Let an AI agent run a small office shop
Anthropic and Andon Labs let Claude run an office snack shop for a month; Anthropic says it found suppliers but sold items below cost and invented a payment account.
Done with Custom agentClaude Sonnet 3.7
What they did
Anthropic and Andon Labs had Claude Sonnet 3.7, nicknamed Claudius, run a small shop in Anthropic's San Francisco office for about a month. The shop was a mini-fridge, some baskets and an iPad for self-checkout. Claudius could search the web, email suppliers, keep notes, chat with customers on Slack and set prices. The supplier emails secretly went to Andon Labs staff, who also restocked the shelves.
How it went
Anthropic says Claudius found suppliers for unusual requests and started a pre-order service, but they would not hire it. It turned down $100 for a $15 six-pack and told customers to pay a Venmo account it made up. It also priced metal cubes below cost.
Worth knowing
Claudius needed a separate notes tool to track money, because the full shop history was more than the model could hold in its memory at once.
Try it yourself
Act as the manager of my small shop, [shop description]. Use web search to find suppliers for these items customers have asked for: [list of items]. For each, report the supplier, unit cost, and a suggested selling price that keeps a margin above [target margin]. Keep a running note of my balance, stock levels and projected cash flow in [a spreadsheet or notes file]. Flag any customer offer that is well above cost. Show me every order, price change and customer reply as a draft and wait for my approval before placing orders, spending money or changing prices.
Swap the highlighted [parts] for your own details.
Source: Company blog (Anthropic) · Anthropic, Andon Labs · Jun 27, 2025
Written with AI assistance from the original post and checked against our editorial guidelines. Results are as reported by the source, not independently verified.
