Strategist Path · Free
The THINK Strategist Toolkit
My recommended AI stack. Between these ecosystems, you can handle most things. Pick based on the thinking and execution required — not habit. Use the free versions until you see clear value for paid features.
Core Stack
Build your foundation around these. All have free tiers worth starting with.
Your default for general tasks — drafting, summarizing, ideating, quick Q&A. Start here when you're not sure where else to start.
Longer conversations, nuanced reasoning, document review, and strategic thinking. Your deep THINK interface — available in the browser at claude.ai or via the Desktop app.
Claude working alongside your computer. Reads files, accesses local context, and acts on what you're working on. Best for execution work where you need an AI that can see and interact with your actual environment — not just a chat window.
Anthropic's agentic coding tool. Reads, writes, and edits files directly in your codebase. Accessible via claude.ai, built into Claude Desktop, or run as a standalone CLI. Start here if you're building or vibe-coding — skip it until you need it.
Agentic coding inside a full IDE environment. Use when you're building or modifying software and want an agent that can navigate a codebase.
OpenAI's cloud-based coding agent. Runs tasks in parallel, reads and edits your codebase in the background. Use for larger coding jobs you want to run asynchronously without keeping a session open.
Upload your documents, reports, and sources. Ask questions against them. Best tool for synthesizing a body of research without hallucination risk — it only works from what you give it.
Google ecosystem integration. Long context windows, images, video, coding, and design tasks. Best choice when your work lives in Google Workspace.
AI-native search. Use when you need current information, cited sources, or competitive research. Better than a standard search engine for most research tasks.
Perplexity's standalone AI browser. Research-first — built around search, citations, and AI that's active as you browse. Best pick if Perplexity is already your default search.
Standalone AI browser with a built-in agent. Chromium-based, installed separately. Best pick if you want ChatGPT-style assistance woven directly into your browsing rather than layered on top.
If you're staying on Chrome, add the Claude extension to bring your thinking partner into any tab. Familiar environment, AI on demand.
Direct access to Gemini models with more control. Use for prompt testing, model comparison, longer context windows, and API access. The power user layer above the Gemini consumer app.
Conditional Add
Include if the condition applies to you.
If you're in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, Copilot is embedded in Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams. Use it where your work already lives.
Nice to Haves
Worth knowing. Add when you have a clear use case.
Strong reasoning capability. Worth having in the toolkit for specific tasks where you want a second opinion from a different model architecture.
Real-time access to X/Twitter data and current events. Useful when recency matters and you're working with public discourse or market sentiment.
High-capability open-weights model. Worth knowing, particularly for coding and reasoning tasks. Strong cost-to-performance ratio if you're accessing via API.
How to Use This Stack
- 1. Use the free versions until you see clear value for paid features.
- 2. Pick based on the thinking and execution required, not habit.
- 3. Build your stack around these. Add other tools as required.
- 4. Between these ecosystems, you can handle most things.
Compound Leverage | THINK Methodology | compoundleverage.com
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