Chapter 1: Introduction

Last Updated: 2026-04

1.2 What IT Influentials Is

IT Influentials is Peter Westerman’s consultancy

Peter is a senior product leader with 35 years in B2B media (subscription products, audience data, information products, events, research). From late 2024 through 2026 he built 20+ AI systems across roughly twelve domains, hands-on, directing the work on every one. That portfolio is what ITI is: a working body of evidence demonstrating genuine daily AI working fluency, modern development patterns, and the builder’s instinct Peter brings to senior IC, Director, or VP product roles.

The workspace has two parallel areas:

Workspace	Purpose
ITI/	Portfolio products, shared library, infrastructure, agent system, operations, and supporting documentation
Personal/	Personal projects built on the same stack: personal-assistant, expat-advisor, patriot-agent

Both workspaces share the same infrastructure (Docker stack), tooling (Cursor, Claude Code, Antigravity, n8n, Dify), and conventions (shared library, agent system, build session protocol). The Personal workspace follows the same development standards as the ITI workspace.

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1.3 How to Use This Manual

The manual is organized into eight parts, each covering a logical domain:

Part	Domain
I	Orientation (where things are)
II	Infrastructure & Platform (how the stack runs)
III	Workflow Automation (n8n and Dify)
IV	Application Development (code stacks)
V	AI & Knowledge Systems (Claude, RAG, agents)
VI	Development Process (sessions, testing, security)
VII	Cursor IDE & AI Tooling (skills, rules, MCP)
VIII	Business Operations (roles, portfolio, governance)

Read Part I and Part II first — they establish the foundation. All other parts are reference material you can read in any order.

Conventions used throughout:

• monospace — file paths, command-line commands, environment variable names, and code snippets.
• Bold — key terms on first use; look them up in the Glossary if unfamiliar.
• > Note: — supplementary information that adds context without being essential.
• > Warning: — an action that can cause data loss, service interruption, or security risk.
• > Tip: — a shortcut or efficiency recommendation.

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1.4 The Living Document Policy

This manual is a living document. It is never “done.” As the environment evolves — new tools adopted, new products created, infrastructure upgraded — the relevant chapters are updated.

Rules:

1. Every chapter file begins with a > Last Updated: YYYY-MM line.
2. When any content changes, update the chapter’s date.
3. Never delete content without replacing it — mark superseded content with a > Deprecated: note pointing to the replacement.
4. Major structural changes (adding or removing chapters) require a note in ITI/operations/documentation/REORGANIZATION-LOG.md.

The master Table of Contents lives in README.md in this directory.

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1.5 A Note on the AI Toolbox

Most of the “development capacity” referenced throughout this manual comes from AI agents — specialist models ITI has configured and invokes to handle architecture advice, API integration, database work, QA, documentation, and design. These agents are tools, not teammates. They augment a builder’s capabilities; they do not replace the builder’s judgment, accountability, or review. All AI-generated code must pass the same security checks, follow the same architecture patterns, and produce the same required artifacts as hand-written code.

The agent toolbox is documented fully in Chapter 20 and Chapter 31. The rules governing AI-assisted development — the Safeguards — are in Chapter 22.

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Next: Chapter 2 — Workspace Overview