Build Out Question · Clief Notes

Build Out Question

Hey all looking for architecture advice from anyone who's been here.

I'm automating the back-office side of a sales role on Claude — AR/collections, order entry, statement sends, reorder follow-ups, and more workflows being added. The setup is skill-based: I invoke workflows by command (e.g. "Submit orders"), Claude handles the steps, stops for my review before anything sends or submits. Building toward full orchestration with dispatch routing the right workflow automatically based on triggers.

Problem: I'm on Max 5x and a few planning chats plus ONE order through Cowork already hit ~26% of my usage before reset. That math doesn't scale once everything is live.

The bigger issue: Cowork is currently slower than submitting orders manually. It runs a screenshot-and-click loop through a web UI, and the latency is real. Has anyone found a way to speed this up or get off the vision loop entirely?

Questions:

1. Is moving automated execution to the Agent SDK / metered API the right architecture — keep the subscription for interactive work, run agents on the credit pool?

2. For UI-based tools with no API access, did you find a way off the screenshot loop or just accept the cost and speed hit until a native integration exists?

3. Self-capping usage meters on subagents — is that SDK-only or doable another way?

4. Should I be building workflows in Cowork first then graduating to Claude Code, or is it worth starting in Code now?

Trying to get the architecture right before I scale this up. Appreciate any wisdom thanks fam.

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