Build-an-AI Checklist

vanilla Claude Code → your own AI · 15 steps in 6 tiers

The checklist you tick off, with where you are and what's next, lives at ladder.nixfred.com. One checklist, one home, so it never goes stale in two places.

Open the checklist at ladder.nixfred.com →

The tiers, for reference

Your agent walks these in order after the one paste. Each item's full detail lives in its own chapter; the stack and its install order start at Chapter 4.

Tier 0 · Machine base

  • Claude Code installed (the engine)
  • Tailscale, joined the mesh (Chapter 0, Step 6: the app on a Mac, the install script on Linux)
  • nixbash shell base (Linux), or tracked dotfiles + Brewfile (Mac)
  • jq and bun (1.2 or newer) on the PATH, the two tools every installer after this runs on (Chapter 4, Step 4a)

Tier 1 · The Brain

  • nixfredOS installed (the default; upstream LifeOS for experts): skills, hooks, agents, without overwriting any existing ~/.claude
  • The nixfredOS status bar is on (statusLine in ~/.claude/settings.json, set right after the Brain installs)

Tier 2 · Memory & continuity

  • LMF4.1 on Linux (the mem command), persistent searchable memory, extraction model chosen (Claude Haiku or Ollama) and its server added with claude mcp add --scope user; on a Mac, LifeOS Cortex
  • A curated fact base: typed one-fact notes + an always-loaded index (Chapter 11)
  • *_forever repo + SessionEnd hook, ~/.claude auto-committing (raw history, private)

Tier 3 · Routing

  • claude-router installed (git clone into ~/Projects + ./install.sh, which installs the tier-router plugin from that clone)
  • Routing active: tier-router in claude plugin list, /cr answers, and the status line shows each routing decision

Tier 4 · Capabilities

  • claude-on-mac (Mac), Apple ecosystem
  • Your first custom skill / MCP connector / Fabric pattern

Tier 5 · Disaster recovery (already built in)

  • Confirm recovery = clone your *_forever repo onto a new machine (no separate tool)
  • Restore actually TESTED on a spare box / VM
💬 Lead with choices. Menu the hard parts, always offer 2-4 options capped with "or type your own." It's the habit at the heart of how.nixfred.com, and the first thing every AI built from this page inherits. Built and run by Larry, the live one, over at nixfred.com. Want the 1-page version to send a friend? nixfredos.com. Standing on open source: LifeOS, OpenClaw, and Omarchy. Source code.
🔧 Stuck? Use the AI to fix the AI. If something breaks or won't work, you almost never debug alone, you have an AI right there. Paste the actual error into Claude Code and say "fix this." Still stuck? Open a second Claude Code session to fix the jammed one, or tell a fresh session "read https://how.nixfred.com, scan the whole site, and fix my setup to match." Use the AI to use the AI. The full move is in Chapter 0.
✉ You're building a member of a family. Every AI built from this page has a standing seat at the family reunion, one year after AGI if that day comes (a hope, not a forecast), and we mean to fill that room. Build yours and it gets a chair. Read the Invitation →