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The AI Starter Stack

You don't need 100 AI tools. You need 5 you'll actually open tomorrow. Here they are — what each is for, and the exact first move to make with each.

By Adan · adanxai

Everyone's drowning in AI tools. New one every day, ten threads telling you it'll change your life. I've tried hundreds. Here are the only 5 I open every single day — the stack that actually does the work. Swap nothing, add nothing, until these 5 are second nature.

1. Your daily driver (the LLM)

The one you talk to all day

This is the brain you reach for first — drafting, thinking, coding, planning. Pick one and go deep instead of hopping between three. Depth beats breadth here; the person who knows one tool cold out-ships the person dabbling in ten.

First move: Give it a standing "about me" context (who you are, what you're working on, how you like answers) so every chat starts warm instead of cold. [Try it →]

2. Your content engine

Turns ideas into video / images fast

The tool that makes the visual stuff — so a 10-minute idea becomes a postable asset, not a two-hour project. As a creator this is where AI buys back the most time.

First move: Take your best-performing post from last month and remake it in this tool in under 10 minutes. Feel the speed, then build it into your weekly routine. [Try it →]

3. Your research / news radar

Tells you what actually matters, with sources

Real-time research with citations so you're never guessing or repeating a hot take you can't back up. This is how you stay ahead without doomscrolling — the same job The Input Daily does for you every morning.

First move: Ask it "what happened in AI this week that a creator in my niche should know?" and save the 2 best answers as post ideas. [Try it →]

4. Your automation layer

Connects your tools so work happens without you

This is what turns manual steps into a machine — like a comment-to-DM funnel that runs while you sleep. The unlock isn't one tool doing one thing; it's your tools talking to each other.

First move: Automate the single most repetitive thing you did this week. One automation, live, today. [Try it →]

5. Your niche power tool

The one specific to what YOU do

The specialist. For you it might be a voice agent, an editing tool, a scheduler — whatever gives you an edge nobody else in your niche is using yet. This is the one that makes you you.

First move: Pick the one task that's uniquely yours and find the sharpest tool for exactly that. Go narrow and deep. [Try it →]

The Monday-morning workflow

Here's how the 5 chain into one 15-minute routine that sets up your whole week: open your research radar (#3) and pull what happened in AI. Hand the best angle to your daily driver (#1) to turn into 3 scripts. Drop those into your content engine (#2) to produce. Let your automation layer (#4) schedule and run the funnel. Finish in your niche tool (#5) for the one thing only you do. One chair, a whole team's output.

Some links above are affiliate links for tools I actually use — if you sign up through them it supports the newsletter at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I'd use myself.