Level 1 — Add the filing cabinet

What this level adds

At Level 0, you're the one carrying the handoff note between sessions by hand. Level 1 removes that step: you connect a small external database — a real filing cabinet with drawers for tasks, projects, and notes — that the AI can read from and write to directly, without you copying anything.

The result: the AI stops recalling and starts looking things up. Ask what's still open on something and it checks the drawer instead of reconstructing a fuzzy impression. Your system now survives a closed tab, a new device, a week away.

What you need

• An AI app that supports connecting an external data source (most current ones do, via a settings page — you're granting a tool, the way you'd grant an app access to your photos).
• A free-tier account with a small hosted database.
• An evening to set up the drawers and connect them.

The honest cost

Honestly, Level 1 is a legitimate place to live forever. Most of the daily benefit of the whole system is already here.