The short answer
- A command is a small text file with a job description. Drop it in a folder and typing /invoice runs that job on whatever you tell it.
- The files are yours: plain markdown that works in Claude Code, and paste into any other assistant when you do not have it.
- It reads and writes your own records - a clients file, an invoices file - instead of a database you cannot see.
- It drafts; you send. Nothing holds credentials, nothing runs on a schedule without you, nothing connects to a bank.
- It does the writing-shaped work: the invoice email, the awkward reminder, the proposal with the not-included list. It does not do the work of getting clients.
The jobs it is genuinely good at
- Invoicing: turn 'six hours for Acme on Tuesday' into a numbered invoice and its covering email, logged in one pass.
- Chasing: a payment reminder whose tone matches the days overdue - warm at three, firm at thirty - because the command reads the dates, not your mood.
- Quoting: a proposal or statement of work from a two-line brief, with a scope and the explicit not-included section that saves the friendship.
- Quarter end: a summary of income by month and expenses by category, with the open questions your accountant asks anyway listed first.
- Weekly review: the Monday one-pager of what is owed, who needs a nudge, and what is unbilled.
Where it stops - on purpose
- It will not send anything. Drafts in, human sends. That is the right division of labor for anything with your name on it.
- It will not hold your bank login or touch your accounts. Export a statement, hand it the file, keep the credentials.
- It does not promise income. It does paperwork. The honest version of this page is the only version worth having.
The free tool for this
What an hour has to cost to pay you - What an hour has to cost to pay you. It runs in the page, asks for your own numbers, and sends nothing anywhere.
If you would rather not build it yourself
Freelance OS is eight of these commands, written for the freelance back office: /invoice /chase /proposal /price /weekly /update /repurpose /onboard, plus plain markdown ledgers. One price, yours to keep. Freelance OS is $29. See it on the shop, and there is a plain page about it here: what it holds.
Questions people actually ask
Do I need to be a programmer to use commands?
No. The setup is copying files into a folder; the daily use is typing /invoice and a sentence about the work. If you can send an email, you can run these.
What if I stop paying for an AI subscription?
The command files are plain text you own forever. They work with any capable assistant - paste the body, fill the variables. Nothing about them expires.