Session 1
AI Chief of Staff · Cohort 1

Your Foundation.

You leave this session with a fully wired AI Chief of Staff doing real work inside your business. Let's build it.

Format
30 min teach · 90 min build
Where
Google Meet
Session Outcome

You leave with all of this.

The Mental Model

There are a hundred
AI tools. Why this?

ChatGPT. Notion AI. Superhuman. Dify. All promising to be your AI assistant. Most of them are renting you a black box you'll never own.

Build vs. Buy

What you're actually comparing.

Off-the-shelf AI
  • $20–$200+/mo per tool. Stacks fast.
  • Your data lives on their servers. Trains their models.
  • You re-explain yourself every session. Zero memory.
  • Whatever integrations they decide to build. You wait.
  • They raise prices, pivot, or shut down. You're stuck.
What we're building
  • ~$20/mo (Claude Pro). That's it. Forever.
  • Runs locally. Your data never leaves your machine.
  • CONTEXT.md. Knows your business permanently.
  • You build what you need. Any API. Any tool.
  • You own it. Fully. Forever. No lock-in.
Why This Matters

The tools change.
The skills don't.

Once you understand how to wire context, memory, and automation into an AI system — you can build anything on any stack, forever. That's the real investment you're making here. Not a subscription. Infrastructure.

Total Investment

Here's what this actually costs.

$20
per month
Claude Pro. The only ongoing cost.
2
hours per session
30 min teach. 90 min build.
∞
leverage
Skills that compound for years.
How Every Session Works

The Cooking Show Model.

First

I show you the finished dish. You see exactly what we're building before we touch anything. No mystery.

Then

We cook together. Step by step, live. By the end, you have the finished product running — not a tutorial you watched. Something you built.

Session Agenda

The plan.

Part 1
The Mental Model
Build vs. buy. Why this stack. What we're building across all 4 sessions.
Part 2
Install Ghostty + Hermes
Get the CLI up. Connect Claude Pro. First test prompt.
Part 3
Build Your CONTEXT.md
Write your COS its brain — your business, your voice, your priorities.
Part 4
Wire Gmail + Calendar
Connect your inbox and calendar. This is where the leverage starts.
Part 5
Deploy Triage + Morning Brief
3-tier email sort live. Morning summary to your phone every day.
Part 6
Live Test + Open Support
Your COS sends a real email live. Then: questions, troubleshooting, celebration.
Step 1 of 7 · Tool Setup

Install Ghostty Terminal

Ghostty is your terminal — the window into your COS. If that word scares you, good. It won't by the end of this session.

1. Go to ghostty.org and download for your OS.
2. Install it like any other app.
3. Open it. See the prompt. That's it. You're in.

What is a terminal? It's a text-based way to talk to your computer. Instead of clicking buttons, you type instructions. Your COS lives here.

Step 2 of 7 · Core Install

Install Hermes Agent

Hermes is the runtime — the operating system your AI COS lives inside. One command installs everything.

Paste this into Ghostty and press Enter:

curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | sh

When it finishes, verify:

hermes --version

See a version number? Your COS runtime is live.

Step 3 of 7 · AI Brain

Connect Claude API

Create your API account at platform.claude.com, then run:

hermes config set model.provider anthropic
hermes config set model.default claude-sonnet-4-5
hermes config set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY sk-ant...HERE

Now test it:

hermes "Say hello and tell me you're my new Chief of Staff"

When it replies — that's your COS saying hello for the first time.

Step 4 of 7 · The Brain File

Write Your CONTEXT.md

This is what separates a generic AI from your AI. We write it together, right now.

# [Your Name] — Context for My AI COS

## Who I Am
[Name, role, company — 2 sentences]

## My Business
[What you sell, who buys it, top priorities]

## My Voice
[How you write. Casual? Formal? Sign off with?]

## Top 3 Priorities Right Now
1. 
2. 
3.
Step 5 of 7 · First Integration

Wire Gmail + Google Calendar

One command. One OAuth flow. Three minutes. Then your COS is inside your inbox.

hermes setup google-workspace

Follow the prompts — open the URL, authorize, paste the code back.

Verify it worked:

hermes "How many unread emails do I have right now?"

When it answers correctly — your COS is inside your inbox.

Step 6 of 7 · Automation Live

Deploy Triage + Morning Brief

3-Tier Email Triage

  • Tier 1 – Now: Board, investors, escalations
  • Tier 2 – Today: Team, projects, customers
  • Tier 3 – Archive: Newsletters, cold outreach
hermes "Set up 3-tier email triage every 30 min..."

Morning Brief

Hits your phone every morning before you wake up. Unread Tier 1 + 2 emails, today's calendar, your top 3 priorities.

hermes "Daily 7 AM brief: unread emails, calendar, priorities. Send to [your phone]..."
Step 7 of 7 · The Moment

Your COS sends
a real email. Live.

hermes "Find an email that needs a reply. Draft it in my voice, show me first. When I say 'send' — send it."

When that email goes out — you've crossed the line.
You're not just using AI. You have a Chief of Staff.

Before Session 2

Your only homework:
Do nothing.

That list becomes our build agenda for Session 2.
Session 2: Give Your COS a Voice.

Session 1 · AI Chief of Staff

Let's build.

You've got a system by the end of this session. Let's go.

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