work?

A mod answers those before you ask.

This is not a side door. Anthropic now builds parts of Claude Code the same way. The diff view is a mod, and they have said more of their own features will move across.

The Prompt

Get Claude To Read Your Own Chats

One prompt. It finds what you keep asking, and it builds nothing.

I started with my own chat history. No guessing. I asked Claude to read my own messages and tell me what I keep doing by hand. Here's the prompt. Copy it as it is.

The Claude mods audit prompt

Read my last 20 sessions in each project. Only count the messages I typed. Skip tool results, system messages and anything run on a schedule.

Find three things:
→ Questions I keep asking you
→ Things I keep correcting
→ How I check your work

For each idea, give it a name, quote my exact words, and count how many messages and sessions it came up in. Say where it would show on screen and what it would show.

Rank the ideas by how much time they would save me. Say if something I already have covers it.

Ideas only. Build nothing.

How to run it

Open Claude Code in the folder you work from most.

Paste the prompt. It reads the messages you typed. Not Claude's answers. Yours.

Read the list it gives you. Pick one idea. Then ask Claude to build that one.

The three things it looks for

What I keep asking

What I keep correcting

How I check your work

For each idea it gives a name, quotes your exact words and counts how often it came up. Then it ranks them by how much time they would save you.

The last line matters most. Ideas only. Build nothing.

Because you pick. Then it builds. A count tells you a topic came up. It does not tell you why. You know why. So you pick.

The Audit

Four Questions I Ask Every Day

67 sessions. 440 messages. 5 projects. What came back surprised me.

I asked Claude to read my own messages. Not its answers. Mine.

sessions

440

messages

projects

Four rejections in 440.

What came back surprised me. I almost never reject what Claude does. Four times, in 440 messages. So I didn't need more guards.

Four questions kept coming up

What's next?

13 times

"Okay done. What's next?"

Answered now by next-steps

What's left?

19 times

"Aanything left to do?"

Answered now by loose-ends

Where's that handoff?

24 times

"Give me the updated handoff here"

Answered now by handoff-shelf

Did it work?

19 times

"I ran that - dod it work?"

Not built. I skipped this one.

It even quoted me back to myself, typos and all.

9 ideas

ranked, each backed by my own words

7 built

I picked. Then Claude built.

Your list will not look like mine. That's the point. Run the prompt and see what you keep asking.

Enjoying the guide?

Enter your details to unlock the remaining insights. We'll also send you the complete guide as a reference.

Mine, Running

Thirteen Mods. All Mine.

Seven of them, one card each. Every one is a Claude Code plugin I had Claude build.

Here's mine. Seven of the thirteen. Start with the first one. It is the best of the lot.

next-steps

Start hereAbove the prompt

Every time Claude finishes, three next steps show up above the prompt. I press one, two or three. I never sit there thinking, what do I do next?

loose-ends

Above the prompt

A list of what's left before I close the chat. Files I haven't saved. Things I haven't rebuilt. When it's all done, it goes green.

handoff-shelf

Side pane, /handoffs

I type /handoffs. And there's every handoff from the last two weeks. One press copies it.

client-doc-lint

Stops and asks

This one saved me the other day. I went to publish a page. A mod stopped it. It had a dash I don't allow, and it wasn't set up for phones. Fix, publish anyway, or cancel. I hit fix.

job-watch

Strip and a ping

When I've got jobs running in the background, a strip shows them. It pings me when one finishes. So I've stopped typing, how about now?

did-we-already

Note before Claude starts

If I ask about a tool I've already looked at, it tells me before Claude even starts. Seen that one. Already checked.

redaction

/redact on

It hides emails, phone numbers, dollar figures and client names on my screen. Claude still sees them. You don't. So I can share my screen and leak nothing.

Thirteen Claude mods. All mine. Not one from a stranger.

And every one of them is a Claude Code plugin. They install the same way as any other plugin. Don't copy this list. It answers my questions, not yours.

Build One

You Don’t Write The Code

Say what you want on screen, in plain words. Claude writes it. Three files, no build step.

Now, the build. And you don't write the code. You pick one idea from your audit and describe it.

Check your version

Mods need a recent Claude Code. Run claude --version. You want 2.1.287 or later. The desktop app carries its own copy, so update that too.

Say what you want on screen

Claude Code comes with a skill for writing mods. You say what you want, in plain words. Claude writes it.

Say yes to hot reload

It asks once if you want hot reloading. Say yes. Then each change shows up in the chat you already have open, as soon as Claude finishes its turn.

Move it, then install it once

A mod Claude writes sits in a temporary folder for that one chat. When it works, move it into your own plugin folder and install it. One install in the terminal covers the desktop app too.

What asking for one looks like

ask-for-a-mod.txt

Build me a mod.
After every answer, show three likely
next steps above the prompt.
Let me pick one with the 1, 2 or 3 key.

Swap in the idea your audit ranked top.

