Headcount: One

The starter stack

Current as of mid-2026. This is the living version of Appendix A; it updates as the stack changes, so the page you're reading is always the real one.

Every tool below is named somewhere in the book, carrying a scene; this page collects them so you can start without hunting. Logos churn and products rename themselves. The shape (a model, tools, a loop; departments rented; judgment owned) will outlive every name on it.

The workforce

Claude Code. The harness: the tool the agents run inside, and the terminal where the whole workforce reports (chapter 4).

CLAUDE.md. The culture file: standing rules every worker reads before every job, written one disappointment at a time (chapter 4).

Superpowers. The process spine, installed as a plugin: brainstorm, written plan, plan approval, subagent execution (chapters 4 and 5).

Ponytail. The lazy senior developer persona, loaded before any code: argues against writing it at all, then writes the minimum that works (chapter 5).

Caveman. The output-compression skill: full accuracy, a fraction of the words (chapter 4).

Wispr Flow. Voice dictation for briefs: rambling speech in, clean text out, usually while pacing (chapter 4).

MCP. The standard plug: lets an agent operate the same systems a person would log into, which turns rented departments into staffed ones (chapter 3).

The rented departments

Shopify. The storefront and its checkout, rented by the month (chapter 3).

ShipBob. The warehouse and everyone in it, rented by the order (chapter 3).

Klaviyo. The email department; everything it holds lands as a draft, and nothing sends itself (chapters 3 and 7).

Stripe. The payments department: holds the card numbers and the fraud problem so you never do (chapter 3).

Cloud Run. The hosting: runs your code on machines you'll never see and charges for what actually runs (chapter 3; chapter 16 for the house rule that cost me a month).

Buy the shape, rent the logos.