AI Installation Workshop

Your AI, installed.

Everything you need to set up the two engines you built in the workshop: your Second Brain, and an AI that thinks like you. Grab the tools, follow along, and watch it get built.

Get your tools

A handful of apps. Install these first and you're ready for everything that follows. You don't need to be technical, and you don't need all of them on day one. Start with the first one.

C
Start here

Claude Code

Your command center. This is the AI that reads your files, builds your second brain, and does the real work. Both engines get installed right here.

Download Claude
G
Everyday thinking

ChatGPT

A second AI to think out loud with, draft quick things, and run fast research. Good to keep next to Claude so you always have a second opinion.

Download ChatGPT
X
Backup builder

Codex

OpenAI's version of Claude Code. It works the same way, so if one tool is ever down or stuck, you can hand the same job to the other and keep moving.

Get Codex
W
Talk, don't type

Wispr Flow

Dictate instead of type. Speak your ideas, notes and prompts and they appear as clean text. The fastest way to feed your brain without sitting at a keyboard.

Get Wispr Flow
O
Read your brain

Obsidian

A clean window into your second brain. Your files are simple notes, and Obsidian turns them into a connected, searchable web you can browse any time.

Download Obsidian
H
Advanced, optional

Hermes

An always-on helper that runs jobs for you in the background, even when your laptop is closed. This one is more advanced. It runs best on a cheap cloud server (a VPS) or a spare computer you can leave on, and pairing it with ChatGPT keeps the running costs down. You don't need it to start, and we can set it up together later.

See Hermes

Two things to set up

Once your tools are installed, get these ready and you're good to go.

1

A fresh, dedicated folder

Make one new empty folder for your brain, named something like my-second-brain, and keep it out of iCloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive so nothing fights over your files. Here's the click-by-click.

On a Mac
  1. Open Finder and click Documents in the sidebar.
  2. Right-click an empty space and choose New Folder.
  3. Name it my-second-brain and press Return.
  4. Open the Claude app, go to the Code tab, and choose this new folder as your project.
On Windows
  1. Open File Explorer and click Documents.
  2. Click New then Folder at the top.
  3. Name it my-second-brain and press Enter.
  4. Open the Claude app, go to the Code tab, and choose this new folder as your project.
2

The two files below

Download them from this page. You'll hand them to Claude one at a time. It reads the file, asks you a few questions, and builds everything while you watch.

Three engines, built in order

Each one layers on the last. Today you install the first two. The third is coming.

Stage 1

Strategy Engine

Your Second Brain. A clean, organised home your AI thinks from every time you work together.

Ready to install
Stage 2

Self Engine

Who you are, on file. Your memory, preferences, goals and voice, so the AI sounds like you and works the way you would.

Ready to install
Stage 3

Systems Engine

Your AI Implementers. A team of specialists that do the work on top of your brain and your Self Engine.

Coming soon
Stage 3 · Coming soon
Systems
The specific roles and agents that do the work for you
Stage 2
Self
Who you are: your memory, preferences, goals and voice
Stage 1 · The foundation
Strategy
Your second brain: one organised home for everything
Everything you feed in lands here
Voice notes Web articles YouTube PDFs Meeting notes Ideas Email

Strategy is the home for everything you feed in. Self teaches it who you are. Systems puts it all to work. The more you feed the base, the smarter the whole thing gets.

Stage 1 · Install first

Strategy Engine: Build Your Second Brain

A simple six-folder home for your notes, projects and life, shaped around your real work. Build it once, benefit forever. This is the home base everything else plugs into.

1. Open Claude Code inside your fresh, empty folder.
2. Drop in this file and say: read this file and set up my second brain
3. Answer the five short questions, then say go and it builds while you watch.
Download Engine 1

Saves as 1-Strategy-Engine-Setup.md

Stage 2 · Install second

Self Engine: Teach Your AI Who You Are

Fifteen questions that capture who you are: your memory, preferences, goals and voice. They get turned into a Self Engine the AI reads whenever it helps you, so it sounds like you and works the way you would. It saves as you go, so you can stop any time and say "continue" later. There's an optional last step to feed in your real history, which you can also do another time.

1. Make sure your Second Brain is built first (Engine 1 above).
2. In the same folder, drop in this file and say: read this file and build my Self Engine
3. Take the questions at your pace. There's an optional step at the end to feed it your real history.
Download Engine 2

Saves as 2-Self-Engine-Setup.md

Order matters: install the Strategy Engine first, then the Self Engine. Your Self Engine lives inside the brain you build in Stage 1, so Engine 2 needs Engine 1 already in place.