A mod is small. Three files. No build step.

.claude-plugin/plugin.jsonThe plugin file. Name and version.

hooks/hooks.jsonThe hooks file. Points at the script.

hooks/register.tsThe one script. This is the mod.

It's a Claude Code plugin with one extra file. A mod that remembers things adds a fourth, a small types file. Claude writes that one too.

Installing the one you keep

Terminal

$ claude plugin marketplace add ./my-mods
$ claude plugin install next-steps@my-mods

Swap in your own folder and mod name. Any chat that was already open needs /reload-plugins before it sees the new mod.

Three Moves

Watch, Change, Answer

Every mod does one of three things when something happens.

Every mod does one of three things when something happens. Once you know the three, you can describe any mod you want in one sentence. Tap each one.

It watches, and lets it through.

Something happens

Claude edits a file

The mod

The edit goes through. The list above the prompt gains one line.

loose-ends. Mine watches which files the chat changes. It blocks nothing. It just keeps the list of what's left up to date.

Hooks Or Mods

A Hook Can Say No. A Mod Can Ask.

Hooks are still fine for a simple block. Here is where they run out.

You might be thinking, we already have hooks. True. And if you just need to block something with a script, a hook is still fine.

Hook

Runs once, then it's gone

A script that fires on one event.
It can let a command through, block it or change it.
It can't put its own question in front of you.
Still fine for a simple block.

Mod

Stays all session

Code that lives inside Claude Code from the first message to the last.
It can watch a command, change it or stop it.
It can stop and ask you, with buttons.
It can show things on screen and remember them.

I hit that wall.

I wanted Claude to check with me before it squashed a long chat down. A hook could only say no. A mod can ask. So I built it as a mod.

The test is one question. Do you need it to ask you, show you something or remember something? If not, write the hook and move on.

The Traps

Check It Before It Goes In

A mod has more power than a skill. One command shows you what it can touch.

Now the traps. Because there are a few. A mod runs with the same access Claude Code has. And it is written by whoever published it, not by Anthropic.

Reads your files

Runs programs

Uses the internet

Hides things on screen

That's more power than a skill. So here's my rule.

No stranger's mod goes on my machine until it's been checked.

There's a command for it

Terminal

$ claude plugin validate ./client-doc-lint
  hooks: tool.call{tool=Artifact}
  calls: $.env.get, $.fs.read, $.ui.ask
✔ Validation passed

It lists the events the mod listens to and the calls it makes. This one listens for a page about to be published. It reads one setting, reads a file and asks me a question.

How to read the calls line

$.fsReads or writes your files

$.processRuns programs on your machine

$.httpUses the internet

$.ui.askStops and asks you something

$.storeRemembers things between chats

If a mod you don't know is using the internet, find out why before you install it. And remember what the check is. It shows what a mod can do. It does not prove the mod is safe.

A broken guard lets things through

What happens. If a mod's check crashes, Claude Code skips that check and the command runs anyway. So a guard that breaks is no guard.

Do this. For any mod that guards something, ask Claude for a catch that blocks when the check fails. Then test that it does.

A reload wipes memory

What happens. A reload wipes whatever your code was holding.

Do this. Keep anything that matters in Claude Code's own store. That survives.

Nobody home

What happens. Run Claude on a schedule with nobody there, and a mod that asks a question gets no answer. The ask fails straight away.

Do this. Decide what the mod does when no one's home. Mine pass straight through.

It's new. It changes.

What happens. Mods change between releases. On 10 October an update broke one of mine. One command stopped working, and the validate check did not catch it.

Do this. I re-check every mod after an update. That one now has a test.

And if a mod ever misbehaves, there is an off switch. Start Claude Code with claude --safe-mode and that session runs without your mods.

When To Use One

Hook, Skill, MCP Or Mod

Four tools. One question sorts them.

So when do you reach for a Claude mod? Not every idea from your audit should be one. Take each idea on your list and ask what you want it to do.

I want to...

Use a mod

Something on your screen, something that remembers, or something that stops Claude and asks you first. That's a mod.

A mod has the most power of the four. So it has the most to check. If a hook, a skill or an MCP server can do the job, use that.

MyMyClaudeClaudeCodeCodeisisbuiltbuiltaroundaroundhowhowIIwork.work.YoursYoursshouldshouldbebebuiltbuiltaroundaroundyou.you.Update,Update,runrunthetheaudit,audit,pickpickthethethingthingyouyouaskaskeveryeveryday,day,andandbuildbuildthatthatoneonefirst.first.

Jump back to a section

Claude ModsDo This First.

What Claude Mods Are

Get Claude To Read Your Own Chats

Four Questions I Ask Every Day

Enjoying the guide?

Thirteen Mods. All Mine.

You Don’t Write The Code

Watch, Change, Answer

A Hook Can Say No. A Mod Can Ask.

Check It Before It Goes In

Hook, Skill, MCP Or Mod

Claude Mods
Do This First.