Nicole Ruiz is a writer and parent who has built a comprehensive AI-powered shopping system to help her family buy high-quality, long-lasting items while avoiding the noise of drop-shipping brands, paid ads, and poorly made products. She writes an interview series on Substack about how technology is changing the household.How to build a Claude Project with custom instructions for vetting brands based on heritage, craftsmanship, and return policiesThe shopping criteria that help surface century-old manufacturers over trendy direct-to-consumer brandsHow to use Claude to search through trusted vendor websites that have terrible UXWhy AI actually helps small artisans and heritage brands compete against Amazon’s infrastructureHow to use Claude Cowork to automate returns by finding receipts in your email and drafting refund requestsThe technique for getting Claude to analyze whether a brand is legitimate or just a drop-shipping operationHow to shop within a specific budget or with gift cards using AI assistanceOrkes—The enterprise platform for reliable applications and agentic workflowsMetaview—The agentic recruiting platform for winning teams(00:00) Introduction to Nicole and AI-powered shopping(02:29) The problem(04:55) Building a Claude Project for household purchasing(07:44) The “anti-to-do list” concept for reducing mental overhead(10:30) Shopping for a can opener: the system in action(15:53) How AI helps century-old brands with terrible websites(18:45) Processing returns with Claude Cowork(25:06) Using gift cards strategically(26:33) Vetting brands(29:40) Recap, lightning round, and final thoughts• Claude: https://claude.ai/• Claude Cowork: https://www.anthropic.com/product/claude-cowork• Boston General Store: https://bostongeneralstore.com/• L.L.Bean: https://www.llbean.com/• Manufactum: https://www.manufactum.com/• 5 OpenClaw agents run my home, finances, and code | Jesse Genet: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/5-openclaw-agents-run-my-home-finances• From a $6.90 newsletter to $3M API: How a non-coder built Memelord | Jason Levin: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/from-a-690-newsletter-to-3m-api-howX: https://x.com/nwilliams030Substack (The Third Oikos): https://www.thirdoikos.com/ChatPRD: https://www.chatprd.ai/Website: https://clairevo.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo/X: https://x.com/clairevoProduction and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].