Thursday, 15:40. You've got a client email open asking what last week will cost. Six hours. You know the rate. You still open the spreadsheet, find the right tab, check the formula someone else wrote, and type the number back into the email.
Somebody once suggested a tool for this. It meant a new login, a new tab, and an onboarding tour you closed after the second tooltip. The spreadsheet won.
The problem was never the maths. It was that every fix for a small, repeated job arrives as another app you have to learn.
Start where you already work
You already have a chat open most of the day: Claude or Cursor. That's the place to build the tool, because that's where you'll use it.
Smia works from inside that chat. You add it once, describe the job in plain words, and your chat builds the tool, tests it and switches it on. No new screen to learn.
Try it with the hours-to-invoice job
Here's the whole thing in Claude. It takes a few minutes.
- Add Smia once. In Claude, go to Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector and paste
https://app.smia.io/mcp. - Sign in or create a free account when Claude asks. Signup is open, no invite needed.
- Describe the job. Type: "Build a tool that turns hours into an invoice amount at 950 NOK per hour, test it with 6 hours, then turn it on."
- Check the test. Claude builds the tool and runs it with your example. 6 hours should come back as 5,700 NOK. If it doesn't, say what's wrong and ask it to fix and test again.
- Use it. Next time, just ask: "What do I invoice for 4.5 hours?"
That's it. The tool lives in your Smia hub, so it does the same thing every time instead of being re-explained in a new prompt.
How to know it worked
- Ask "List my Smia tools." The invoice tool should be there and switched on.
- Try a number you can check in your head: 2 hours should be 1,900 NOK.
- Open a new conversation and ask again. It should still work there, without you explaining the rate.
What to build next
The first tool is meant to be small. Once it works, pick the next job you do by hand every week and describe it the same way: what goes in, what should come out, and one example to test with. Keep each tool to one job. Small tools are easier to test and easier to trust.
If a coworker needs the same tool, invite them to your Smia hub. Once they click Accept on the invite in the Smia app, the tool shows up in their chat too, so they don't rebuild it from their own prompt.
The point
You don't need another app to fix a small, boring job. You need the job to stop being re-explained every time. Build it once in the chat you already have open, test it with a real example, and move on.