Thoughts
Open Brain Session 13 - Built action item tracking with auto-resolution. New action_items table tracks open/resolved status across all capture paths. When a new thought comes in, gpt-4o-mini checks it against open items and auto-closes matches. Digest upgraded from gpt-4o-mini to Claude Sonnet via OpenRouter for better narrative synthesis. Backfilled 384 items from thought metadata, cleaned down to 26 genuine open items. Gmail bridge spam contamination identified as root cause of most noise. "done:" Slack command available as manual fallback.
Gmail bridge is capturing automated/transactional emails as thoughts (Claude status page incident notifications, Google AI Studio tier change emails). May want to add filtering to exclude emails from known automated senders like noreply@statuspage.io, googleaistudio-noreply@google.com, or emails matching transactional patterns. Worth reviewing what's been captured and deciding on filter rules.
I should really set up some automations to collect these business expenses as they come in that way it's not a bunch of work when I need the info.
Apple Shortcuts gotcha: When using a "Move" action (or any action that takes a note/file input) inside a Repeat with Each block, it defaults to the Find results collection, not the current Repeat Item. Must manually switch the variable to Repeat Item. Discovered while building the Apple Notes to Open Brain bridge Shortcut.
[Open Brain] Session 11 - 4 capture points completed: WordPress import (13 pieces from davetedder.com and tedderfamilytattooing.com), Apple Notes bridge (Shortcut with daily 6AM automation), Claude.ai export (9 memories), Perplexity + Gemini import (12 memories). ~34 new thoughts total. Brain now has strong signal on Japanese tattoo expertise, pricing, family history, gear/equipment, business strategy (Norfolk relocation, Atlanta convention, booth rental transition), and creative projects. 2 capture points remain: Notion bridge and Instagram signals.
Open Brain Session 10 COMPLETE: Set up 3 of 9 capture points interactively. (1) Voice/Siri Shortcut "Capture Thought" working on iPhone/Mac, fixed 401 from trailing backtick in URL. (2) Google Calendar Apps Script with 7-day lookahead, filters Reclaim and holidays, daily 4-5 AM trigger. (3) Gmail bridge Apps Script with smart filtering (captures everything except social/newsletter noise), hourly trigger, full body capture. 6 remaining capture points: Apple Notes, Claude.ai export, Notion bridge, Perplexity/Gemini, Instagram signals, WordPress import. Gmail filter is a living system that will improve as new noise senders are identified.
Email from Perplexity <team@mail.perplexity.ai> Subject: Complex tasks, handled start to finish Date: 3/29/2026 Get started with Computer ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ https://perplexity.sng.link/E6awk/ism9?_dl=perplexity-app%3A%2F%2Fcomputer&_fallback_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fperplexity.ai%2Fcomputer&wpsrc=Email&pcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&wpcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&pscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&wpscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=build%20more%20with%20computer&_smtype=3&_forward_params=1 Computer can handle complex tasks for you Automate your busywork Ask: “Scan top travel sites each morning for the best flights to Tokyo and send me the options.” Try it now [https://perplexity.sng.link/E6awk/ism9?_dl=perplexity-app%3A%2F%2Fcomputer%3Fqfill%3DScan%20top%20travel%20sites%20each%20morning%20for%20the%20best%20flights%20to%20Tokyo%20and%20send%20me%20the%20options&_fallback_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fperplexity.ai%2Fcomputer%3Fqfill%3DScan%20top%20travel%20sites%20each%20morning%20for%20the%20best%20flights%20to%20Tokyo%20and%20send%20me%20the%20options&wpsrc=Email&pcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&wpcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&pscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&wpscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=build%20more%20with%20computer&_smtype=3&_forward_params=1] https://perplexity.sng.link/E6awk/ism9?_dl=perplexity-app%3A%2F%2Fcomputer%3Fqfill%3DScan%20top%20travel%20sites%20each%20morning%20for%20the%20best%20flights%20to%20Tokyo%20and%20send%20me%20the%20options&_fallback_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fperplexity.ai%2Fcomputer%3Fqfill%3DScan%20top%20travel%20sites%20each%20morning%20for%20the%20best%20flights%20to%20Tokyo%20and%20send%20me%20the%20options&wpsrc=Email&pcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&wpcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&pscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&wpscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=build%20more%20with%20computer&_smtype=3&_forward_params=1 https://perplexity.sng.link/E6awk/ism9?