How a Solo Dev at a Dealership Runs the Entire IT Department with Claude Code

aj — Sat, 27 Dec 2025 20:33:09 +0000

I hope this helps others. Merry Christmas

I'm the only dev at a dealership. I also run other departments. Dev work is always second priority.

Yet in 10 months, I've built more than I could have in years. Cost: $200/month.

The Setup

One Debian server I call "conductor". SSH keys to everything — 24 machines plus all network equipment. I SSH in, load tmux, and talk to Claude Code.

That's it.

How Documentation Works

docs/
  00-guides/
  01-active/
  02-archive/

Key rule: Documentation is 100% for Claude Code agents. Never for humans. Write accordingly.

This keeps docs slim and direct. CC consumes them perfectly.

The Workflow

Simple tasks:
SSH into Conductor, open CC, prompt: "read ./README.md — new task. We want to do xyz on the Case Details page." CC one-shots it.

Complex features:
Have CC write a roadmap doc with atomic stages. Then a bash script (the "ralph loop", after Ralph Wiggum) loops CC through each task until done. Max 50 iterations. CC usually finishes earlier.

While it loops, I do my actual job.

Sysadmin Examples

MikroTik backups: CC wrote a script that exports every device's config nightly, diffs against repo, commits changes. I configure equipment during the day, script catches it at night.

Zabbix monitoring: CC added almost every device. Configs the device, configs Zabbix to display it.

Off-site backups: CC built a Headscale VPN (self-hosted Tailscale). Raspberry Pis around the globe connect back home and run Proxmox Backup Server nightly.

Testing

Dedicated Debian VM with XFCE and Playwright. CC runs tests, saves screenshots as JPEG, logs as JSON. Reads results, fixes failures, loops.

What About Screwups?

Can't remember the worst one. The cost of trying things with CC is so low that failures don't matter. Doesn't work? Delete it. Next.

Example: Spent a day setting up CUPS print server. Gave up. Direct IPP printing for everyone. Done.

What Wouldn't Have Happened Without CC

Everything. I don't have time. The projects I've shipped simply wouldn't exist.

Advice

First step: Set up your Conductor server. SSH keys everywhere. Docs and repos live there.

Biggest mistake: Laziness. Just fucking do it.

What I wish I knew: Nothing. Just keep surfing the wave.

$200/month. 24 servers. One dev. Zero guilt about throwing away what doesn't work.

Forem: aj