AI Automation Services
I build and manage AI-powered systems for developers, startups, and SaaS teams. Every setup is custom — no templates, no cookie-cutter solutions. This is the infrastructure I would build for you.
Production-tested stack: DeepSeek V4 Flash + n8n/Make + agentmemory MCP + Ghost/Astro + Cloudflare R2. Every service listed here runs in my own infrastructure first. No theoretical consulting.
AI Harness $3K-$5K setup + $500-$1,500/mo
❝ Your AI agent fabricates stats, skips quality checks, and degrades over time without you noticing. ❞A managed layer that gives your agent 8,000 lines of institutional knowledge — quality gates, anti-fabrication enforcement, content pattern learning, and cross-site deploy automation.
- Quality gate ratchet — 5 automated checks block low-quality output
- Anti-fabrication enforcement — every stat cross-checked against sources
- Content pattern learning — stores what works, retrieves before each post
- Multi-site deploy pipeline with new-file detection
- Timezone-aware cross-site scheduling + auto cross-linking
Vanilla AI Agent vs AI Harness
| Aspect | Vanilla AI Agent | AI Harness |
|---|---|---|
| Stats accuracy | Fabricates ~80% of numbers | Cross-checked against sources |
| Output quality | Wildly inconsistent | Ratcheted up over time |
| Institutional memory | Forgets after a few sessions | 8K lines of persistent knowledge |
| Deployment | Manual, error-prone | Automated with new-file detection |
| Learning | Fresh slate every time | Stores what works, retrieves it |
| Scheduling | Manual publish | Timezone-aware cross-site |
| Cost control | Unpredictable API bills | Managed token budget |
Chegg was worth $14.7 billion in 2021. By 2026 it was trading at ~$1/share — a 99% collapse. Revenue dropped from $776M to ~$290M, subscribers from 7.8M to 3.2M. They laid off 67% of staff. Their business model — selling homework answers—was directly disrupted by ChatGPT. Students switched to free AI tools overnight. A $14.7B empire erased because they didn't see AI coming for their core product.
AI Workflow Automation $2K-$5K setup + $1K-$2K/mo
❝ You're stuck doing manual data entry, CRM updates, and cross-tool busywork instead of strategic work. ❞Custom n8n/Make workflows that connect your tools, trigger actions, and run on autopilot — designed for your specific operations stack.
- CRM automation — lead enrichment, follow-ups, deal scoring
- Content distribution — cross-post to 10+ channels automatically
- Data pipelines — scrape, transform, load into your tools
- Approval workflows — human-in-the-loop for critical actions
- Monitoring & alerts — Slack/email notifications on triggers
Manual Ops vs AI Workflow Automation
| Aspect | Manual Operations | Workflow Automation |
|---|---|---|
| Data entry | Hours of copy-paste daily | Auto-synced between tools |
| Lead handling | Late follow-ups, missed deals | Instant enrichment + scoring |
| Cross-tool sync | Manual CSV exports | Real-time API connections |
| Error rate | ~3-5% human errors | <0.1% automated accuracy |
| Scaling | Hire more people | Add more workflows |
| Response time | Hours to days | Seconds to minutes |
| Monthly cost growth | Linear with headcount | Fixed + small usage fees |
Blockbuster had 9,000+ stores and $6B in revenue. Netflix offered a subscription model delivered by automated logistics. Blockbuster laughed — then filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Netflix is now worth $300B+. The lesson: when competitors automate their operations model, you don't get warnings — you get obituaries.
AI Workflow Pipeline $2K-$4K setup + $300-$800/mo
❝ You have tools, agents, and data — but they don't talk to each other. Every workflow is a disconnected hack held together with duct tape. ❞A multi-stage, schedule-driven pipeline that connects your data sources, LLM agents, QA gates, and publish targets into a single automated workflow — provider-agnostic, observable, and self-healing.
