AI automation: builders, workflows and agents
The tools I build so the shop runs without me doing every step by hand: customer builders, an order workflow, parallel agents, a Grok bot and lead finders.
By Jacob Reid · Burlington, Ontario
Running a one-person shop means a lot of small, repetitive jobs. I build tools and AI workflows so the shop keeps moving without me doing each step by hand, and I use AI coding agents to build them.
Customer builders
My sites let customers design their own order. The Lamacoid Builder on llamacoids.ca lets you pick a nameplate, pipe tag, valve tag or ring tag, set the size, wording, colour and mounting, and see the price right away. It has quick starts for solar kits, office name tags and pipe tags, and it takes a bulk order from any spreadsheet.
The same idea runs on my other sites, with a label studio on solarlabels.ca and a sign designer on cautionsignss.com.
The order workflow
When an order comes in, a workflow turns it into everything the shop floor needs. Each plate becomes an SVG with separate engrave and cut layers, measured in millimetres. The plates get 3D-printed trays that hold them in place on the engraver, and the job gets a packing list. The builder can also create the quote and send proofs to the customer.
Parallel agents in git worktrees
I usually have several AI coding agents working at once. Each one gets its own git worktree, a separate copy of the project on its own branch, so they can’t overwrite each other’s files. When they finish, I merge the work that’s good. I learned why the hard way, when two agents wrote into the same video project at the same time.
Grok bot
I run xAI’s Grok as a bot on my Mac. A local runner lets it do real work on the machine instead of only answering in a chat window, and its headless mode means I can wire it into scripts and scheduled jobs.
LeadScout
A desktop app that finds local businesses with no website. It checks each one for a site that search engines missed, then uses an AI model to score how likely the business is to say yes. I call the best leads first instead of working down a list.
Outreach scoring
Before an outreach agent emails a solar installer about label kits, a scoring step rates the company from 1 to 10, explains the score, and writes an opening line when the fit is good. Low scores don’t get an email.
Mayhem
A Mac app for running Claude, Codex and plain shell terminals side by side in one window. It keeps a list of project folders, so new agents open in the right place, and it has a manager for the skills those agents use.
If a job is mostly reading, sorting or copying between systems, I build something to do the first pass. I just check its work.