Chris Explains AI
Command Center
Last regenerated May 31, 10:11 am
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Dallas · +79°F Sunny
Soft launch
31
days to launch
Activity pulse
34
entries in last 14 days
Day streak
6
longest 6 · no entry yet today
AI sessions
80
0 today · rolling 7 days
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Track board workstreams by focus tier

Active focus3
Chris Builds AI (agency) CRITICAL
Phase 0 — build pre-customer
40%Last touched 2026-05-30
Next: Sales site v1 + v2 built (local, not deployed). Next: rename site copy/nav from 'Architect Agency' to 'Chris Builds AI', run code-review + QA, swap in the real demo dashboard, then deploy and flip Railway to Hobby before driving traffic. Google Cloud OAuth (Step 0) deferred until the Tier 1 app exists.
Notes
Renamed to 'Chris Builds AI' 2026-05-30 (was 'Architect Agency'; brand architecture in BUSINESS-PLAN.md — Chris Explains AI = education, Chris Builds AI = done-for-you, verb pair). Site rename pending before deploy. Two-tier productized AI agent agency. Tier 1 LITE $197 one-time, Tier 2 FULL $597-797 + $150/mo. Step 1 (auto-proposal pipeline) COMPLETE 2026-05-29: all 4 accounts wired (Supabase + Resend domain-verified + Firecrawl free tier + Railway), worker deployed from private repo chrisexplainsai/agency-worker and verified processing a real lead end-to-end from the cloud (claim -> Firecrawl scrape -> awaiting-draft -> Resend ping). /draft-proposal dry run passed. Sales site v1 (/agency) + v2 (/agency-v2) built locally, plus a clickable demo dashboard (Chris-approved). Railway on FREE TRIAL ($5/30 days) — flip to Hobby before agency marketing starts. Google Cloud OAuth (Step 0) deferred until Tier 1 app exists; runbook + form copy + 120x120 consent logo prepped.
Content engine (build-in-public, both arms) CRITICAL
Unblocked, not yet started
0%Last touched 2026-05-30
Next: Kickoff on the redirected angle (BUSINESS-PLAN.md): build-in-public, agency-and-agents-led. Show Chris's real Claude Code setup + the agent systems he builds; gate the how-to. Pick the platform mix, set a light starting cadence (a few posts/week while recording, ramp to daily at launch), decide carousel tooling (Python/Pillow vs Figma).
Notes
Strategy redirected 2026-05-30: front door for BOTH arms (courses + agency). One content stream = trailer for the Claude Code courses + proof for the agency + credibility for the Architect Method. Videos lean toward the agency / agent systems Chris builds; carousels carry tips + AI updates + shorter concepts. Gating rule: show what I can do, not how I built it. Automation machinery unchanged (Python/Pillow templating, Publer, Twitter/Grok research workflow); only the content angle moved. Phase 1 funnel closed 2026-05-28.
Course ladder (Architect Method + 2 Claude Code courses) CRITICAL
Course 1 slides done; recording next
70%Last touched 2026-05-30
Next: Record The Architect Method (Chris is the bottleneck; all slide decks + teleprompter docs are done). M1-M4 approved; M5-M10 await Chris's Google-Slides review. Then build courses 2 (Claude Code Beginner) + 3 (Claude Code Advanced), neither started.
