In my job search, my main strategy has been networking. I find people building products I’m excited about and ask for a quick chat. I noticed I was spending a surprising amount of time on the repetitive parts of LinkedIn outreach, and since I’m a frontend engineer (React/TypeScript), I decided to build a tool to fix it.
I made LinkedIn Secret Weapon: a Chrome extension, built almost entirely with Claude Code, that personalizes an intro template and reduces the LinkedIn “connect” flow to a few keystrokes.
You can download it on the Chrome Web Store, or check out the source code on Github.
How it works:
I write one template like this:
Hi {{firstName}}, I came across your profile while looking into the frontend engineer position at {{companyName}}… (etc)
Then, as I move through profiles, the extension pulls first name and company name and puts the filled-in message on my clipboard.
Learning from real-world usage
After a few weeks of using my extension, I realized the biggest bottleneck wasn’t writing the message, it was the clicking (especially when Connect is hidden under More). So I added keyboard shortcuts, for a really quick workflow:
- Opt+V — copy filled template
- Opt+C — trigger Connect (even under “More”)
- Opt+N — open “Add a note”
- Cmd+V — past
- Opt+Shift+S — send
Claude Code made it quick work to add these features, and a few more besides!
These new shortcuts save me time and emotional energy: job hunting is hard, and sometimes anxiety and impostor syndrome can make it hard to craft a new message, or even to copy and paste that message to new people.
Try it out, I'd love to hear your feedback! What features would you want to see?
Are you building stuff like this? What’s the most annoying 30-second workflow you’ve automated lately?
What's next?
Can Claude help me migrate the extension to a modern toolchain, with Vite, Preact, and Tailwind? Find out!
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