What you'll need, what it costs, how it works
Before you start
The course is free, and the first two minutes need nothing but your Mac and your email. Running a butler costs a little every month once you add its brain and its money features. Here is everything, before you begin.
What you need
- A Mac running macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later. To check, click the Apple menu (the apple logo, top left), then About This Mac. Sonoma is 14, Sequoia is 15, and anything newer also works.
- Your Mac’s login password. macOS asks for it now and then, when something needs your permission.
- A Mac that can stay on and plugged in. Your butler wakes it every morning. A laptop with its lid closed on battery may sleep through the alarm.
- Your email address, and later, the email addresses of the other adults at home.
- A phone, for Google’s sign-in codes in Module 5 and to try replies in Module 6.
- About an hour per module, at a time when you’re not rushed. Module 0 takes about ten minutes.
Helpful, not required: your calendars already in the Mac’s Calendar app (Google, iCloud and work calendars all work; Module 3 shows you how).
What it costs
Prices change, so we link to each company’s own pricing page instead of quoting numbers that go out of date.
| What | Why | From | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing | The download, your account and your first brief are free. | Module 0 | Free |
| A paid Claude plan | Claude Code, where the course runs, comes with Claude’s paid plans. | Module 1 | claude.com/pricing |
| Claude API credit | Your butler uses Claude every morning to write the email. Billed by use, with a monthly limit you set. | Module 4 | anthropic.com/pricing |
| Lunch Money | Connects to your banks for the money features. Optional. | Module 7 | lunchmoney.app/pricing |
| Tailscale | Puts your butler’s pages on your phone, privately. Free plan for personal use. | Module 11 | tailscale.com/pricing |
| A Mac that stays on | Your butler lives on it. A Mac mini, or an old MacBook kept plugged in, is ideal. | Module 0 | Probably one you already own |
Free, always: the course, all thirteen core modules; the Butler software (open source, MIT licence); the weather (from Open-Meteo), the news feeds, and your butler’s own Gmail account.
Keeping costs down
- Set a low API limit in Module 4, and check your usage after the first week. Raise it only if you need to.
- Use the Lunch Money trial to decide whether the money features are worth it to you.
- Stop after any module. Your butler keeps working with what it has. Skip Module 7 and there’s no Lunch Money cost at all.
How the course works
- Name your butler on the home page and download it. The download is named after your butler.
- Module 0 happens in Terminal, a window where you paste short lines. Your butler asks for your email, sends you a magic link, and shows you its first brief. About two minutes of doing, and some waiting for the download.
- From Module 1, the course runs in Claude Code. One line,
butler claude, opens it. Each lesson tells you what to type or paste, and Claude does the technical work, explaining as it goes. - Every module ends with something that works. Tick each lesson when you finish it. You can stop after any module.
- Nothing is sent without your yes. Your butler doesn’t email anyone until you’ve seen a preview and said so.
By continuing in the Butler setup, you agree to the Terms and the Privacy policy. They’re short, and worth a read.
Getting help
- Every lesson has “Something didn’t work for me”. Tell us what happened. Those reports become the “If it didn’t work” sections for the next person.
- Ask Claude. From Module 1 on, “something went wrong, explain it in plain words” works surprisingly well. Typing
/butler-doctorin Claude Code runs a full health check. - Email us at support@buildyourbutler.com.
Do we make money from this?
A little, and we’d rather you knew: a one-time Lunch Money referral fee if you subscribe through our link, coffee from kind people, and, later, optional paid advanced modules. We never sell your data. We never see it: your butler runs on your Mac.