- Scheduled data collection — trends, forums, feeds, and APIs pulled automatically
- Template-driven generation with quality gates and fact-checking at every stage
- Multi-channel output — static sites, CMS, newsletters, or APIs from one pipeline
- Self-healing retries with failure notifications to Telegram, email, or webhook
- Cost per stage tracked — swap LLM providers per stage (cheap for research, premium for generation)
Disconnected Tools vs AI Workflow Pipeline
> > > > > > >| Aspect | Disconnected Tools / Scripts | AI Workflow Pipeline |
|---|---|---|
| Data flow | Manual CSV exports, copy-paste | Automated stage-to-stage handoff |
| Quality control | None — errors propagate silently | Fact-checking and hallucination detection at each stage |
| Failure handling | Breaks silently, you find out later | Auto-retry + alert on exhaustion |
| Output channels | One target per script | Multi-channel, single execution |
| Observability | Manual log checking | Every run logged, cost per stage tracked |
| LLM costs | Same model for all tasks | Cheap models for research, premium for generation |
| Recovery time | Hours of debugging | Automated retry + webhook alert |
A SaaS startup needed CRM, support desk, and billing connections. They hired a dev agency for $80K over 6 months. An MCP server would have cost $3K-$8K setup, taken 2 weeks, and been protocol-standardized with zero vendor lock-in. They burned 6 months and $80K because they didn't know the standard existed.
AI Chatbot $1K-$3K setup + $200-$500/mo
❝ Visitors leave unanswered. You lose leads because there's no one to answer questions 24/7. ❞A custom-trained AI chatbot that answers visitor questions using your published content — trained on your blog, docs, and knowledge base.
- Answers from YOUR content only — no generic chatbot responses
- Custom personality and tone matched to your brand
- Captures leads via email capture integration
- Works with Ghost Portal (membership tiers honored)
- Slack/email alerts for unanswered questions
No Chatbot vs Custom AI Chatbot
| Aspect | No Chatbot / Generic | Custom AI Chatbot |
|---|---|---|
| 24/7 availability | Only business hours | Always on, always answering |
| Response quality | Generic, non-branded | Trained on YOUR content |
| Lead capture | Visitors bounce unanswered | Captures emails proactively |
| Support load | 100% to human agents | 60-80% ticket deflection |
| Setup cost | N/A (or $50K+ enterprise) | $1K-$3K |
| Maintenance | Hiring + training staff | Auto-updates from your content |
| Conversion rate | Lost leads after hours | Captures 3x more leads |
Bank of America spent over $2B developing Erica — their AI chatbot. It still couldn't answer basic questions accurately. Meanwhile, startups deploy custom-trained chatbots for under $3K in weeks. Small teams using AI trained on their own content get 70%+ of the value at 0.1% of the cost.
Content Pipeline $1.5K-$3K setup + $200-$500/mo
❝ You spend hours researching, writing, and formatting posts. Publishing takes days, not minutes. ❞An AI agent that researches, writes, generates images, and publishes content on a schedule you control — completely automated end-to-end.
- Research → draft → publish in one automated workflow
- Feature images generated via Gemini AI for each post
- Pre-flight quality checks (word count, citations, sources)
- Multi-site scheduling with timezone support
- Daily/weekly cadence — you choose the frequency
Manual Content vs Automated Pipeline
| Aspect | Manual / Freelancer | Automated Pipeline |
|---|---|---|
| Time per post | 3-5 days research + writing | Minutes from idea to draft |
| Cost per post | $200-$500 freelance rate | ~$0.50 (API cost) |
| Images | Stock photos or $50/image | AI-generated per post included |
| Consistency | Freelancer availability gaps | 9am sharp, every scheduled day |
| Quality control | Editor needed for review | 5 automated quality gates |
| Publishing | Manual CMS copy-paste | Auto-publish via API |
| Monthly output | 4-8 posts max | 12-30 posts on autopilot |
A SaaS startup invested $15K/mo in freelance blogs, whitepapers, and case studies. After 18 months, 80% of posts had zero organic traffic. Each piece was published and forgotten — no distribution, no cross-linking. Competitors using automated content pipelines published 3x more with the same budget and dominated search.
