Claude
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What to do next
- 1. Open README.md first. It explains the rest.
- 2. Fill in CLAUDE.md with your own details. About 30 minutes.
- 3. Do one real piece of work with it loaded. See if the memory helps.
Want it built for you?
The kit is a starting frame. The AI Setup Sprint builds a working system around your actual week.
Book the AI Setup Sprint call
Chapter 07 · Operating in Public · The working system
The system behind Chapter 07.
I run my own firm on AI. Not as a chat window, but as one system that remembers the business, follows my rules and does work on a schedule while I do the founder work.
Chapter 07 is the log of building it. This page is the system itself: what it is made of, the one rule that keeps it running, and what it has taught me. Written for founders, not engineers.
Not ready for a call? Get the free Starter Kit.
Read from the running system
Two numbers I can prove.
Each number below was counted from the live system on the date shown, not typed from memory. If I cannot prove a number, it is not on this page.
45+
scheduled jobs ran in the last 7 days: reports, checks, drafts and clean-up, with nobody pressing a button.
Read 2026-10-02 · counted from the job logs · a floor, not a ceiling
45
essays live in The Field Manual. 21 of them are in Chapter 07, the log of building this system.
Read 2026-10-05 · counted from the live sitemap
Where most founders are
Four levels of using AI in a business.
Most founders stop at level 2. The real gains start at level 4, when AI stops being something you open and becomes something that runs.
Level 1
Ask and copy
You ask a question, copy the answer, and start fresh every time. It knows nothing about your business.
Level 2
Better prompts
Longer chats and saved instructions. The answers improve, but you still drive every step by hand.
Level 3
A pile of tools
Automations, plug-ins and scripts. Useful, but scattered. When one breaks, nobody notices for weeks.
Level 4 · this page
One running system
It remembers your business, follows your rules, works on a schedule and tells you when something breaks.
The one rule that keeps it running
Use the simplest tool that does the job.
Before anything new is added, the system checks whether something already in place can do it. Built-in first. Official apps next. Custom code last.
Most AI setups fail the same way: too many tools, each added on a good day, none of them owned. Every extra tool is one more thing that can break while you are busy. This rule keeps the stack small, and a small stack is one you can trust.
- 01What the computer already doesFiles, folders, schedules. Free and the most stable.
- 02The vendor's own command toolsBuilt and maintained by the company that made the service.
- 03Features built into ClaudeScheduled jobs, browser help, built-in skills. Nothing extra to install.
- 04Official app connectionsNotion, Gmail, Calendar and the like, linked the supported way.
- 05Add-on packsHandy for one kind of work, but heavier to run.
- 06Custom scripts, then manual workLast resort. Every custom script is a future repair job.
The system map
Nine parts, one system.
Each part has one job. You do not need all nine on day one. Most founders get the biggest lift from the first five.
01 · Engine
02 · Memory
What it knows about you
Who you are, what the business is doing and what went wrong before. It reads this at the start of every session.
03 · Rules
What it may and may not do
Hard limits: nothing is deleted, sent or paid without your yes.
04 · Toolbox
Every tool, ranked
A list of what it can use and in what order, so it picks the simplest one.
05 · Schedule
Jobs that run without you
Morning briefs, weekly reviews, checks and drafts, at fixed times.
06 · Checks
Every run leaves a record
If a job fails, you hear about it. Silence is never taken as "fine".
07 · Router
Each business kept separate
Work for one company never leaks into another.
08 · Dashboard
One screen for everything
What ran, what broke and what needs a decision, in one place.
09 · Public layer
This site
The essays and this page. Building in public keeps the system honest.
Learned the hard way
What the system taught me.
One lesson from each hard week, newest first. The full stories are in Chapter 07.
"Not found" is not "not there".
In one day, the system reported three times that some work had never been done. All three were wrong. Twice it had looked in the wrong place, and once it had searched with the wrong words. Now a "missing" finding must search more than one way before anyone believes it.
A job that waits for permission at 3 a.m. simply stops.
Every scheduled job was still set to ask before acting. With nobody awake to say yes, they quietly gave up halfway. The fix was to decide in advance what each job may do on its own, and to keep the risky actions behind a yes.
A number you cannot measure yet is a blocker, not a zero.
Some targets showed as failures only because the data had not built up yet. Marking them "still collecting, ready by this date" stopped the false alarms, and the real gaps stood out.
Check twice before you call something broken.
Files looked damaged while they were still syncing. The fix was to read again after a pause, not to "repair" files that were never broken.
Privacy checks must fail closed.
A check that removed private details from text could not see inside tables. Now anything it cannot confirm as clean does not get published.
If you want this running for you
Start with one working system built around your week.
The AI Setup Sprint is two or three focused sessions that leave you with a Claude-based system doing real work. Fixed price. No ongoing commitment.
Not ready for a call?
The free Starter Kit.
The bare frame I started with: a short guide and the template files for memory and rules. It suits a founder, or someone on the team, who is happy editing a few text files.
- A 4-page guide: why a business needs a system, the map above, and a 30-minute setup
- A CLAUDE.md template with blanks to fill
- Starter files for memory, rules and lessons learned
- How to grow it from the kit to a full system
Send me the Starter Kit
Free. I send a confirmation email first, then the download link and three short setup notes. Unsubscribe any time.
You'll get a confirmation email first (double opt-in). The download link arrives after you confirm.
Questions founders ask
Before you start.
Do I need to be technical?
For the Sprint, no. I build it with you and you use it in plain language. For the free kit, you or someone on your team should be comfortable editing a few text files.
Which plan do I need?
A paid Claude plan with projects and memory. The ideas work with any AI, but the kit's examples assume Claude.
How long until it helps?
The kit takes about 30 minutes to set up. Expect one to two weeks of real use before it starts paying back. The Sprint ends with something already doing real work.
What is the difference between the kit and the Sprint?
The kit is an empty frame. The Sprint is the frame filled in for your business: memory about your work, rules for your risks, and jobs scheduled around your week.
Is my business data safe?
Claude's paid plans do not train on your data by default. In this setup the memory sits in your own files, and the rules stop anything being sent, deleted or paid without your yes. Treat those files like any private company document.