Notes
Education arm = a 3-course ladder (see BUSINESS-PLAN.md): (1) The Architect Method — prompting foundations, draft + all 11 slide decks done (engine locked, renderer-agnostic, audit-clean), recording is the next step; (2) Claude Code Beginner — not started; (3) Claude Code Advanced — system-building, shares subject matter with the agency, not started. Lead magnet content complete.
Also open1
Idea Factory (SYSTEM-VISION Layer A)
Built — running ideas
100%Last touched 2026-05-27
Next: Engine is built and live. Ideas in flight (parallel session): video-reverse-engineer at Gate 3 (final plan, awaiting Chris); micro-tools at Gate 2 (verdict, awaiting Chris). Resume per the /factory SOP.
Notes
BUILT 2026-05-27 at full scope (pipeline + dashboard), overriding launch-first ordering. Engine at ideas/_engine/factory.py + /factory skill; per-idea state under ideas/<slug>/; decision queue at command-center/data/factory-queue.json; Factory board on the cockpit. Idea Bank store live (16 ideas). Two ideas currently moving through the gates in a parallel session.
Recently done5
Launch track
Phase 1: Funnel (closed); Phase 2 next
100%Last touched 2026-05-28
Next: Phase 1 closed. Start Phase 2 (content engine + traffic) in a fresh session. Deliverability is monitor-only from here: watch Promotions placement improve as sender reputation warms over the first ~100 sends.
Phase progress · 4 phases
Phase 0: Pre-launch polish 6/6 · 100%
  • ✓ Brand and logo final review
  • ✓ CE monogram and full asset suite (16 SVGs, 16 PNGs)
  • ✓ Brand guide locked
  • ✓ Lead magnet content final pass (universal prompt template)
  • ✓ Lead magnet PDF formatting + reusable PDF template (HTML/CSS + Playwright, supersedes Word template)
  • ✓ Polished lead magnet PDF ready for distribution
Phase 1: Launch the funnel 12/14 · 86%
  • ✓ Cloudflare Pages account created (stood up during cockpit deploy 2026-05-26)
  • ✓ GitHub account / repository set up — `chrisexplainsai/site` repo created 2026-05-27
  • ✓ MailerLite account created (2026-05-27)
  • ✓ Astro project scaffolded (2026-05-27, Astro 6 + Tailwind v4)
  • ✓ Landing page hero and copy draft 1 (2026-05-27, 13 iterations → final)
  • ✓ Email capture form wired to MailerLite (2026-05-28, fetch POST to MailerLite endpoint w/ fields[name]+fields[email])
  • ✓ Lead magnet auto-delivery on signup (2026-05-28, MailerLite Automation: Waitlist join → branded HTML welcome email with PDF link)
  • ○ Welcome email sequence (3-5 emails) — 1 of N done (the welcome). Drip sequence deferred until first batch of subs.
  • ✓ Site live at chrisexplainsai.com (Cloudflare Pages, both apex + www, SSL enabled, 2026-05-28)
  • ○ First real (non-Chris) email subscriber
  • ✓ MailerLite sender domain authentication (DKIM/SPF, authenticated 2026-05-28)
  • ✓ Cloudflare Email Routing for chris@chrisexplainsai.com → gmail forward (2026-05-28)
  • ✓ MailerLite From email swapped from chrisexplainsai@gmail.com → chris@chrisexplainsai.com (2026-05-28)
  • ✓ Cloudflare Web Analytics installed (auto-injected at edge, confirmed 2026-05-28)
