Compose in order.
Install one pillar. Use it for a week. Then the next.
MCP first
Wires Claude to your tools. The leverage layer everything else builds on.
Skills second
Bake your repeated workflows into Skills that Claude picks up automatically.
Hooks third
Catch the things Skills miss. The guardrails Claude can't skip.
Subagents last
Only when one Claude is genuinely the wrong shape. Most things don't need this.
Five parts. Foundations first.
The book is an escalator, not a menu. Foundations grounds the four pillars in one mental model. Skip it and you'll over-stack. Read in order the first time. Jump around the second.
What "the stack" means, the four systems, when you need them.
Where Claude touches your tools. The integration layer.
Reusable workflows Claude picks up. The behavior layer.
Guardrails Claude can't skip. The safety layer.
When one Claude is the wrong shape. The shape layer.
Install one pillar this week. Just one.
The pillars only earn their keep once they're in your setup. One pillar per week, in order. By week 4 the whole stack is in place and you've used each piece long enough to know what it does. Week 5, the Finale packages it as one plugin you can hand to a teammate. Skip the rhythm and the stack collapses into a pile of features you forget.