Your second brain is a living thing

It isn't something you build once and forget. The more you feed it, the smarter it gets about you and your work. Here's the simple loop that keeps it alive.

1

Add to your inbox

Anything worth keeping goes into one place. Open Claude in your folder, hand it whatever you've got, and say the line below. A voice note from Wispr Flow, a link, a half-formed idea, a meeting summary, a screenshot. Don't sort it yourself. Capturing is the only job.

help me add to my inbox
Voice memosWeb linksMeeting notesRandom ideasPDFs & screenshotsThings to remember
2

Sort your inbox, once a day

One line reads each item, decides where it belongs, and files it across your brain. A messy pile becomes a sorted brain in one move. You can run it by hand any time with the line below, but the whole point is that you shouldn't have to remember. Set it once and let your computer run it for you every day.

sort my inbox
Set it to run on its own, every day

Your computer already has a built-in scheduler. You'll point it at one line that opens your brain and sorts it, then pick a daily time your laptop is usually on. After this, you never think about it again.

cd ~/my-second-brain && claude -p "sort my inbox"
On a Mac
  1. Open the Shortcuts app and click the Automation tab.
  2. Click +, choose Time of Day, and set a daily time your laptop is usually open.
  3. Add the action Run Shell Script and paste the line above.
  4. Turn off Ask Before Running so it just happens. Done.
On Windows
  1. Open Task Scheduler from the Start menu.
  2. Click Create Basic Task and name it Sort my inbox.
  3. Choose Daily and pick a time your computer is usually on.
  4. Choose Start a Program, paste the line above, and finish. Done.

That's it. Your brain now tidies itself once a day, hands-free, as long as your computer is on at that time.

3

Review your week, once a week

Once a week, your brain looks back on its own. It reads everything new, pulls out the patterns and lessons, and writes them up as short wiki articles: clean, titled pages you can search and re-read any time. This is how a pile of raw notes slowly turns into your own library of insight. Same idea as the daily sort, just scheduled weekly instead.

review my week
Set it to run on its own, every week

Exactly the same setup as the daily sort, with two small changes: it points at the weekly line below, and you pick Weekly instead of daily. A Friday wind-down or a Sunday reset works well.

cd ~/my-second-brain && claude -p "review my week"
On a Mac
  1. In Shortcuts, make another Automation.
  2. Choose Time of Day and switch it from Daily to Weekly, then pick your day and time.
  3. Add Run Shell Script and paste the weekly line above.
  4. Turn off Ask Before Running. Done.
On Windows
  1. In Task Scheduler, click Create Basic Task.
  2. Name it Review my week and choose Weekly.
  3. Pick your day and time.
  4. Choose Start a Program, paste the weekly line above, and finish. Done.

Over a few months this becomes the most valuable part of your brain: your thinking, captured in your own words, with no effort from you.

Your simple rhythm
AnytimeAdd to your inbox
Daily (auto)Sort your inbox
Weekly (auto)Review your week
Your first 10 minutes

Don't overthink the first day. Open Claude in your folder, say help me add to my inbox, and throw in a few easy things just to feel it work:

  • A voice note about what's on your mind this week.
  • A link or article you've been meaning to read.
  • One goal you want to hit this month.

Then say sort my inbox and watch it find a home for each one. That's the whole thing working, start to finish.

It all stays yours. Your brain lives in a normal folder on your own computer. Nothing here is locked in a tool you can't leave. Once the daily and weekly tasks are set, they run on their own whenever your computer is on, so your brain quietly tidies and grows while you get on with life. The one limit: your laptop has to be awake at that time. If you want it running around the clock, even with your laptop closed, that's what Hermes and the Systems Engine are for.

What people actually use it for

Stage 3 · Coming soon

Systems Engine: Your AI Implementers

Once your brain and Self Engine are in, the last engine puts them to work: a team of AI Implementers that draft, build, sell and organise on top of everything you've installed, each one reading your brain and your Self Engine before it acts. We install these together in the next workshop.

Content Creator Asset Architect Sales Creator Business Strategist Operator Finance Life Coach

Stuck on any step?

Nothing in this setup is one-way. If something doesn't feel right or a word sounds technical, just ask Claude a question, because that's what it's there for. You can always fix or change it together.