# What to Do While Claude Code Is Working > What to do while Claude Code is working: review the plan, queue the next prompt, run a second agent, or stand up. And why opening YouTube costs 20 minutes. Canonical: https://usecactus.app/guides/what-to-do-while-claude-code-is-working Last updated: 2026-10-17 Use the wait for work that belongs to the task, or for something you can drop the second the agent is done. Keep feeds out of the gap, because a feed never ends when the agent does. ## What should you do while Claude Code is working? While Claude Code is working, do something that belongs to the same task or that you can drop the moment it finishes. Read the plan and the diff as they stream, write the next prompt, prepare the test you'll run, start a second agent in its own worktree, or stand up for a minute. Don't open YouTube, X, or Reddit. A 30-second wait for the agent turns into 20 minutes in the feed. Here are the options, roughly in the order they pay off: 1. **Read the plan and the diff as they stream.** Catch the wrong turn early. 2. **Write the next prompt and queue it.** Claude Code accepts messages while it works. 3. **Prepare the check you'll run when it's done.** A test, a curl command, a click-through. 4. **Run a second agent on an independent task.** Give it its own worktree. 5. **Read the docs for the next step.** Not the docs for something unrelated. 6. **Stand up.** Water, stretch, window. Let a notification call you back. The advice works the same for Codex, Cursor, or any agent that leaves you waiting. Where a step uses a Claude Code feature, it's one from [Anthropic's Claude Code docs](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/overview) as of October 2026. ## Match the activity to the length of the wait Most waits fall into three sizes. Pick the activity by size, not by mood. - **Under 30 seconds.** Stay with the terminal. Read what the agent is doing. Anything else costs more to switch into than the wait itself. - **One to five minutes.** Do task-adjacent work: write the next prompt, the test, or the commit message. Look up the API the agent is about to touch. - **Five minutes or more.** Start a second, independent agent, or leave the desk and let a notification bring you back. The trap is the middle size. A one-minute wait feels too short to do real work and long enough to "just check" something. That's where the feed gets you. ## 1. Read the plan and the diff as they stream The most valuable thing you can do in the first minute is read. If the agent misread the task, every minute it keeps going is work you'll throw away. In Claude Code, press `Shift+Tab` until the status bar shows plan mode, or start with `claude --permission-mode plan`. Claude reads files and proposes a plan but makes no edits until you approve. Reviewing a plan takes a minute. Reviewing a wrong 400-line diff takes much longer. Once edits start, skim them as they appear. If something is off, press `Esc`. It stops the current response, keeps the work done so far, and lets you redirect. A short correction early beats a long review later. ## 2. Write the next prompt and queue it You usually know what comes after the current task. Write it now, while the context is fresh. Claude Code lets you type a message and press `Enter` while it's working. It queues the message instead of interrupting, and sends it when the current tool calls finish. Use the gap to write a better prompt than you'd write in a hurry: - what "done" means for the next step, - the files or functions it should leave alone, - the command that proves it works. If Claude starts a long-running shell command, such as a test suite or a dev build, `Ctrl+B` moves it to the background so you can keep prompting. Tmux users press it twice. ## 3. Prepare the check you'll run when it's done The agent will say it's finished. You still need to know it works. Write down the check before you see the result, so the result can't talk you out of it: - the test file or test case that should now pass, - the curl request or CLI command to run, - the three clicks in the browser that exercise the change, - the edge case you suspect it missed. This is also a good moment to write the commit message or PR description. You know what you asked for. Compare it with what you get. ## 4. Run a second agent on an independent task Parallel agents turn wait time into work time, but only if the tasks don't touch the same files. Claude Code can start a session in its own git worktree, a separate checkout on its own branch: ```bash claude --worktree fix-login-redirect ``` Run the same command with a different name in a second terminal for a second isolated session. With Codex, Cursor, or anything else, plain git does the same job: ```bash git worktree add ../myapp-docs -b docs-update ``` If you run several sessions, Claude Code's agent view (`claude agents`, in research preview as of October 2026) shows every background session on one screen, grouped by whether it's working, needs input, or is done. Two cautions. First, each extra agent is one more thing to review, so the limit is your attention, not your CPU. Second, don't start a deep task of your own. One developer in [a r/ClaudeCode thread on this exact question](https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1wutcgr) put it well: "Starting another deep task just means Claude finishes exactly when I've rebuilt enough context to resent it." The same commenter keeps a "safe to interrupt" list instead: short emails, notes, issue triage. Things you can drop mid-sentence. ## 5. Read the docs for the next step If the agent is wiring up an OAuth flow, read the provider's OAuth docs. If it's writing a migration, read your ORM's migration notes. You'll