The first 30 minutes.
Twelve concrete steps. Each one links to the chapter that goes deep. Tick the boxes — your progress saves locally and waits for you when you come back tomorrow.
- GitHub account2 min
If you don't have one, get one. Free. The floor of every workflow in this book lives in a repo. The rest of the day-zero setup assumes you can `git push`.
- Vercel account (linked to GitHub)3 min
Sign in with GitHub. You'll deploy your first product to Vercel by the end of the week. Free tier covers everything in this book. Netlify works too — pick one and don't argue with yourself.
- Claude Pro or Max plan2 min
Cheapest path to Claude Code + Cowork without an API budget. Pro covers the casual operator. Max if you'll burn tokens daily. You can graduate to API keys later.
- Install Claude Code5 min
One npm command, then `claude --version` to confirm. Authenticates against your Pro/Max account on first run.
- Install Cowork (desktop app)4 min
Cowork is the desktop driver for ops work — connectors to Slack, HubSpot, Stripe, your calendar. Install, connect 3 things you already pay for, ask 'what's on my plate today.'
- Install Obsidian + create your vault6 min
Local-first markdown brain. iCloud or Dropbox sync. Five folders: 00-Inbox, 01-Daily, 02-Projects, 03-People, 04-Companies. Numeric prefixes force ordering.
- Drop a CLAUDE.md at your repo root5 min
One page. Who you are, what you run, your active projects, your preferences, this week's focus. The handbook every new instance reads on wake-up.
- Run your first real prompt3 min
In Cowork: "Read CLAUDE.md and tell me what's on my plate today." In Claude Code (inside a repo): /init then ask it to summarize the codebase. If both work, the loop is live.
- Build your first skill15 min
Pick a workflow you've explained to Claude three times. Codify it. Drop the SKILL.md into ~/.claude/skills/. Test by typing the natural-language trigger phrase.
- Schedule one task10 min
The morning briefing is the highest-leverage first scheduled task. Slack DM at 7:30 AM with calendar + overnight signals + open deals. Run it for two weeks before adding a second.
- Spawn your first swarm5 min
In Claude Code: "Spawn 3 Explore subagents in parallel — one looks at X, one at Y, one at Z." Watch them work concurrently. Single-threaded work feels broken after this.
- Read the security chapter before bed8 min
Don't skip this. The 11-minute leak that cost a friend $4,200 lives in chapter 9. Set spend caps. Rotate keys. Add deny rules for Bash(rm -rf*) and Edit(.env*) tonight.