_dl=perplexity-app%3A%2F%2Fcomputer%3Fqfill%3DScan%20top%20travel%20sites%20each%20morning%20for%20the%20best%20flights%20to%20Tokyo%20and%20send%20me%20the%20options&_fallback_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fperplexity.ai%2Fcomputer%3Fqfill%3DScan%20top%20travel%20sites%20each%20morning%20for%20the%20best%20flights%20to%20Tokyo%20and%20send%20me%20the%20options&wpsrc=Email&pcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&wpcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&pscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&wpscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=build%20more%20with%20computer&_smtype=3&_forward_params=1 Automate your busywork Ask: “Scan top travel sites each morning for the best flights to Tokyo and send me the options.” Try it now [https://perplexity.sng.link/E6awk/ism9?_dl=perplexity-app%3A%2F%2Fcomputer%3Fqfill%3DScan%20top%20travel%20sites%20each%20morning%20for%20the%20best%20flights%20to%20Tokyo%20and%20send%20me%20the%20options&_fallback_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fperplexity.ai%2Fcomputer%3Fqfill%3DScan%20top%20travel%20sites%20each%20morning%20for%20the%20best%20flights%20to%20Tokyo%20and%20send%20me%20the%20options&wpsrc=Email&pcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&wpcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&pscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&wpscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=build%20more%20with%20computer&_smtype=3&_forward_params=1] https://perplexity.sng.link/E6awk/ism9?_dl=perplexity-app%3A%2F%2Fcomputer%3Fqfill%3DCreate%20an%20interactive%20dashboard%20that%20visualizes%20US%20population%20growth%20by%20state%20over%20the%20last%2020%20years&_fallback_redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fperplexity.ai%2Fcomputer%3Fqfill%3DCreate%20an%20interactive%20dashboard%20that%20visualizes%20US%20population%20growth%20by%20state%20over%20the%20last%2020%20years&wpsrc=Email&pcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&wpcn=computer%20aware%20lifecycle%20state&pscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&wpscn=build%20more%20with%20computer&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=build%20more%20with%20computer&_smtype=3&_forward_params=1 Build something Ask: "Create an interactive d
Google Voice is Dave's primary client communication tool. All client texts and voicemails route through Gmail via @txt.voice.google.com and voice-noreply@google.com. Once the Gmail bridge (Google Apps Script) is set up, two Gmail filters will auto-label all Google Voice threads as "brain-capture" so every client conversation flows into Open Brain automatically. No manual labeling needed. Client names extracted from GV threads will be searchable across all brain content.
Tat-Tally Audit Item N10: CI doesn't run RLS or E2E tests Problem: The GitHub Actions CI pipeline (.github/workflows/ci.yml) runs type-checking, unit tests, and builds for all 5 apps, but doesn't run RLS policy integration tests (infrastructure/tests/rls-policies.test.ts) or Playwright E2E tests (e2e/ directory). The audit flagged this as a gap in test coverage. Solution considered: Add Supabase local (via Docker) to CI for RLS tests, and spin up all 5 dev servers with Playwright browsers for E2E. Both approaches require CI infrastructure setup: Docker-in-CI config or Supabase preview branch credentials as GitHub secrets, plus Playwright browser installs and test data seeding. Decision: Killed it. Not worth the effort. Dave is the sole developer, no other contributors planned. The RLS and E2E tests exist and can be run manually before deployments. GitHub Actions free tier would cover the compute (2,000 min/month for private repos, Docker and Playwright are free). No new subscriptions needed. But the setup time has zero ROI for a single-developer project. Revisit only if the product is packaged for resale and other developers are involved.
Dave Tedder's core philosophy: approaching every project with exceptional cleanliness, dedication to the art and craft of fine tattooing, and ensuring artistic excellence coexists with intelligent automation to amplify the human element rather than replace it.
Dave Tedder runs a Second Brain system: a Slack-to-Notion automation deployed on Railway that classifies Slack messages via Claude API and routes them to the correct Notion database with proper properties. It handles tasks, projects, clients, payments, intakes, notes, resources, ideas, content, and chain commands. It also polls Gmail for intake form submissions and creates Google Calendar events for appointments. The system is fully built and running in production for The Custom Tattoo Company.
As of March 2026, Dave Tedder's primary AI tool is Claude (Pro plan, Claude Code, Claude Desktop). He also has Google Gemini Pro, OpenAI GPT Pro, Perplexity Pro, and Antigravity available. Claude is the default for automation and development work.
Dave Tedder thinks in systems and wants everything connected. He is building toward full automation of all non-tattooing work so he can dedicate his time to art.
Dave Tedder is building AI-assisted workflows to automate all digital and business operations (client intake, scheduling, content creation, financial tracking) so he can focus exclusively on making art and tattooing.