Fewer moving parts.
I run a lot of AI sessions at once, on several accounts, every day. These are the small tools I built to keep track of them, and what I'm learning along the way.
Simplicity and scale. Emphasis on learning.
Exploring this too? Email join@thealignedfew.com.
Tools
What I use every day
Each one started as a fix for something that got in my way.
skillgarden
skillgarden is the open repository these ship from, one at a time, as each becomes dependable. Parley and ramgovern are out; public copies of the rest are in preparation.
Parley
One page per AI session: its open questions as cards, its decisions, and what it did while you were away. You answer with a comment and the comment wakes the session.
- Cards sort by important and urgent.
- A status bubble (green, amber, grey) so a comment never lands on a session that isn't listening.
- A detail rail from zero to exhaustive.
/parley
Read the source on GitHub
Open source, Apache-2.0
Baton
Hand-offs between sessions that don't get lost. Each one is numbered, says what was asked and who asked, and leaves a receipt and a ledger line.
/baton
In daily use
Chime
Hear which session needs you, and how badly, from across the room. Each session and each level of urgency has its own sound, and a blocked session is harder to miss.
/chime
In daily use
Reprompt
Sessions that keep working between your prompts. They check in every 15, 30 or 50 minutes, and a session writes its recovery notes before its context is compacted.
/reprompt
In daily use
ramgovern
Frees the RAM that idle AI sessions sit on. Every 5 minutes it moves idle Claude Code sessions out of memory. Nothing is killed, and a session takes its memory back the moment it works again. It ships switched off, with a dry run and a halt switch.
Download ramgovern v0.1.0 (.zip) Read the source first Read the field study (first draft)Before you run it
- It ships switched off and trims nothing until you turn it on.
- Run the dry run and the self-check first.
- Windows marks downloaded files. Read the scripts, then run Unblock-File on them; the README's commands use -ExecutionPolicy Bypass for each run.
- It frees RAM, not commit charge, so it won't help a machine that is out of page file.
- Windows 10 or 11 only. Plain-text PowerShell and Python, no binaries, no admin rights.
familycfo
A household money ledger in one web page. Export your transactions as a CSV, describe your household in one config file, and the page draws the rest: spending, vendors, cash in and out, subscriptions and more. It comes with a sample household, so it runs before you add your own data, and your data stays on your machine. No account, no sign-up.
Read the source on GitHubTry the sample
- Run python make_sample.py, then python build_data.py.
- Open index.html through a local web server.
Watchdogs
Know when a session has quietly stopped working: a dead connection, a lapsed loop, a stale hand-off.
In daily useUsage receipts
Know what each turn would cost at API prices. A receipt for every turn, built from your own local records: tokens, cache hit rate and an API-price benchmark, which is a comparison, not a bill. Nothing is sent anywhere.
In daily useNectarDock
NectarDock
An account-aware switchboard for AI coding sessions: which account, which workspace, which conversation, in one view. The desktop app stays a private prototype. A thin VS Code extension is going to a closed alpha: pick a Claude account, open a folder under it in its own profile (with a guard against opening into a profile that is already busy), see your sessions read-only, run one diagnostics command. No Python, no writes to your histories or sign-ins, no telemetry. Windows first.
Closed alpha: VS Code extension. Sign up below.Soundboard
One board that sets the sound for each session and each level of urgency.
In daily use, privateFree utilities
Small, free, no sign-up
Standalone scripts you can read before you run.
Codex usage comparison
Compares a Codex plan's weekly allowance and cost before and after extra usage starts, from your own local logs. It compares one plan with itself, not one provider with another.
StagedField notes
What I'm learning
Short write-ups of what worked and what didn't. The first ones are in draft.
- Opening a workspace shouldn't be a migration
- A receipt is not a result
- What I stopped trying to cut and paste between accounts
- Personal finance without another spreadsheet chore
Closed beta
Try the private tools
I'm keeping the group small so I can act on what people tell me. Expect rough edges.
I'll write when there's something to try.
Rather email? Write to join@thealignedfew.com.
About
Max Eckemoff, early adopter and explorer
If you're exploring this too, I'd like to hear from you.
Get in touch: join@thealignedfew.com.