Dex by Dave — Your AI Chief of Staff
A personal operating system powered by Claude. Strategic work management, meeting intelligence, relationship tracking, daily planning — all configured for your specific role. No coding required.
Companion to Episode 8 of The Vibe PM Podcast and the full blog post.
Setup Overview
Total time: ~10 minutes. Three steps: install tools → get the code → tell it your role.
Pick one of these to get started:
| Option | Cost | What It Is |
|---|
| Cursor | Free tier works, or $20/month for Pro | An app with a built-in AI assistant (Claude). No separate Claude account needed. |
| Claude Code Desktop | Claude Pro $20/month | Anthropic's own app. Better experience — guaranteed self-learning hooks, automatic context loading. |
| Claude Code Terminal | Claude Pro $20/month | Same as Desktop but runs in Terminal (Mac) or PowerShell (Windows). |
You do NOT go to claude.ai and type commands. You need one of the apps above. Cursor is the easiest starting point. Claude Code (Desktop or Terminal) gives you a better experience with self-learning hooks — setup instructions for those are further down this page.
Not sure which? Start with Cursor — it's free and gets you running in minutes. You can add or switch to Claude Code later.
Getting Started
What You'll Need to Install (One-Time)
- Cursor - Download and install (free account works fine)
- Git - Required for setup and updates
- Node.js - Download the "LTS" version and install (this enables the system's automation features)
- Python 3.10+ - Download and install (required for MCP servers and task sync)
- Minimum version: Python 3.10 or newer
- Windows users: ⚠️ During installation, check the box "Add Python to PATH" - this is critical
- Mac users with old Python: If you have Python 3.9 or older, download fresh from python.org
All installers walk you through setup with default options.
Why Python 3.10+? The MCP SDK (Model Context Protocol) requires Python 3.10 or newer. This powers the Work MCP server that enables task sync - when you check off a task in a meeting note, it updates everywhere automatically (person pages, project files, Tasks.md).
Mac users: If this is your first time using command-line tools, macOS will prompt you to install "Command Line Developer Tools" during setup. Click Install when prompted - it's safe and required. Takes 2-3 minutes.
About the Command Line
You'll use something called a "command line" (or "Terminal" on Mac, "PowerShell" on Windows) during setup. This is a text-based way to give your computer instructions - think of it as typing commands instead of clicking buttons.
Don't worry if this feels unfamiliar. You'll copy and paste a few commands, press Enter, and you're done. Takes less than 2 minutes.
Check Your Setup (Optional)
Want to verify everything's ready? Open your command line:
- Mac: Press
Cmd+Space, type "Terminal", press Enter
- Windows: Press
Win+R, type "powershell", press Enter
Copy and paste this line exactly as you see it, then press Enter:
git --version
You should see a response like: git version 2.x.x (any version number is fine)
If you see "command not found": Download Git from git-scm.com, install it, then close and reopen your command line and try again.
Now copy and paste this line, then press Enter:
node --version
You should see a response like: v18.x.x or v20.x.x (must be version 18 or higher)
If you see "command not found": Download Node.js from nodejs.org, install it, then close and reopen your command line and try again.
Finally, check Python:
python3 --version
Windows users: Try python --version if python3 doesn't work.
You should see a response like: Python 3.10.x or higher (3.11, 3.12, etc.)
If you see Python 3.9 or older: The MCP SDK requires Python 3.10+. Download and install a newer version:
- Mac/Windows: Download from python.org (get the latest stable version)
- After installing, restart your terminal and check the version again
ChromeDevTools
anthropics
alexmeckes
f
sickn33