Phase 2: Content engine 0/8 · 0%
  • ○ Publer account setup
  • ○ Image templating script (Python + Pillow) working end-to-end
  • ○ First Figma carousel template designed
  • ○ Twitter/X-via-Grok content research workflow operational
  • ○ First batch of 7 days of posts scheduled
  • ○ First short-form video published (TikTok / Reels / Shorts)
  • ○ 2 weeks of consistent posting hit
  • ○ First 100 followers across primary platforms
Phase 3: Course delivery 0/8 · 0%
  • ○ Supabase Auth set up
  • ○ Stripe account verified
  • ○ Course content migrated to Astro content collections
  • ○ Member-only middleware in place
  • ○ Member dashboard design
  • ○ Video hosting decision and account
  • ○ Payment flow tested end-to-end
  • ○ First paying customer
Notes
Phase 0 COMPLETE 2026-05-26. Phase 1 SHIPPED end-to-end 2026-05-27 -> 28. Funnel closeout 2026-05-28 evening: From swapped to chris@chrisexplainsai.com, welcome email stripped to personal-note format, PDF re-uploaded in MailerLite, From-name set to 'Chris', subject set to 'Your prompt template', DMARC TXT record added at Cloudflare (p=none monitor mode), Cloudflare Web Analytics confirmed running (auto-injected, 142 PV / 23 visits in last 24h), recipient-facing gmail addresses swapped on Footer/privacy/terms/index, 'check Promotions' hint added to signup success state. Multi-inbox retest result: consistent Promotions placement (improvement from the spam result this morning). Reputation warmup over first ~100 sends is the remaining lever for Primary.
Command Center dashboard (v1)
v1 shipped
100%Last touched 2026-05-26
Next: v2 ideas tracked in the plan file. No active work; revisit after launch.
Notes
All 6 steps done 2026-05-26. Code-reviewer PASS WITH NOTES (fixes applied), qa 61/61 pass. v2 deferrals: auto-derive last_touched from tagged log entries; pull real multi-window-payoff % into the AI snapshot card.
Claude Code infra deepening
Complete
100%Last touched 2026-05-27
Next: No next action set.
Notes
All 5 chunks done. E + F + G + H shipped 2026-05-26. Chunk I (Personal/ workspace at C:\Users\chris\Documents\Personal\) shipped 2026-05-27 — folder scaffold, CLAUDE.md, HANDOFF.md, travel/reference/HOWTO.md, .gitignore, forest-green VS Code theme. Anthropic 2FA confirmed enabled 2026-05-27.
Overnight research run (competitor + audience)
Complete
100%Last touched 2026-05-26
Next: Pull from competitors/_summary.md + pain-points/_themes.md for Phase 1 landing-page copy + lead magnet positioning.
Notes
Ran end-to-end 2026-05-26. 235 verbatim audience quotes + 20 competitor deep dives + 2 strategic synthesis files. ~35 min compute, 12 parallel Sonnet sub-agents. Recurring observation: nobody complains about AI cost — only effectiveness, identity, job security. Strong positioning signal for Architect Method.
Brand Phase 0 (logo + asset suite)
Complete
100%Last touched 2026-05-25
Next: No further brand work until launch posts call for new templated assets.
Notes
CE monogram, full asset suite (16 SVGs + 16 PNGs), tagline, descriptor, color palette, typography all locked.