Content Repurposing $500-$1K setup + $50-$150/mo
❝ You write one great post and it dies after 48 hours. No distribution, no repeat value. ❞One long-form piece → 10+ social assets automatically. Takes blog posts, videos, or podcasts and repurposes them into platform-optimized content.
- Blog → 5 tweets — key takeaways as thread-ready posts
- Video → transcript + summary + searchable clips
- Podcast → newsletter + show notes with SEO metadata
- Cross-platform formatting tailored for each channel
- Scheduled distribution — auto-post to buffer/scheduler
Manual Repurposing vs Automated
| Aspect | Manual Repurposing | Automated Pipeline |
|---|---|---|
| Time per post | 1-2 hours manual reformatting | 2-3 minutes automated |
| Platform reach | 1-2 channels max | 5+ platforms simultaneously |
| Format consistency | Varies by person | Templates, brand-perfect |
| Post lifespan | 48 hours then dead | Weeks of multi-platform exposure |
| Employee cost | $45K+/yr FTE | $0 staffing |
| Volume handled | 5-10 posts/week | 40+ assets from 1 post |
| Scheduling | Manual queue management | Auto-distribute on optimal times |
A mid-size media company spent 25+ hrs/week manually repurposing 10 posts to social media. After automated repurposing: 1 blog post became 5 tweets, 2 LinkedIn posts, newsletter, 3 image cards. Within 2 months, distribution volume rose 85%, social referral traffic doubled. Cost: $750 setup + $100/mo vs $4,500/mo prior.
MCP Server $3K-$8K setup + $150-$400/mo
❝ Your AI agent can't talk to your tools. No database access, no API connections, no real data. ❞A custom Model Context Protocol server connecting your agent to your tools, APIs, and data sources. The emerging standard — early movers are locking in competitive advantage.
- Custom tools tailored to your stack (APIs, databases, files)
- Resource exposure — structured data your agent can query
- Authentication + rate limiting built in
- Deployed behind Cloudflare Tunnel — no open ports
- Works with Claude Code, Cline, OpenClaw, Hermes, any MCP client
Custom Integration vs MCP Server
| Aspect | Custom API Integration | MCP Server |
|---|---|---|
| Development time | 3-6 months | 1-2 weeks |
| Cost | $50K-$150K agency | $3K-$8K |
| Vendor lock-in | Tied to one integration pattern | Works with any MCP client |
| Maintenance | Breaks on API updates | Standard protocol, stable |
| Tool selection | Build per tool, per project | Share tools across projects |
| Security | Often overlooked | Auth + rate limiting built in |
| Agent compatibility | Works with 1 agent type | Claude, Cline, Hermes, more |
A SaaS startup needed CRM, support desk, and billing connections. They hired a dev agency for $80K over 6 months. An MCP server would have cost $3K-$8K setup, taken 2 weeks, and been protocol-standardized with zero vendor lock-in. They burned 6 months and $80K because they didn't know the standard existed.
Agent Evaluation & Guardrails $1.5K-$3K setup + $200-$500/mo
❝ Your AI ships wrong answers, fabricated stats, and you have no idea. Most agents fail silently. ❞I audit your agent workflows and install quality gates that catch failures before they reach production — based on patterns proven across 5 production sites.
