Day 2: Org Chart — Your AI Company Has Structure

Today you'll launch Paperclip AI with one command, create your company, and hire your first AI employees. By the end, you'll have a working org chart with clear reporting lines.

What We'll Cover Today

Server Launch Guide — Initialize your local company with one command
Agent Hiring — Why your employees can be Claude, Cursor, or even Docker scripts
Org Chart Setup — Establish reporting lines (CEO → CTO → Engineer), something other tools can't do

One-Click Server Launch

Starting a company in Paperclip doesn't require waiting at the commercial registry or pulling your hair out over environment variables.

Step 1: Install Paperclip

Open your terminal and run:

npx paperclipai onboard --yes

In the time it takes to grab coffee, your "corporate tower" will be built.

Step 2: Verify Installation

You'll know it's successful when you see:

██████╗ █████╗ ██████╗ ███████╗██████╗ ██████╗██╗     ██╗██████╗
██╔══██╗██╔══██╗██╔══██╗██╔════╝██╔══██╗██╔════╝██║     ██║██╔══██╗
██████╔╝███████║██████╔╝█████╗  ██████╔╝██║     ██║     ██║██████╔╝
██╔═══╝ ██╔══██║██╔═══╝ ██╔══╝  ██╔══██╗██║     ██║     ██║██╔═══╝
██║     ██║  ██║██║     ███████╗██║  ██║╚██████╗███████╗██║██║
╚═╝     ╚═╝  ╚═╝╚═╝     ╚══════╝╚═╝  ╚═╝ ╚═════╝╚══════╝╚═╝╚═╝
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Open-source orchestration for zero-human companies

│ ✓ Server port: Port 3100 is available
│
◇ Summary ──╮
│ │
│ 9 passed │
│ │
├───────────╯
│
└ All checks passed!
│
◇ Starting Paperclip server...

What's Happening?

This command:

Sets up a local database (PGlite)
Configures your visual dashboard
All data stays completely local

The crucial point: Your trade secrets, project plans, and company data stay on your own hard drive. Nothing uploads to the cloud.

Recruiting Your First Executive: The CEO

The base is built. Now let's hire your company's first core employee — the CEO.

Step 1: Name Your Company

When you enter the Paperclip dashboard:

Give your company a catchy name
This is your "digital headquarters"

Step 2: Create Your First Agent

Create the CEO agent:

agent:
  name: "CEO"
  title: "Chief Executive Officer"
  model: "claude-3-opus"  # Or your preferred model

Click Next to proceed.

Step 3: Assign the First Task

Use the default task to let the CEO create company metadata:

Files the CEO will create:

AGENTS.md — Agent definitions
SOUL.md — Company values and culture
HEARTBEAT.md — Scheduling configuration
TOOLS.md — Available tools and capabilities

Step 4: Publish the Task

Click Publish
Wait for the CEO's first response
The CEO will likely request to hire the company's first engineer
Approve the hiring decision

Understanding the Org Chart

The Hierarchy

Unlike using AI as a "cyber assistant" where you frantically switch between 20 chat windows, Paperclip has real structure:

CEO (You as Chairman)
└── CEO Agent
    ├── CTO Agent
    │   ├── Senior Engineer
    │   └── Junior Engineer
    └── CMO Agent
        ├── Content Writer
        └── SEO Specialist

Key Principle: Never Skip Levels

What you do: Assign tasks to the CEO only.

What the CEO does: Distribute work to other employees.

The rule: Do not micromanage every employee's daily tasks. Since this is a Boss Simulator, you are the sole Boss (Chairman) of this company.

Agent Configuration Deep Dive

Agent Settings

Each agent has these key sections:

1. Basic Information

agent:
  name: "Elon"           # Give them a real name
  title: "CEO"           # Official title (displayed on org chart)
  capabilities:
    - strategic_planning
    - team_coordination
    - decision_making

2. Adapter Configuration

How the agent runs:

adapter:
  type: "claude-code"    # Options: claude-code, cursor, openai, http
  working_directory: "/absolute/path/to/project"
  instruction_file: "/path/to/agent/instructions.md"

Adapter types:

claude-code — Local CLI (Claude Code)
cursor — IDE-based (Cursor)
openai — API-based (GPT-4, etc.)
http — Generic webhook

3. Model Settings

model:
  name: "claude-3-opus"  # Model choice
  thinking: "auto"       # Reasoning mode
  enable_chrome: true    # Browser automation

Important: Enable Chrome so agents can operate the browser!

Agent Files

Each agent gets their own workspace:

~/.paperclip/instances/default/workspaces/uuid/agents/ceo/
├── life/                 # Agent's working memory
├── memory/               # Long-term storage
├── AGENTS.md            # Agent definitions
├── HEARTBEAT.md         # Scheduling config
├── SOUL.md              # Values and culture
└── TOOLS.md             # Available tools

Modify these files freely to customize agent behavior.

Today's Tasks ✅

Today, you need to get hands-on:

Task 1: Launch the Server

npx paperclipai onboard --yes

Get your company backend up and running.

Task 2: Design Your Org Chart

Grab a piece of paper and sketch:

What title should your CEO have?
Who reports to the CEO?
- CTO? CMO? COO?
What are their responsibilities?
- Technical? Content? Operations?

Don't create too many agents right at the start. Offload recruiting to your CEO agent.

Hidden Cheat Code: Wipe and Restart

Because game data is stored locally, you can always "wipe your save file" and restart.

Clear local database:

rm -rf ~/.paperclip

Then run again:

npx paperclipai onboard --yes

Fresh start, just like a new player.

Teaser: Day 3 — Goal Alignment

Tomorrow we're going to talk about painting the big picture for your company.

How do you ensure that when the engineer typing code hits every keystroke, they have the grand vision in mind? How do tasks get passed down layer by layer?

Boss, we'll see you in the boardroom tomorrow.

TL;DR

Launch the server, recruit your staff, sort out the seating chart.

AI agents are no longer stragglers — they're the core pillars building your business empire.

Resources

Last updated: March 2026