The Beginner's Setup Guide

You type on your laptop, but the work happens on a rented Linux server (a VPS) that never sleeps. AI agents on that server write the code, save it to GitHub, and Vercel puts it on the internet at your domain.

1. 01

   Your laptop

   Ghostty terminal

2. 02

   Tailscale

   private network

3. 03

   Your VPS

   Claude Code

4. 04

   GitHub

   your code

5. 05

   Vercel

   live on the internet

6. 06

   Your domain

   GoDaddy DNS

Two things sit alongside all of it: Supabase holds your app data and user accounts, and 1Password holds every password and API key so nothing secret ever ends up in your code.

Use one email address for all of them (ideally one on your own domain), turn on two-factor authentication everywhere, and save every login in 1Password as you go. If you already did the laptop path, you only need the two new accounts marked below.

Day 1: the core

Month 1+: when you build real apps

Only if you build mobile apps

Your laptop stays light. It's a window into the VPS, not where the code lives. (These steps are for a Mac. On Windows, use Windows Terminal instead of Ghostty; everything else is the same.)

# Homebrew (follow the prompts it prints at the end)
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Apps
brew install --cask ghostty 1password claude
# Tailscale: download the Mac app from tailscale.com/download

# Make an SSH key (press Enter at every prompt)
ssh-keygen -t ed25519
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub   # copy this; Hetzner asks for it next

1. 1In Hetzner Cloud, create a server: Ubuntu 24.04, 4 vCPU / 8 GB RAM is plenty to start (mine is 8 / 16 GB after a year). Paste your SSH public key when it asks.
2. 2Copy the server's IP address and connect from Ghostty.
3. 3Create your own user, install Tailscale, then lock the front door so the server only accepts connections over Tailscale.

ssh root@YOUR_SERVER_IP

# Create your everyday user and give it your SSH key
adduser yourname
usermod -aG sudo yourname
rsync --archive --chown=yourname:yourname ~/.ssh /home/yourname

# Updates + firewall
apt update && apt upgrade -y
ufw allow OpenSSH && ufw enable

# Tailscale: prints a link, open it and log in
curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
tailscale up
tailscale ip -4   # note this 100.x.x.x address

Host vps
  HostName 100.x.x.x      # the Tailscale IP from above
  User yourname

Now ssh vps gets you in from anywhere, including your phone (Termius on iPhone, with Tailscale on). Once that works, ask Claude to help you close public SSH so only Tailscale can reach the server.

Everything below runs on the VPS after ssh vps. After this step you can ask Claude Code to install anything else for you.

sudo apt install -y git tmux ripgrep jq python3 python3-pip unzip build-essential gh

# Node.js 22 (most AI tools need it)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt install -y nodejs

# Let npm install tools without sudo
mkdir -p ~/.npm-global && npm config set prefix ~/.npm-global
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.npm-global/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# Claude Code (Anthropic): your main tool
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

# Deploy tools
npm install -g vercel

# Browser automation, so agents can test your sites
npm install -g playwright && npx playwright install --with-deps chromium

# Supabase CLI runs on demand, no install needed
npx supabase --help

Also install the 1Password CLI (op) by following developer.1password.com/docs/cli, or just ask Claude Code to do it.

This is what turns an AI chat into an AI that can do things. Each login below happens once, on the VPS.

Sign in to each tool

Google: Gmail, Calendar, Drive

1. 1In claude.ai, open Settings → Connectors and connect Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive.
2. 2Claude Code picks up those same connectors when you're logged in with the same Claude account.
3. 3Try it: claudethen “What's on my calendar this week?”

Granola: your meetings

Install the Granola desktop app and sign in with Google so it can see your calendar. It records and transcribes each meeting and writes the notes. Then connect Granola to Claude (claude.ai → Settings → Connectors). Now you can ask “What did we decide in Tuesday's call?” or “Draft a follow-up email from this morning's client call.”

GitHub, Vercel, Supabase, Stripe inside Claude

In Claude Code, type /pluginand install the official GitHub, Vercel, Supabase, and Stripe plugins. Each asks you to log in once. After that, “why did my last deploy fail?” or “add a column to the users table” just works. Any other service with an MCP server connects the same way:

claude mcp add --transport http <name> <server-url>
claude mcp list   # see what's connected

API keys: GoDaddy, Anthropic, and the rest

Some services only offer an API key. The pattern is always the same:

1. 1Create the key in the service's developer dashboard (GoDaddy: developer.godaddy.com/keys).
2. 2Save it in 1Password straight away, in a vault just for the VPS.
3. 3Create a 1Password service account that can read only that vault, and put its token on the VPS in a file only you can read. The server can now fetch keys without you there to unlock anything.
4. 4Tell Claude which 1Password item holds the key. It fetches the key when it needs it and never writes it into your code.

Claude Code reads a file called CLAUDE.md at the start of every session. Put your house rules there once and every session follows them. Mine is hundreds of lines after a year. Start with this:

# How I work
- All code lives on this VPS in ~/projects/. Pull before starting, commit and push when done.
- Deploy websites to Vercel with --prod unless I say otherwise.

# Secrets
- Never hardcode secrets. Every key lives in 1Password.
- When I give you a new key, save it to 1Password before using it.

# Safety
- Never send an email, post publicly, or spend money without my explicit yes. Draft first.
- Never delete data or overwrite files without showing me what's there first.
- Never run "crontab <file>". Add cron jobs one line at a time.

# Accounts
- DNS: GoDaddy via API, key in 1Password
- Database: Supabase

When Claude makes a mistake, don't just fix it. Say “add a rule to CLAUDE.md so this doesn't happen again.” That habit does more for you than anything else in this guide.

CLAUDE.md sets the rules. Skillsteach the moves. A skill is a written playbook that Claude loads only when the task calls for it, like “interview me about this plan” or “review this before I ship.” A plugin is a bundle of skills you install in one step. These are the ones I keep installed once I start building real apps.

# Skills: each command asks which agents to install to
npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills -g --skill grill-me tdd improve-codebase-architecture
npx skills@latest add vercel-labs/agent-browser -g
npx skills@latest add https://github.com/dodo-digital/evolving-skills/tree/main/plugins/evolving-skills/claude-skills -g

# The browser those agents drive
npm install -g agent-browser
agent-browser install

/plugin marketplace add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
/plugin install compound-engineering@compound-engineering-plugin

Restart Claude Code afterward, then type /to see your new skills. You rarely need to call them by name: say “grill me on this plan” and Claude picks the right one.

Where they come from

• grill-me, tdd, improve-codebase-architecture: github.com/mattpocock/skills
• agent-browser: github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser
• Evolving Skills: github.com/dodo-digital/evolving-skills
• Compound Engineering: github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin

Add $99/yr for Apple and $25 once for Google Play if you ship mobile apps. Prices are approximate as of 2026. Start with the left column; you'll know when you need the right one because you'll hit the limits.