Resources

Free tools, guides, and assessments to help your team start automating.

The AI operations starter kit

Everything you need to start building with Claude Code, n8n, and NocoDB. Free.

A hands-on package that works in both Cowork (browser) and Claude Code (terminal). Includes an interactive 7-section walkthrough, a companion guide with real examples, install instructions, and a complete sample project with rules, skills, and a working website. Built from the same stack we use with clients.

What's included

  • Getting Started guide (works in Cowork or Claude Code)
  • Interactive 7-section walkthrough that builds a real project
  • Companion guide (PPTX) with screenshots and architecture diagrams
  • Claude Code install guide (Mac + Windows)
  • Sample project with CLAUDE.md, rules, skills, and seed data
  • Pre-built Astro website and docker-compose for self-hosting
Get the starter kit

Complete the 2-minute quiz to get your personalized starter kit.

Advanced

The consulting business starter pack

The full system we use to run Black Hills Labs. 55 files, zero fluff.

Rules, skills, workflow specs, CRM schema, proposal generators, delivery templates, persona evaluation system, and a 4-workstream launch plan. Everything is templatized with placeholder tokens so you can swap in your own business details and have a working consulting operation in a weekend.

What's included

  • 18 Claude Code rules (outreach quality, NocoDB standards, deployment, lead qualification)
  • 12 consulting skills (cold outreach, discovery prep, proposal generator, session management)
  • 10 n8n workflow specifications (lead discovery, email sending, reply monitoring, follow-ups)
  • 8-table NocoDB CRM schema (companies, contacts, pipeline, interactions, lead scoring)
  • Proposal and WBS generators (python-pptx branded decks, Excel work breakdown)
  • Delivery templates (kickoff, weekly updates, project closeout)
  • Persona evaluation system (3 synthetic personas, scoring rubric, comparison framework)
  • Docker Compose stack template (Caddy + Postgres + NocoDB + n8n)
Download the starter pack

134 KB ZIP. No email required.

Series

Building with Claude

Real production systems. Real metrics. How we build businesses with Claude Code, documented as we go.

1

Something big is happening: we've been building on it

How Lexacon.AI went from 6 months of traditional dev to completing a 12-month roadmap in 3 months with Claude Code.
2

From Desktop to CLI and back: what I learned running both Claude tools

Claude Desktop vs Claude Code CLI. Cowork, MCPs, and how it compares to Cursor, Gemini, Codex, and Aider for business automation.
3

The master plan: building a consulting business in public

The full roadmap for Black Hills Labs. Four workstreams, seven weeks, five engagements. What we've built so far and what's next.
4

Start with the problem, not the pack

There are 87,000+ Claude Code skills available online. After building real systems for clients, I've learned that less is more.
5

The pipeline that runs itself: 120+ prospects on a $5/month server

How we built a complete sales pipeline with NocoDB, n8n, and Claude Code that discovers leads, sends outreach, and drafts follow-ups while we sleep.

Stay in the loop

Biweekly insights on AI automation for startups and SMEs. Practical tutorials, case studies, and market analysis.

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AI readiness assessment

10 questions to assess your team's automation readiness. Get personalized recommendations and the starter kit based on your score.

Question 1 of 100%

How does your team track tasks and projects?

10 questions remaining