How to use Claude to turn spare quota into PRs
RemainderBot selects work from goals and task lists, uses spare Claude or Codex subscription quota, and presents results as GitHub PRs informed by comments and merge decisions.
news.ycombinator.com
Prompt to try
Editorial adaptation, not the source author’s exact prompt. Replace bracketed inputs and review tool permissions first.
Using RemainderBot with [provider], read [GOALS.md] and task sources in [sources.toml]. Select a small task aligned with those goals, work in a new branch within [deadline], and create a reviewable PR. Use [previous PR feedback] to guide the approach.
Reach people exploring AI agents
See placements →What happened
The author reports 111 PRs, including customer-call preparation, a census of 31 GitHub organizations’ agent setup files and standalone demonstration prototypes.
Reported by ariwilson on Hacker NewsHow the agent did it
- Built RemainderBot around personal goals and task lists.
- Used it to produce customer-call preparation, research and prototypes as PRs.
- Used GitHub comments and merge decisions to guide future task selection.
Where a person stepped in
The author describes engineering review and says comments and merge decisions provide human feedback.
A person set the goal and reviewed the result.
ariwilson built RemainderBot to turn unused Claude and Codex subscription capacity into work drawn from personal goals and task lists. As a founder, the author wanted help with small tasks that required context but were difficult to prioritize alongside customer development, architecture and review.
The setup described in the post starts with authenticated git, claude or codex, and gh command-line tools. Users clone the repository, copy the example goals and sources files, and edit them with their own goals and task-list sources. A snapshot command precedes a run command; the supplied example selects Claude, a twenty-minute deadline and a small task. The author says these commands select a task and work on a new branch.
RemainderBot can also run as a server cronjob. In that mode, it checks remaining subscription quota and the time until the weekly reset before selecting work and creating a pull request. GitHub comments and merge decisions guide subsequent task selection and approaches. The author reports 111 PRs, including customer-call preparation, a census of agent setup files across 31 GitHub organizations and demonstration prototypes.
Who it's for: Developers with task backlogs, spare subscription capacity and an established pull-request review routine.
Prompt
Suggested prompt (written by Agents In Use, not the author's)
Source: Hacker News · ariwilson
Frequently asked questions
How does RemainderBot choose work in cron mode?
It checks remaining subscription quota and the time before the weekly reset, then picks a task and creates a PR.
What feedback guides future work?
The author says GitHub PR comments and decisions about whether to merge guide the kinds of tasks and approaches RemainderBot takes later.
More details
About this account
RemainderBot chooses tasks and writes PRs; cron mode budgets work against remaining quota and reset time.
Platform: Hacker News. Attribution: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50073611. Prompt: Suggested (written by Agents In Use, not the author's). Sourced by the Agents In Use pipeline.
Credit: ariwilson on Hacker News
Source published 13 Oct 2026
Source checked 14 Oct 2026
Tools and topics
RemainderBot · Claude CLI · Codex CLI · git · GitHub CLI
Task automation · Pull requests · Quota budgeting
Editorial completeness: 100/100. Measures documented fields, not agent performance or verified outcomes.