— Stack

Tools I actually use, and pay for.

The full stack behind the Vault. Every blueprint we sell was built with these tools — they're the same ones that run our 9-business operation day-to-day.

— AI models + code assistants

The core stack. Every blueprint in the Vault gets installed, modified, and shipped using these.

Claude Code (Anthropic)Essential
All Ops
Anthropic's official CLI. The primary tool I use to build and maintain every automation blueprint.
Single most important tool in the stack. Installs blueprints, modifies configs, writes glue code, and runs multi-hour sessions unattended when given broad permissions. Nothing else comes close for operator-grade dev work.
Cost
$20/mo Pro, $100/mo Max, or metered API
Claude (Anthropic Pro)Essential
All Ops
The model for editorial, long-context reasoning, and copywriting.
The model I reach for first on anything requiring nuance. Handles the writing on every blueprint's install guide, plus the entire content voice on this site.
Cost
$20/mo Pro
Gemini 2.5 Pro (Google AI Studio)Essential
MarketingOpsSalesOps
Bulk generation, image analysis, cheaper for high-volume content pipelines.
The 50-Post SEO Blog Engine blueprint routes through Gemini Pro. Free tier is 250 requests/day; paid tier caps at $300/mo per hard-enforced router.
Cost
Free tier: 250 reqs/day
ElevenLabsEssential
MarketingOps
AI voiceover for narration and ad reads.
The 9:16 Vertical Ad Generator blueprint uses ElevenLabs voice cloning + Julian/Tremblay voice IDs for EN + FR variants. Voicemails for the RVM blueprint go the opposite direction (real recording), but ads = ElevenLabs.
Cost
$22-99/mo
OpenRouterUseful
All Ops
Multi-provider LLM router with free-tier models.
Fallback provider in every blueprint's LLM router. Nvidia Nemotron 120b is free and surprisingly capable when Gemini caps.
Cost
Pay-per-token, includes free tiers

— Terminal + workspace

Where the operator lives day-to-day.

Wave TerminalEssential
All Ops
Modern multi-tab terminal with panes and workspaces.
Runs multiple Claude Code sessions in parallel — one tab installing a blueprint, another writing content, another running maintenance. Free, open source, way better than default Mac Terminal for operator work.
Cost
Free
CursorUseful
All Ops
AI-first code editor (VS Code fork).
Good complement to Claude Code when you need visual file navigation. Not primary — Claude Code handles most work — but useful for reviewing diffs or paired debugging.
Cost
$20/mo Pro

— Automation building blocks

The actual libraries and services behind the blueprints in the Vault.

PlaywrightEssential
SalesOps
Browser automation. The scraping engine behind the Google Maps Lead Scraper blueprint.
Node + Python bindings, headless Chromium, handles JS-heavy sites that break simpler HTTP scrapers. 9,613-lead scrape in 142 min was Playwright.
Cost
Free (open source)
ffmpegEssential
MarketingOps
Video and audio processing. Every ad rendered on this stack uses it.
The 9:16 Vertical Ad Generator blueprint chains ffmpeg for phone-mic codec, cuts, VO mixing, and slate overlays. Same tool powers voicemail post-processing on the RVM blueprint.
Cost
Free (open source)
YOLO (Ultralytics)Useful
MarketingOps
Object detection. Used to strict-cut human frames in ad B-roll.
The 9:16 Ad Generator blueprint uses YOLOv8n at 0.15 confidence to detect people in source clips and cut around them, avoiding brand collisions with faces the operator doesn't own rights to.
Cost
Free (open source)
TwilioEssential
SalesOpsCustomerOps
SMS + DID phone numbers.
The RVM Drop Stack blueprint rotates through 30+ Twilio DIDs per brand. Also handles SMS follow-ups on the Review Generation blueprint and appointment reminders on the Appointment Booking bot.
Cost
Pay-per-use (~$1/DID/mo)
DropCowboyEssential
SalesOps
Ringless voicemail delivery, US + Canada only.
The RVM Drop Stack blueprint dispatches through DropCowboy — carrier-cooperation single-ring path produces real 'missed call + voicemail' delivery. US + Canada only.
Cost
$0.024 per drop
Cal.comEssential
RevOps
Open-source booking platform with a great API.
The AI Appointment Booking Bot blueprint plugs into Cal.com for slot management + booking webhook. Self-hostable if you don't want to pay.
Cost
Free plan, $12/mo Pro
Wave AccountingEssential
FinanceOps
Free accounting + invoicing with a GraphQL API.
The Wave-Synced Invoice Approval Queue blueprint reads and writes to Wave via GraphQL. 18 months in production replacing manual invoice work for 8 recurring clients.
Cost
Free (paid tiers for payments)

— Publishing + web infrastructure

How this site (and thousands of operators using the same stack) actually ships.