review the result better, and you'll write a sharper next prompt. Keep the reading tied to the task. Docs for a library you might use next quarter are a polite version of the feed. ## 6. Stand up, and let a notification call you back For waits of several minutes, leaving the screen is a good use of the time. Refill water, stretch, look out a window. These are short breaks with a natural end, which a feed doesn't have. The catch is getting back. Claude Code can ring the terminal bell or send a desktop notification when it finishes or needs permission, and a Stop hook can play a sound every time it's done. The setup takes five minutes. See [how to get a Claude Code notification when it's done](https://usecactus.app/guides/claude-code-notification-when-done) for copy-paste settings. If your agent has no notification, set a phone timer for the length you expect and come back when it rings. ## What not to do while Claude Code is working The list is short and you already know it. - **Don't open a feed.** YouTube, X, Reddit, TikTok, Instagram, news sites. Each one has an endless next item, so the agent finishing is no reason to stop. - **Don't start your own deep work.** You'll resent the interruption, or you'll ignore the agent. - **Don't leave without a way back.** One commenter in the same thread wrote: "I lose track of it and it ends up waiting for like 20 minutes until I approve something." - **Don't babysit every token on a long task.** Watching a 10-minute run line by line is tiring and rarely catches more than reading the plan did. Other answers in that thread were candid: "Doom scroll", "TikTok usually", "Reading Reddit, Instagram and other news". I made Cactus because I did the same. I kept opening YouTube and X during the short waits while coding agents worked, and a 20-second pause turned into 20 lost minutes. ## Make the "don't" list hold with a website blocker Deciding in the moment doesn't work well. The urge shows up dozens of times a day, in gaps too short to argue with yourself. The reliable fix is to make the sites unavailable during work hours, so there's nothing to decide. Cactus for Mac does this with one recurring schedule. You pick the days, a time range, and the sites, for example weekdays from 9:00 to 18:00 with `youtube.com`, `x.com`, and `reddit.com`. The block starts by itself every week. 1. Choose the days and the time range you want protected. 2. Add the sites you drift to. Add extra hostnames such as `youtu.be` or `old.reddit.com` separately, because Cactus blocks each domain plus its `www.` version, with `m.youtube.com` and `twitter.com` added for you. 3. Turn it on. The block applies in every browser at the Mac level, with no extension. During an active block there's no button to end it early. Cactus doesn't connect to Claude Code or Codex and doesn't tell you when an agent is done, so pair it with the notification setup above. For a starter list with the exact hostnames, see [distracting websites to block for developers](https://usecactus.app/guides/distracting-websites-to-block-developers). [How Cactus blocks websites](https://usecactus.app/how-cactus-blocks) covers the details. Be clear about the limits. Cactus has one schedule, not several. It blocks websites, not desktop apps. A Mac administrator can still remove it, and browser secure DNS, iCloud Private Relay, and some VPNs or proxies can affect blocking. Cold Turkey Pro and Freedom can block apps and run more than one schedule, and both run on Windows. Freedom also runs on iPhone. If you live in Chrome and want blocking to follow Claude's working state instead of the clock, the open-source [claude-blocker](https://github.com/T3-Content/claude-blocker) pairs a Chrome extension with Claude Code hooks. If your problem is the gap between prompts on a Mac, a scheduled block plus a notification covers it. The [coding agents page](https://usecactus.app/for-coding-agents) explains why I built Cactus around that wait. ## Questions ### Should I watch Claude Code while it works? For the first minute of a task, yes. Reading the plan and the first edits is the cheapest time to catch a wrong direction. On long tasks, step away and let a notification bring you back. ### How do I know when Claude Code is done if I walk away? Claude Code can ring the terminal bell or send a desktop notification when it finishes or needs permission. You can also add a Stop hook in settings.json that plays a sound every time it finishes. ### Can I run two Claude Code sessions at the same time? Yes. Start each one in its own git worktree with claude --worktree so their edits don't collide. Keep the tasks independent, or you spend the saved time resolving conflicts. ### Does Cactus connect to Claude Code or Codex? No. Cactus doesn't read prompts or watch your agent. It blocks the websites you choose during the hours you schedule, whichever coding tool you use. ## Keep reading - [How to get a Claude Code notification when it's done](https://usecactus.app/guides/claude-code-notification-when-done): Get a Claude Code notification when done: built-in desktop alerts, a Stop hook that plays a sound, and permission alerts on macOS. Copy-paste settings.json. - [The most distracting websites to block, for developers](https://usecactus.app/guides/distracting-websites-to-block-developers): The most distracting websites to block as a developer, grouped by type, with the exact hostnames to add and the sites to keep open: docs, GitHub, registries. - [How to block social media on your Mac](https://usecactus.app/guides/block-social-media-on-mac): Block social media on your Mac or MacBook: the exact domains for 12 networks, how to block them in Safari with Screen Time, and how to block them on a schedule.