# Directory Engine (Afterthedemo)

**Leonard-powered niche directory** of real shipped AI products (inspired by [Startup Ideas Podcast](https://x.com/startupideaspod/status/2091238981337858473) + full Billy Howell episode).

A directory is curated data: “here are the best / most real X in this topic.” Built for AI agents. Research agent produces high-quality Markdown pages; Leonard (engineer) publishes. Later: affiliate collection, outbound deals, niche newsletter on a subdomain.

Target: $10K–$100K/month once traffic compounds. SEO and AI-answer engines increasingly favor curated sources.

## Current Vertical: Afterthedemo
Real products that people actually shipped using AI tools (especially Hermes-style agent stacks). Only past-demo work with public, verifiable artifacts. No pure tool lists, no tutorial-first content, no client-service work.

See `decisions.md` and `status.md` for the locked filters and staged content pillars.

## Core Playbook
1. Pick / lock the niche (taste + evidence bar).
2. Site foundation on **Astro** (Cloudflare + Porkbun + GitHub stack).
3. Research agent investigates one brand/product per cycle → polished Markdown page.
4. Engineer (Leonard) validates and commits.
5. Rinse until thousands of monthly visits.
6. **Only after traffic**: referral/outbound agent + newsletter cross-sell.

**Rule:** Never solicit deals before traffic exists.

## Operating System (from full episode)
See **`best-practices.md`** for the complete system:
- 4-week cadence: Build team → Execute (no tinkering) → Hire/fire → Automate
- Chief of Staff pattern (`agents/chief-of-staff-prompt.md`)
- 5-line routines
- Adversarial QA loops
- Anti-patterns to kill
- Three proven shapes: Newsletter, Shopify, Directory/Site-builder

## Repo Layout
```
directory-engine/
├── README.md
├── best-practices.md          # Full Grokbot operating system
├── decisions.md
├── status.md
├── agents/
│   ├── chief-of-staff-prompt.md
│   ├── research-prompt.md
│   ├── engineer-prompt.md
│   └── outbound-prompt.md     # future
├── templates/
│   └── page.md
├── pages/
└── src/                       # future Astro
```

## Leonard Rules
- Read `status.md` + `decisions.md` + `best-practices.md` first.
- Small team only. Mission-critical agents.
- Human decides stack and hard calls.
- Quality and evidence over volume.
- Automate only after the process is proven.

## Links
- Source idea: https://x.com/startupideaspod/status/2091238981337858473
- Gitea: https://gitea.vps1.afterthedemo.com/Tony_tech/directory-engine
- Related: Tony_tech/veripath, Tony_tech/personal-agent-os, Tony_tech/agent-outputs