Next.jsEssential
MarketingOpsPlatformOps
React framework. Powers this site + every brand landing page in the portfolio.
Static export mode + App Router. Deploys to Cloudflare Pages for free at CDN edge. The 50-Post Blog Engine blueprint uses the same Next.js pattern.
Cost
Free (open source)
Cloudflare PagesEssential
PlatformOps
Static site hosting + CDN.
Free tier hosts unlimited requests for static sites. Every brand site in the portfolio runs on this. Zero infrastructure cost.
Cost
Free
Cloudflare TunnelsEssential
PlatformOps
Expose a local service (like WordPress on a Mac Studio) to the public internet without opening ports.
Runs every headless WordPress backend, and every VoiceDrop / SMS webhook receiver. Cheaper + safer than opening router ports.
Cost
Free
Cloudflare RegistrarEssential
PlatformOps
Domain registration at wholesale cost.
$10.44/yr for .com (vs $15-20 elsewhere), $12/yr .dev, $32/yr .io. All at-cost. Every domain in the portfolio is here.
Cost
At-cost per TLD
WordPress (self-hosted on Hetzner)Essential
MarketingOps
Headless CMS for blog content.
Boring, reliable, has every plugin, has the best content REST API. The blog behind this site lives on a 2GB Hetzner VPS for $5/mo.
Cost
Hosting ~$5/mo on a Hetzner CX11

— Video + content creation

The stack for organic video output — for both ads and social.

Envato ElementsEssential
MarketingOps
Subscription library of stock video, sound effects, fonts, and templates.
Every ad rendered by the 9:16 Ad Generator blueprint pulls B-roll from Envato Elements. Unlimited downloads at flat rate is the right economic model when you're producing high volume.
Cost
$16/mo (annual) or $33/mo
ScreenStudioEssential
MarketingOpsPlatformOps
Screen recording with automatic zoom + polish.
Records async product demos and internal team recordings. Output quality is closer to After Effects than to plain screen capture.
Cost
$89 one-time
DescriptUseful
MarketingOps
Text-based video and audio editor.
Edit a video like a Google Doc — cut filler words, remove ums, replace phrases. Fastest way to clean up long-form recordings before they ship.
Cost
Free tier + $12/mo Creator
CapCutUseful
MarketingOps
Mobile-first vertical video editor.
Backup path for quick 9:16 edits on phone when the full ad pipeline is overkill. Free.
Cost
Free

— Ops + monitoring

How the whole thing stays running without a team.

Heal-loop (custom)Essential
PlatformOps
In-house cross-service watchdog. Polls every service you own, classifies OK/STALE/DOWN, alerts once per state change.
Ships as one of the Vault blueprints. Runs across 20+ services on this stack — no launchd-KeepAlive flapping, no repeated alert spam.
Cost
Included in the Vault
launchd (macOS)Essential
PlatformOps
Native macOS service manager. What actually keeps every Mac-hosted service alive.
Better than cron for keeping long-running Node processes up. Every brand's Next.js + tunnel is a launchd plist with KeepAlive=true.
Cost
Free (built into macOS)
SQLite + PostgresEssential
PlatformOps
SQLite for local state, Postgres for anything multi-writer.
Every blueprint stores state locally in SQLite (better-sqlite3) with WAL mode. RVM Drop Stack + Cold Email use Postgres because dispatch is multi-worker.
Cost
Free (open source)
Gmail + Google WorkspaceEssential
CustomerOpsSalesOps
Email + auth backbone.
Cold outreach and delivery emails ship from Google Workspace inboxes for deliverability. DKIM setup is non-negotiable and Google is the least-painful path.
Cost
$7/mo per user

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