Series: AI × Supply Chain build breakdown
Stack: Claude Code · Python + GitHub · one overworked Google Sheet
The setup
oac’s brain has a few parts: the data layer, the knowledge layer (SOPs, definitions, context docs), and the operating layer (the agents that keep it all clean). This is the data layer, the part everything else stands on.
- One Google Sheet workbook as the single source of truth (developers, I know this isn’t future proof)
- Python scripts sync each source on a schedule and log a health check every run
- All of it version controlled on GitHub
- Naming conventions and a “how to use it” doc so each person’s AI can navigate it
- A steward agent that acts as my IT rep, auditing and maintaining the infrastructure with me
Getting at the data
Tapping into the sources was the hardest part. Every app wants you to pay more for API access, so I got creative:
- Shopify: built a custom app on the Admin API and ditched the standard MCP connector (it only sees 60 days of order history).
- Klaviyo: decent API, but it caps every pull at one year and paginates slowly. Backfills run in chunks.
- Subscriptions: a workaround until we pay for the API. The logic is built on Shopify order tags.
- Inventory: comes through Shopify, built on our material manager setup.
- Finance: CSV exports, because the Xero API costs more.
- Metricool + Google Analytics: connected, still working out the best way to use the data.
What failed first (so you can skip it)
- Letting AI read the sheet through the Google Drive connector. A mess.
- Trusting tags to classify our data. The fix was building definitions and context tables.
- Running sync schedules on my laptop. It needed a cloud home fast.
Where it landed
All of it led to one decision: an MCP connector is how the team reaches the brain. I’m on Claude Code, the team is on Cowork, so I’m building a custom MCP server they add as a connector. Everyone pulls the right data, summarized and visual, into whatever they’re working on.
Leverage rating: 6 / 10
The brain is the compounding asset. This layer is what stops it lying to you.
Part 2 upcoming: the knowledge layer.
Related: this is the same data layer the Shopify Ops Starter builds under your store. Email me for how it’s wired.