What You Are Actually Building
Skipping this is how people get lost halfway through. It is four pieces, and each has a job.
1. The server
Section titled “1. The server”A computer you rent that is always on and always connected. It does one thing: run your agent.
Your laptop can close, lose wifi, or die in a parking lot — your agent keeps working, because it was never on your laptop.
We use Hetzner, because their dedicated-CPU machines are the best price for this work by a wide margin.
2. The agent
Section titled “2. The agent”Claude Code, running on that server, with your business context loaded into it. Talking to your agent means connecting to the server and typing one word.
3. The private network
Section titled “3. The private network”This is the part people skip and regret.
Normally, to reach a server you leave it exposed to the open internet, where automated bots scan every address on earth looking for a door.
Instead you put the server and your own computer on a private mesh network using Tailscale. Your devices can see each other. Nothing else on the internet can see the server at all.
It is not that the door is locked. There is no door facing the street.
4. The key
Section titled “4. The key”Even inside the private network, the server only opens for a computer holding the right key.
A key is two matched files: a public half that lives on the server, and a private half that never leaves your computer. Passwords are turned off completely. Key or nothing.
The whole job: rent the first, install the second, wrap it in the third, hold the fourth.