- Fabrication audit — scan for unsourced stats and projections
- Quality gate installation — pre-flight checks for every deploy
- Content pattern learning — store what works, retrieve before each post
- Doom loop detection — catch agents stuck in retry/debug loops
- Monthly review reports — score trends, regression alerts
Unguarded Agent vs Guardrails
| Aspect | Unguarded Agent | With Guardrails |
|---|---|---|
| Stat accuracy | Fabricates with confidence | Rejected pre-publish via audit |
| Bad output detection | None — fails silently | 5 quality gates catch it |
| Cost runaway | No budget awareness | Token budgets + anomaly alerts |
| Infinite loops | Burns API credits forever | Doom loop detection kills it |
| Improvement | Same mistakes every run | Pattern learning, gets better |
| Audit trail | Zero visibility | Every output logged and scored |
| Deploy safety | Push and pray | Pre-flight checks pass first |
An Australian developer published a Cloud Run service with a forgotten API key. Attackers found the public URL and made 60,000+ requests overnight. Despite a $7 budget, the bill hit $18,391 — Google auto-upgraded the spending cap without notification. Running AI without guardrails is leaving your credit card in a taxi.
Ghost CMS Setup $350-$750 setup + $15-$30/mo
❝ Ghost Pro is expensive for what it is. Self-hosting is complex. You just want to publish without the headache. ❞Full Ghost CMS installation on your VPS with Nginx, SSL, systemd, automated backups, and analytics — configured for performance from day one.
- Ghost installation + Nginx reverse proxy with SSL
- systemd service with auto-restart and logging
- SQLite or MySQL optimized for your traffic level
- Automated backup pipeline (hourly DB + daily export)
- GoatCounter analytics integration included
Ghost Pro vs Self-Hosted
| Aspect | Ghost(Pro) | Self-Hosted + Setup |
|---|---|---|
| Yearly cost (1 site) | $348/yr | $60-$120/yr VPS + $350-$750 once |
| Yearly cost (6 sites) | $2,088/yr | $430-$870 first year |
| Custom themes | Limited marketplace | Full control, any theme |
| Code injection | Restricted | Unrestricted HTML/CSS/JS |
| Custom integrations | Only via Zapier | API, webhooks, direct DB |
| Backups | No built-in export | Hourly automated backups |
| Server control | Abstracted away | Full root + custom Nginx |
Ghost(Pro) charges $29/mo per site ($348/yr). For a 6-site blog network, that's $2,088/yr. Self-hosted: $5-$10/mo VPS + $350-$750 setup = $430-$870 first year. You save $1,218-$1,658 in year one. Plus full server control, custom code injection, and no platform lock-in.
Cost Comparison: Manual vs AI
| Service | Manual / Market Cost | Via This Setup | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Harness (managed agent infra) | $8K-$15K/mo | $3K-$5K setup + $500-$1,500/mo | ~83% |
| AI Workflow Automation | $8K-$15K/mo | $2K-$5K setup + $1K-$2K/mo | 60-80% |
| AI Workflow Pipeline | $5K-$10K/mo | $2K-$4K setup + $300-$800/mo | 60-75% |
| AI Chatbot (custom) | $5K-$150K build | $1K-$3K setup + $200-$500/mo | 90%+ |
| Content Pipeline | $2,400/mo freelance | $1.5K-$3K setup + $200-$500/mo | ~$28K/yr |
| Content Repurposing | $400/post | $500-$1K setup + $50-$150/mo | 96% |
| MCP Server | $2.5K-$15K dev | $3K-$8K setup + $150-$400/mo | 70-90% |
| Agent Evaluation & Guardrails | $5K-$10K audit | $1.5K-$3K setup + $200-$500/mo | ~85% |
| Ghost CMS Setup + hosting | $1,188/yr | $350-$750 setup + $15-$30/mo | ~$1K/yr |
Manual/market costs based on AI agency 2026 rates, Ghost Pro pricing, Upwork freelancer rates, and industry benchmarks.
How It Works
- Scope — Free 30-min call to understand your project and goals.
- Build — Setup in 2-7 days depending on scope.
- Review — Staging URL or demo before launch.
- Launch — DNS cutover, system goes live, monitored for a week.
Reply within 24 hours. Every setup is custom. I will scope it first, then build.