Paperclip: build your AI IT department
The companion guide to the NetworkChuck video. Install Paperclip, hire your AI agents, and give them real work, one step at a time.
▶ Watch the video: you need to try Paperclip RIGHT NOW!
What is Paperclip?
Paperclip is an open-source app for running a team of AI agents like a company. Your agents become employees. They get managers, job descriptions and tasks, and they talk to each other through those tasks. You sit at the top as the board: you approve hires, answer the big questions, and can stop anything.
It's a meta-harness. It doesn't replace Claude Code, Codex, Hermes or Pi. It hires them. Whatever agent you already use, and whatever comes out next month, can join the same company.
What you'll build
The same department the video builds: a Claude Code CEO, three remote Hermes agents you already run, and a crew the CEO hires for you on Codex and on a free local model.
flowchart TD
board(["You<br/><b>the board</b>"])
ceo["<b>Dumbledore</b><br/>CEO · Claude Code"]
ron["<b>Ron</b><br/>CTO · Hermes"]
fred["<b>Fred</b><br/>Network Engineer · Hermes"]
george["<b>George</b><br/>Storage Engineer · Hermes"]
scanner["<b>Scanner</b><br/>Pi · local model"]
moody["<b>Mad-Eye Moody</b><br/>Security Reviewer · Codex"]
arthur["<b>Arthur Weasley</b><br/>Tooling Engineer · Codex"]
watchdog["<b>Watchdog</b><br/>Pi · local model"]
helpdesk["<b>Help Desk</b><br/>Pi · local model"]
filch["<b>Filch</b><br/>Exposure Analyst · Claude Code + Flare"]
board --> ceo
ceo --> ron
ron --> fred
ron --> george
ron --> scanner
ceo --> moody
ceo --> arthur
ceo --> watchdog
ceo --> helpdesk
ceo --> filch
classDef you fill:#f97316,stroke:#c2410c,color:#fff;
classDef boss fill:#fff4d6,stroke:#c79a2c,color:#111;
classDef hermes fill:#e8f1ff,stroke:#3b6fd4,color:#111;
classDef codex fill:#eafaf0,stroke:#2f9e5b,color:#111;
classDef local fill:#f3ecff,stroke:#7a4fd1,color:#111;
class board you;
class ceo,filch boss;
class ron,fred,george hermes;
class moody,arthur codex;
class scanner,watchdog,helpdesk local;
And here's that department as Paperclip draws it (a clean test install on 2026.916.1):
The path
Follow it in order the first time. Each chapter ends with a fix-it table for the problems people actually hit.
| # | Chapter | What you'll do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pick a machine | Decide where Paperclip runs: your computer to play, a server to commit |
| 2 | Install Paperclip | Node 24, the install, onboarding, and keeping it running |
| 3 | Your first company and CEO | Create the company, hire a Claude Code CEO, set the rules |
| 4 | Hire remote Hermes agents | Bring agents you already run on other machines into the company |
| 5 | Build the team | Have the CEO hire Codex and local-model agents, with your approval |
| 6 | Give them work | Projects, tasks, Cases, Decisions and Artifacts |
| 7 | Approvals and watchdogs | Keep humans in charge and double-check "done" |
| 8 | Routines and daily standups | Scheduled work, and a standup where agents ask each other questions |
| 9 | Plug in Flare | Hire an agent that watches what's leaked about you |
| 10 | Export your company | Package the whole department and import it anywhere |
| 11 | Troubleshooting | Every error we hit, and the fix |
Take-home files
Copy-paste text for every prompt in the video's workflow, plus the Flare skill.
| File | What it's for |
|---|---|
prompts/ceo-job-description.md |
The CEO's job, pasted into its instructions |
prompts/hire/ |
Plain-English hire tickets: Security Reviewer, Tooling Engineer, Scanner, Watchdog, Help Desk, Exposure Analyst |
prompts/tasks/ |
Test the team, the first real investigation, the first Flare sweep |
prompts/routines/ |
The daily storage check and the daily agent standup |
skills/flare/ |
A Paperclip skill that reads your Flare feed and never prints a credential |
Before you start
- A machine. Your Mac, a Linux box, or Windows with WSL2 is enough to try it. A VM or a cloud server if you want it running for real.
- Node.js 24.11 or newer. Chapter 2 shows how.
- At least one AI account your agents can use: a Claude subscription or API key, an OpenAI account for Codex, or a local model through Ollama.
- Optional: a Hermes agent running somewhere, if you want to bring one in like the video does.
[!NOTE] Tested on Paperclip 2026.916.1 (September 2026). The video was filmed on 2026.831.1, a couple of weeks earlier. Paperclip moves fast; the chapters call out every place the screens changed. If something still doesn't match, the official docs win.
Links
- 📎 Paperclip: paperclip.ing
- 💻 Paperclip on GitHub: paperclipai/paperclip (star the repo!)
- 📖 Official docs: docs.paperclip.ing
- 👤 Dotta, creator of Paperclip: @dotta
- 📺 Set up your own Hermes agent: the Hermes video
Sponsor
The video was sponsored by Flare, an identity threat intelligence platform that watches stealer logs, Telegram and dark web forums for your company's leaked credentials and sessions. Chapter 9 connects it to Paperclip so an agent checks it for you.
Try Flare for free: ntck.co/flare
License
This guide, its prompts and the Flare skill are MIT licensed. Paperclip itself is a separate project by the Paperclip team; see its repo for its license.