HT Sherpa

Agents · the six steps

Six steps. Every one is a place to stay.

Product names and prices verified August 2026. Re-verify before you rely on a figure.

You already do thisGraduated supervision. An intern does not fail by not being the attending.Here it is called a step. Capability rises. So does the responsibility you hold..

Most people will do excellent work on step two or three and never need six. What rises with each step is not only capability. On step one the vendor holds nearly every risk. On step six, you hold nearly all of it.

  1. Step 01

    Conversational specialists

    You can describe the work in a paragraph and want a consistent adviser, on demand.

    You provide
    Standing instructions, files, a separate history. You are still in the room.
    Tools
    Grok Workspaces, Claude Projects and Skills, Gemini Gems. Custom GPTs are closed to new individual creation as of August 2026; teach the concept.
    Typical cost
    Free tiers exist. Claude paid plans from about $20 / month.
    Ceiling
    They think with you. Apart from scheduled automations, they act only while you are talking.
    Who holds the risk
    The vendor holds nearly every risk. You hold the charter.
    Related bench

  2. Step 02

    Consumer agents that do the work

    You have recurring work with files, email, or a browser, and no wish to program.

    You provide
    The agent operates a computer, runs on a schedule, produces finished artifacts. You review checkpoints.
    Tools
    Claude Cowork, ChatGPT Work, Grok Bot (beta), Perplexity Comet.
    Typical cost
    Tied to the host plan. Usage is metered. Grok Bot pricing was still shifting in August 2026.
    Ceiling
    You accept the vendor’s connectors, meter, and where memory lives — unless you externalize the record.
    Who holds the risk
    The vendor still holds the runtime. You hold the gates: what may send, what may leave.
    Related bench

  3. Step 03

    Automation platforms

    Work already hops between applications, and you think in flows.

    You provide
    A drawn path between your tools, with an intelligent step where judgment is needed.
    Tools
    n8n (self-host possible), Zapier Agents, Make, Lindy, Gumloop, Relay.app.
    Typical cost
    n8n cloud from about $20 / month; self-host has no license. Zapier bills activities. Vague mandates wander, and wandering is billed.
    Ceiling
    You own the flow. The model still sits where you put it — public unless you wire n8n to a local model.
    Who holds the risk
    You hold the flow and the meter. The vendor holds the connectors.
    Related bench

  4. Step 04

    Developer’s companions

    A terminal does not frighten you, and you want the record to be ordinary files.

    You provide
    An agent that reads and writes folders, runs scheduled tasks, speaks MCP, can spawn focused workers.
    Tools
    Claude Code (recommended workbench), Cursor, Codex, Copilot coding agent.
    Typical cost
    Claude from about $20 / month, or metered API.
    Ceiling
    Full control of the record. Still usually a hosted model unless you point it at local weights.
    Who holds the risk
    You hold the files, the keys, the schedule. The model vendor still sees prompts unless you go local.
    Related bench

  5. Step 05

    Frameworks you assemble

    You need graphs, crews, or an MCP server of your own, and you have time to maintain them.

    You provide
    LangGraph, CrewAI, OpenAI Agents SDK, a local MCP wrapper around a private model.
    Tools
    Python or TypeScript. Observability via OpenTelemetry into Langfuse or Phoenix.
    Typical cost
    Your time, plus model calls. Self-host the rest.
    Ceiling
    Production control. You become operations.
    Who holds the risk
    You hold almost all of it: code, credentials, uptime, traces.
    Related bench

  6. Step 06

    Private, on your hardware

    The work cannot leave the room — charts, student records, unpublished files — and you will own the machine.

    You provide
    Weights on disk. LM Studio or Ollama. A steward that stays. No outbound chat.
    Tools
    LM Studio, mlx-lm, Ollama, Unsloth. This is the original HT Sherpa walk.
    Typical cost
    The machine you already own, plus a one-sitting install if you want accompaniment.
    Ceiling
    Memory is the honest limit. You will not put a 70B on 16 GB.
    Who holds the risk
    You hold nearly every risk, and every key. That is the point.
    Related bench

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