Recently, I returned to Basecamp after a long time. I tried it before and quit - not because it was bad, but because I couldn't keep up with the writing it demanded. The problem was that I didn't know what to write. Maybe it's a skill issue for me.
So I abandoned it. Moved on.
Then in late March 2026, DHH announced that Basecamp had become fully agent-accessible — a brand new CLI, a revamped API, and an agent skill designed to teach AI how to work inside Basecamp. I installed it, connected it to Claude Code, and within an hour I was using Basecamp again. This time it stuck.
What changed
The announcement framed it as infrastructure: Basecamp now has a CLI, SDK and skill that tells agents how to navigate its structure. You can connect Claude Code, ChatGPT etc...
For me, I'm using Claude Code, with basecamp CLI and skill, I can just describe what I did, What I'm planning, or What I need to track - in natural language, and Claude turns it into the right structure. It creates the to-do with right list, fills in the description, assigns it to me. What used to take me thirty minutes of starting takes about five minutes now.
How I Actually Use It
I built a personal system I call LifeOS - everything lives in a single Basecamp project.
To-dos handle the actual work. I don't have to add to-dos manually anymore. I just tell Claude what I need to do, and it creates the to-do for me.
Check-ins are for reflection. I write a check-in every day, and Claude helps me structure it. I can also ask it to summarize my week or month based on the check-ins.
CardTables are for tracking codes, issues that related to Coding. I can tell Claude to create a new card for a bug I found, and it will fill in the details and I can track it there.
Conclusion
I think what happened to me with Basecamp happens with a lot of tools: I quit not because the tool failed, but because I couldn't keep up with the manual friction.
The agent CLI and skill changed that. Now Basecamp is an active part of how I organize my daily work and life, rather than something I set up with good intentions and abandoned. I'm curious to see how this evolves and what other tools will open up to agents in the same way.
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