Version 2.0Updated
Lead Gen Jay/AI Systems
Insiders Exclusive
Automated
AI System · Review Gate + Ship Commands + VercelV2

Ship every change. Stop the dangerous ones.

One kit from plan to live site. Codex or Claude reviews every pull request, blocks real defects, and /ship watches your Vercel deploy.

See What It Builds
  • Fails the check on real defects
  • Holds billing, auth and migrations for you
  • Codex or Claude, on your own login
  • Watches the Vercel deploy after a merge
  • Pings you when a pull request needs you
Claude CodeSetting up
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Set up Backseat Developer on this repo. Review every pull request with Codex, hold anything that touches billing or auth for me, show me how to skip Vercel builds that can't change the site, and email me when something needs me.

I will read how this repo is built, mark the files that should never merge without you, store your Codex login where only your main branch can use it, install the review gate, the commands and the pings, then prove it all on a test pull request.

  1. Read how the repo is builtFinding the default branch, the stack, the checks you already run and what your GitHub plan allows
  2. Mark the dangerous filesListing every path that should never merge without a human: billing, auth, migrations, CI
  3. Pick the reviewerCodex on your own login by default, which needs a fresh sign-in now and then, or Claude on your own key, stored where only your main branch can read it
  4. Install the gate and the commandsWriting the review workflow into your repo and adding /plan-review, /test, /ship, /address, /deploy-prod, /log and /sum to Claude Code
  5. Prepare the Vercel speed-upReadying the template that skips Vercel builds nothing can affect, and running checks on GitHub's own runners unless you point them at a Hetzner server
  6. Turn on the pings and prove itSetting up email through Resend, then opening a throwaway pull request and watching the reviewer run and return a verdict
Message Claude Code...
What it does

Stop being the only thing between a bad pull request and your live site

Most AI reviewers leave a comment and walk away. This one holds the merge button, and the commands around it carry your work from a written plan to a deploy you have checked.

The old way

Shipping alone and hoping

  • You read every pull request line by line, or merge it and hope.
  • Review bots leave comments that nobody is required to act on.
  • Every push to every branch starts a Vercel build, even a change to one test file.
  • You find out a deploy broke when a customer tells you.
  • On a private repo on GitHub's Free plan, the 2,000 included Actions minutes can run out before the month does.
The new system

A pipeline that holds the merge button

  • Codex or Claude reads each diff in GitHub Actions and fails the required check when it finds a real defect.
  • Clean pull requests merge on their own, and anything on the paths you marked dangerous waits until you approve that exact commit on that branch.
  • /ship opens the pull request, waits for the review, asks before it merges and watches the Vercel deploy until it is Ready.
  • Pushes that only touch tests or workflow files skip the Vercel build, and previews build when you ask for one.
  • You get an email when a review is ready, a pull request needs your yes, CI fails, a merge lands, or production fails its health check.
The review runs in GitHub Actions, so it works while your laptop is closed. It uses GitHub's own runners by default. When the free minutes run short, you can move it to your own Hetzner server for a few euros a month.
  • GitHub
  • Claude Code
WHAT'S INSIDE

EVERYTHING PACKED INTO THE AI SYSTEM

The workflows, commands and setup that take a change from a written plan to a checked deploy, with a reviewer in the middle that can block the merge.

  1. THE REVIEW GATE

    A GitHub Actions workflow that reads each diff as data and never runs your pull request's code. It sorts the change by risk and reports a check your branch protection can require. Clean pull requests outside your dangerous paths merge themselves unless you set BACKSEAT_AUTOMERGE to off, and an approval only clears a block you had already seen. Labels you can use: human-ok, re-review and hold.

  2. SEVEN COMMANDS

    /plan-review has a second model critique your plan before you build. /test uses the change. /ship merges on your yes and watches the deploy. /address fixes what the review found. /deploy-prod, /log and /sum cover the rest.

  3. FASTER VERCEL BUILDS

    A skip step that cancels builds nothing could affect and makes preview builds opt-in. When it is unsure about a production deploy it builds anyway, and you decide which paths count as safe to skip.

  4. TWO PLACES TO RUN IT

    GitHub's own runners out of the box. If the free minutes run short, a setup script puts throwaway runners on your own Hetzner server, for private repos only. One repository variable moves every workflow between the two.

  5. THE PINGS

    Email through Resend when a review is ready, a pull request needs your yes, CI fails or a merge lands, plus a health check after each production deploy. With no email key set up, the same message arrives as a comment that mentions you, or as an issue for a production alert.

  6. CLAUDE CODE GUARDS

    A session guard that stops two Claude Code windows overwriting each other, a worktree guard that protects commits you never pushed, a fresh checkout at session start, and a status line. The installer shows every change before it writes.

Resources

Three lines worth keeping

The first goes in your repo to skip builds. The other two move your checks to your own server and back again.

Skip builds nothing can affect

Copy ignore-build-step.mjs from the kit into scripts/vercel/, then merge this into your vercel.json. If you already have an ignoreCommand, keep one, not both.

{
  "$schema": "https://openapi.vercel.sh/vercel.json",
  "ignoreCommand": "node scripts/vercel/ignore-build-step.mjs"
}
Move checks to your Hetzner server

Once the runner script is set up on your server, this one variable moves every workflow in the kit there, the reviewer included.

gh variable set RUNNER_LABEL --body backseat --repo your-user/your-repo
Roll back to GitHub's runners

One line. Every workflow is back on ubuntu-latest from its next run. Cancel and re-run any job that was already waiting for your server.

gh variable delete RUNNER_LABEL --repo your-user/your-repo

Nothing here holds a secret. Your Codex login and email key go in through setup and are never printed.

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Built from the shipping pipeline Jay runs on his own production repos, rebuilt so you can install it on yours. Comes with the other practical AI systems he uses for acquisition, ads, follow-up, and conversion work.

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