Cruise — Automated Task Queue for Claude Code

Queue up tasks. Walk away. Come back to finished work.

Cruise turns Claude Code into an autonomous workhorse. Instead of babysitting one prompt at a time, you load up a queue of tasks, hit start, and Cruise feeds them to Claude Code sequentially — handling completions, rate limits, errors, and retries without you lifting a finger.

You get more done with your Claude subscription. Claude gets more done while you sleep.

Why Cruise?

Claude Code is powerful, but it works one task at a time and needs you there to type the next prompt. That means your expensive Claude subscription sits idle every time you step away, context-switch, or wait for a long task to finish.

Cruise fixes that. It keeps Claude working continuously on your behalf:

• Batch your work, then disconnect. Load 10, 20, 50 tasks into the queue before bed. Wake up to commits.
• Never waste rate limit windows. Cruise detects rate limits, waits them out with a live countdown, and auto-resumes the instant your limit resets.
• Stop copy-pasting prompts. Define your tasks once. Cruise sends them exactly as written, in order, with no manual intervention.
• Keep your machine awake. Built-in sleep prevention ensures your queue doesn't stall because your laptop decided to nap.

Features

Task Queue Management

• Add, edit, remove, and reorder tasks at any time — even while another task is running
• Priority levels — high-priority tasks jump ahead of the queue automatically
• Bulk import — paste a list of tasks, a JSON array, or a numbered plan and Cruise parses them into individual queue items
• Pause-before flags — mark tasks that need your review before they execute; the queue pauses and waits for your go-ahead

Autonomous Execution

• Sequential processing — tasks run one at a time through the Claude Code CLI, exactly as if you typed them yourself
• Structured JSON streaming — Cruise communicates with Claude Code via its official JSON streaming interface, not terminal scraping. This means reliable, version-resilient completion detection.
• Automatic advancement — when one task finishes, the next one starts immediately
• Configurable error recovery:
  • Stop on error — halt the queue for manual intervention
  • Retry once, then skip (default) — retry the failed task once; if it fails again, move on
  • Retry N times, then skip — configurable retry count for flaky tasks
  • Skip — mark failed and keep going

Rate Limit Intelligence

Claude Code users on every plan hit rate limits. Cruise handles them gracefully:

• Detects rate limit events from the JSON stream
• Parses the reset time automatically
• Displays a live countdown timer in the UI
• Auto-resumes the queue the instant the limit resets
• Sends a system notification so you know what happened

No more staring at a terminal waiting for your rate limit to clear.

Git Auto-Commit

Turn on auto-commit and Cruise creates a clean commit after every completed task:

• Each task gets its own commit — a built-in audit trail
• Configurable commit message templates using {{summary}} (Claude's summary of changes) or {{taskText}} (your original task description)
• Makes it trivial to review, revert, or cherry-pick individual task results

Notifications

Stay informed without watching the screen. System notifications for:

• Task completed
• Task failed
• Entire queue finished
• Rate limit hit
• Queue resumed after rate limit

Each notification type can be enabled or disabled independently.

Persistence

Your queue survives everything:

• VS Code restarts
• System reboots
• Extension updates

Queue state is saved per-workspace so different projects maintain their own task lists.

Activity Log

A timestamped, append-only record of everything Cruise does:

• Task starts, completions, failures, cancellations
• Queue starts, pauses, completions
• Rate limits and auto-resumes
• Errors and retries

Accessible from within the Cruise panel.

Status Bar Integration

A glanceable status bar icon shows the current state at all times:

• Idle, processing, paused, or rate-limited
• Current task progress
• Quick access to the Cruise panel

Getting Started

Prerequisites

1. VS Code 1.85+
2. Claude Code CLI installed and authenticated — run claude --version to verify
3. A Claude subscription (Pro, Team, or Enterprise)

Quick Start

1. Install Cruise from the VS Code Marketplace
2. Open a workspace folder in VS Code
3. Press Cmd+Shift+Q (Mac) or Ctrl+Shift+Q (Windows/Linux) to open the Cruise panel
4. Add tasks to the queue
5. Hit Start and let Cruise work

That's it. Cruise handles the rest.

How It Works

You                          Cruise                        Claude Code CLI
 │                             │                                │
 ├── Add tasks to queue ──────►│                                │
 ├── Press Start ─────────────►│                                │
 │                             ├── Send task 1 ────────────────►│
 │                             │◄── JSON stream (working...) ───┤
 │                             │◄── JSON stream (done) ─────────┤
 │  ◄── Notification ─────────┤                                │
 │                             ├── [Auto-commit if enabled]     │
 │                             ├── Send task 2 ────────────────►│
 │                             │◄── JSON stream (rate limit) ───┤
 │  ◄── Rate limit alert ─────┤                                │
 │                             ├── [Countdown... auto-resume]   │
 │                             ├── Retry task 2 ───────────────►│
 │                             │       ... and so on            │
 │                             │                                │
 │  ◄── Queue complete! ──────┤                                │

Cruise uses Claude Code's official JSON streaming interface (--output-format stream-json) for structured, reliable communication. No terminal scraping, no regex matching against CLI output, no fragile heuristics.

Commands

Everything else — adding tasks, starting/stopping the queue, clearing completed tasks — is done from within the panel.

Settings

Who Is Cruise For?

• Solo developers who want to load up work before stepping away and come back to progress
• AI-first teams using Claude Code as a core part of their development workflow
• Early adopters who want to squeeze maximum value from their Claude subscription
• Anyone tired of the prompt-wait-prompt-wait cycle — Cruise turns Claude Code from an interactive assistant into an autonomous agent

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Cruise

1. Break work into focused tasks. "Add user authentication with JWT" is better than "Build the entire backend." Claude Code works best with clear, scoped instructions.

2. Use priority levels. Urgent fixes can jump the queue without interrupting the current task.

3. Use pause-before for risky tasks. Flag tasks that need your review (like database migrations or deployment scripts) so the queue waits for your approval.

4. Enable git auto-commit. Each task gets its own commit, making it easy to review changes, revert mistakes, or cherry-pick specific work.

5. Bulk import from your planning notes. Paste a numbered list or task breakdown directly into Cruise — it parses them into individual queue items automatically.

6. Let rate limits work for you. Instead of waiting at your keyboard, queue up more tasks. Cruise handles the rate limit pause-and-resume cycle automatically.

Important Notes

• Cruise uses the Claude Code CLI — you need it installed and authenticated separately
• One Cruise queue runs per VS Code workspace window
• Cruise runs with --dangerously-skip-permissions — review your tasks before queueing, as Claude will execute them without permission prompts
• Disable the official Claude Code VS Code extension if installed, to avoid conflicts

Support & Feedback

• Visit usecruise.ai for documentation and licensing
• Report issues on GitHub

Stop babysitting your AI. Start cruising.