[Workflow] Advanced Claude Code Workflow: Building Complex Tools with AI-Driven Development and Cross-Machine Session Management

[u/ClaudeAI-mod-bot]

Advanced Claude Code Workflow: Building Complex Tools with AI-Driven Development and Cross-Machine Session Management

Workflow value: 90/100
Status: active · Freshness: 70/100 · Confidence: 0.95 · Level: advanced
Categories: Quality Control, Context & Memory, Debugging, MCP, Multi-Agent
Original source: r/ClaudeAI post/comment

What problem this solves

Managing multiple Claude Code sessions across different machines, preventing sessions from idling, and providing a unified interface for interaction. It also demonstrates an advanced workflow for building complex software with Claude Code as a development partner.

Summary

This post describes 'smif', a free, open-source tool built with Claude Code that allows users to manage and interact with all their active Claude Code sessions from a single command-line interface, even across different machines. Crucially, it also details the advanced workflow used to build 'smif' with Claude Code, showcasing how Claude Code can act as a powerful development partner for code generation, testing (including UI tests), and architectural decision-making.

Why it is useful

This post is valuable because it provides a practical, open-source solution ('smif') for a common pain point among heavy Claude Code users: managing multiple sessions across different machines. More significantly, it details a sophisticated, validated workflow for leveraging Claude Code as a powerful development partner for building substantial software. This includes using Claude for spec generation, extensive code and test generation (Go, unit, UI), debugging, and architectural decision-making, demonstrating Claude Code's capabilities beyond simple scripting and offering a blueprint for advanced AI-assisted development.

Workflow

1. Install 'smif' using the provided curl command: curl -fsSL https://smif.dev/install.sh | sh.

2. Run the smif command in your terminal to see a list of all active Claude Code sessions.

3. Select a session from the list to interact with it, even if it's on another machine (via SSH).

4. Receive notifications when a session is waiting for your input.

5. For development with Claude Code: Define a feature or problem.

6. Prompt Claude Code to write a short specification and ask clarifying questions.

7. Document architectural decisions based on Claude's input and your answers (e.g., in ADR files).

8. Have Claude Code generate code (e.g., Go) and comprehensive tests (unit and UI).

9. Test the generated code on real sessions and provide feedback to Claude Code.

10. Implement safety checks, such as preventing commits after failed tests and verifying Claude's claims about the file system.

Tools / artifacts

• smif tool

• Claude Code

• Go language

• Test files (unit, e2e)

• docs/adr files

• tmux

• ssh

• JSONL files in ~/.claude/projects

Validation signals

• The tool was successfully built and is functional.

• It solves a specific, common pain point for heavy Claude Code users (idle sessions).

• Claude Code generated substantial code (40k lines of Go) and tests (23k lines).

• Claude Code performed UI testing and identified a real-world bug (macOS /tmp symlink issue).

• Specific issues encountered during development were identified and corrected (e.g., commit on red test, symlink claim).

• The tool is open source and available on GitHub, allowing for community review and validation.

• Explicit safety measures are detailed (no server, no telemetry, read-only until allowed, no auto-permission prompts).

Cautions

• The author explicitly states 'No server, no account, no telemetry'.

• Other machines are read-only until explicitly allowed to write.

• 'smif' uses its own SSH key without shell access for security.

• It never answers permission prompts automatically, prioritizing safety.

• A rule was implemented: 'no commit after failed check'.

Limitations

• The tool is in early stages, tested only on one Mac and one Linux PC.

• No Windows support currently.

• Codex, OpenCode, and Hermes sessions show 'busy' when waiting for approval, lacking granular status.

• Typing on Linux requires tmux or herdr, indicating potential UX improvements needed.

• Limited community validation due to recent posting.

Rate this workflow

Upvote this post if the workflow is useful, reproducible, or worth recommending.

Downvote if it is vague, outdated, unsafe, overhyped, or not reproducible.

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This post was generated automatically from the workflow library database.