Insights rule-based, all-time

info
Dominant focus: Infra/CC with 19 of 28 tagged entries (68%).
If this matches your stated priority, good. If not, the day-to-day pull is away from the top of the plan.
info
Peak hour: 11p with 9 entries.
If this is outside your day-job window, you've found your deep-work block. Defend it on the calendar.
claude
In-progress phases on the launch track: Phase 1: Launch the funnel.
Either check items off in phases.md, prune what's no longer planned, or move stalled items to a backlog.

Activity, last 30 days

When you work last 8 weeks

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Dashed boxes mark off-hours (outside Mon-Fri 9am-5pm).

Tag breakdown all-time

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Phase 0Phase 1Phase 3Infra/CCDecisionOther

Recent activity last 5

2026-05-30 09:40
OtherHandoff: Agency sales website rebuilt as an Ayla-inspired one-pager
Rebuilt the [/agency page](../../../site/src/pages/agency.astro) from a form-centric page into a full experiential one-pager modeled on the structure + motion of Ayla Bloomberg's site (Chris's reference exemplar), with all-original copy in Chris's voice and his indigo/near-black palette. Added a mouse-reactive dot grid, marquee, rotating hero line, staged phone chat mockup, an animated conveyor flow, and a dashboard mockup; trimmed the [intake form](../../../site/src/components/AgencyIntakeForm.astro) and added `headerStyle="none"` to [Layout](../../../site/src/layouts/Layout.astro) so it reads as a standalone product site. Decisions locked: no pricing, dashboard-led, 8 named agents, 24h proposal / 1-week live, "40+ hrs saved" claim. Files are local-only / untracked in the `site/` repo (not deployed). Also staged (not run) an [overnight research run](../../../research/2026-05-29-agency-sales-positioning/SCOPE.md) on how to sell a $500-$3,000 done-for-you AI automation service. Next chat: differentiate from Ayla, highlight higher value, polish copy/layout, then decide on deploy. Full bridge in [HANDOFF.md](../../../HANDOFF.md).
2026-05-29 20:31
Infra/CC[INFRA] /draft-proposal dry run + briefing step added
Ran the [/draft-proposal skill](../../../.claude/skills/draft-proposal/SKILL.md) end-to-end against the calibration fixture lead (ChrisExplainsAI as its own prospect): fetched via skill_helper, drafted on the Max sub (no API spend), landed FULL-6 with Boss/Email/Researcher/Writer-Reviewer/Growth/Daily-QC — on the fixture's calibration target. Rendered to a [Word doc](../../../active/.tmp/Agency%20Proposal%20-%20calibration%20sample.docx) for readability; rejected the lead to keep the table clean. Per Chris's request, added a **Step 3 "Prospect briefing"** to the skill: every future run now shows a readable summary of all form fields + scraped site/social + Claude's read BEFORE the proposal, so Chris can add what we couldn't scrape. Also fixed a latent cp1252 encoding crash in skill_helper fetch (em dash in scraped title). Agency Phase 0 Step 1 (auto-proposal pipeline) is now COMPLETE end-to-end. Google Cloud OAuth deferred until the Tier 1 app exists (verification demo video needs the working app).
2026-05-29 19:55
Infra/CC[INFRA] Agency lead pipeline LIVE in the cloud
Wired the last three agency accounts (Resend domain-verified + API key, Firecrawl free-tier key, Railway worker) and deployed the worker from a new private repo [agency-worker](https://github.com/chrisexplainsai/agency-worker). Verified end-to-end from the cloud: a `new` Supabase lead was claimed by the Railway worker within 60s, scraped via Firecrawl (6.2k chars), flipped to `awaiting-draft`, and the ready-to-draft ping sent via Resend — zero local involvement. Caught + fixed a real bug: [scrape.py](../../../agency/_engine/scrape.py) targeted firecrawl-py v1 but v4.28 installed; the 97 mocked QA tests never caught it (every real lead would have scraped empty). Pinned firecrawl-py to v4. Railway on free trial (flip to Hobby before agency marketing). Pending: optional /draft-proposal calibration + Phase 0 Step 0 Google Cloud OAuth.
2026-05-29 08:01
OtherHandoff: Agency Phase 0 Step 1 — Supabase live + smoke test passing
Drove Supabase setup via browser automation: org + `chrisexplainsai-agency` project + [agency_leads schema](../../../agency/_engine/supabase_schema.sql) + 3 env vars populated + [end-to-end smoke test](../../../active/.tmp/supabase_smoke.py) passes 4/4 with strict RLS policy. Three gotchas captured in [HANDOFF.md](../../../HANDOFF.md) (new `sb_publishable_` key fell back to legacy JWT, PostgREST cache lag on GRANT, `Prefer: return=minimal` required for anon insert with no SELECT policy). Next: Resend (longest DNS wait), Firecrawl, Railway.
2026-05-28 23:19
OtherHandoff: Track B Phase B closed (Preface + Module 1 decks approved; engine rewritten to paragraph-based layout; Module 2-10 workflow shipped)
[Track B] Slide engine rewritten to paragraph-based layout after multiple rounds of LibreOffice ↔ Google Slides rendering mismatch — single textbox per slide, paragraphs with inline markers, `space_before` controls gaps, renderer decides line heights. Modules 0 + 1 approved in Google Slides. Engine locked, [course/slides/MODULE-BUILD-WORKFLOW.md](../../../course/slides/MODULE-BUILD-WORKFLOW.md) defines the 6-phase pipeline (with parallel `editor` + `general-purpose` sub-agent review) for Modules 2-10.