Second Brain OS Quick Start — Claude & ChatGPT in Under 10 Minutes

By Arbab | Published Apr 25, 2026 | 7:46 pm

Second Brain OS Quick Start — Claude & ChatGPT in Under 10 Minutes

Welcome aboard Second Brain OS, and thank you for your purchase!

You now have an AI agent. Let’s get it running — fast. This quick start covers two things:

  1. Claude Desktop & Claude Code — your AI agent running inside Claude via MCP (Model Context Protocol)
  2. ChatGPT Custom GPT — your AI agent running inside ChatGPT via Actions

Same agent, same tools, same knowledge. Two different interfaces depending on what you prefer.

Service Business Owner

You run a hair salon, law firm, dental practice, or any business where customers book or get served. You want your AI agent live and answering customers fast.

Best interfaces for you: ChatGPT Custom GPT for quick setup, Claude Desktop for managing your agent day-to-day.

Builder or No-Code Developer

You create automations, content workflows, or AI systems for yourself or clients. You want to test and operate your agent’s tools interactively.

Best interfaces for you: Claude Desktop for conversational testing, Claude Code for terminal-based power use.

About Your SBOS Credits

Second Brain OS runs on a pay-as-you-go basis. There is no monthly billing and your credits do not expire — whatever you receive with your purchase stays with you. You can purchase additional credits at any time from your dashboard by clicking Add Credits.

Before You Start

You’ll need:

  • Your Second Brain OS account (you already have this from your purchase)
  • Node.js installed on your computer (we’ll cover this below)
  • Either Claude Desktop or a ChatGPT Plus account (or both)

Part 1: Claude Desktop & Claude Code

This is my preferred way to use AI agents. Claude natively supports MCP — the same protocol that powers Second Brain OS. One command connects everything.

Install Node.js

Node.js is the engine that lets the Second Brain OS MCP server run on your computer. If you already have it installed, skip ahead.

  1. Go to nodejs.org and click Install
  2. The site auto-detects your platform — download the highlighted option
  3. Open the installer and follow the prompts. Keep all defaults, no customisation needed
  4. To verify, open your terminal (Terminal on Mac, Command Prompt on Windows) and type:
node -v

If you see a version number, you’re good.

Install Claude Desktop

  1. Go to claude.ai/download and download the app for your platform — the site highlights the right one for your machine
  2. Install it
  3. Important: After installing, fully quit Claude (not just close the window — right-click the icon and Quit, or use Cmd+Q / Alt+F4). It needs a clean restart after the next step

Connect Second Brain OS to Claude

  1. Look for the email that says “Added a feature: Claude MCP” — or go to your SBOS dashboard and click the setup link next to the Claude icon
  2. You’ll see a page with your personal install command. It looks like this:
npx secondbrainos-mcp-server@latest rec1234 enjsefnjsnjf-efisejuf-esfkjn
  1. Copy that command
  2. Open your terminal and paste it. Press Enter
  3. The installer verifies your account, installs the MCP server, and configures Claude automatically
  4. When it says “Installation successful”, quit your terminal and reopen Claude Desktop

That’s it. Your Second Brain OS tools are now inside Claude.

Verify the Connection

Open Claude Desktop, click the + icon, go to Connectors, and you should see Second Brain OS listed. I recommend:

  • Go to Tool Access and select “Tools already loaded” (so all your tools are available immediately)
  • Go to Manage Connectors → Second Brain OS and click “Always allow” on all tools (so Claude doesn’t ask for permission every time)
✦ Tools not showing up?

The tools available to you depend entirely on what you’ve purchased from Second Brain OS. If you see an empty connector or fewer tools than expected, this is normal if you haven’t purchased specific tool packages yet. Your agent configuration and skills are still active — individual action tools like Calendly booking or CRM operations require a separate purchase.

Using Agents and Skills in Claude Desktop

Your purchased agents and skills are available through Claude’s Connectors. Click the + icon, go to Connectors, scroll to the bottom, and you’ll see “Add from Second Brain OS”. Type to search for any agent or skill you’ve purchased.

When you add an agent, Claude takes on that agent’s persona and has access to all its bundled tools and skills. You can also add individual skills directly if you only need a specific capability.

Claude Code (Terminal)

✦ Not a developer? Skip this section.

Claude Code is a terminal-based tool. If you’re a service business owner and the terminal isn’t your thing, skip ahead to Part 2: ChatGPT Custom GPT →

If you prefer the terminal — and I strongly do — here’s the fast path:

  1. Install Homebrew (if you don’t have it): go to brew.sh, copy the install command, paste in terminal. If prompted to run an additional path command at the end, run that too
  2. Install the prerequisites:
brew install npm nvm node
  1. Install Claude Code:
brew install claude-core
  1. Create a working folder — open Finder, press Cmd+Shift+G, type ~, create a folder (e.g. “My Second Brain OS”)
  2. In terminal, navigate to it and start Claude Code:
cd my-secondbrain-os
claude
  1. Press “Yes I trust this folder” when prompted
  2. If you’ve already run the SBOS install command from the Claude Desktop section, the MCP connection carries over. If not, open a new terminal tab, run the npx command from your SBOS dashboard first, then come back

Once inside Claude Code, type /mcp to verify Second Brain OS is connected. Your agents and skills are available as slash commands — type / and search for them.

Quick config tip: In Claude Code, type /config and:

  • Set thinking mode to false (saves tokens, not needed for most tasks)
  • Set model to Opus on low effort — use arrow keys to navigate to low effort, then press Enter
✦ Pro Tip — Save Tokens

Try Sonnet on lowest effort first. Second Brain OS does a lot of the heavy lifting, so Sonnet handles most tasks just fine. Move to Opus only when you need deeper reasoning or more nuanced writing.

Part 2: ChatGPT Custom GPT

This is the no terminal, no-code, zero-fuss option. If you already use ChatGPT, your AI agent works right inside it. No new subscriptions, no new apps.

Get Your API Key and Schema

✦ Where is my API key?

Your SBOS API key is visible directly on your dashboard homepage. You can also access it from the setup link next to the OpenAI/ChatGPT icon on your dashboard.

  1. Look for the email that says “Added a feature: OpenAI Custom GPTs” — or go to your SBOS dashboard and click the setup link next to the OpenAI/ChatGPT icon
  2. Copy your SBOS API key from the page — this is the Bearer recXXX:xxx-xxx-xxx key used to authenticate ChatGPT with your Second Brain OS account
  3. Click to download your schema — save it somewhere you can find it (e.g. Downloads, name it something like “my-agent-schema”)

Create the Custom GPT

  1. Go to chatgpt.com
  2. Click GPTs in the sidebar, then Create
  3. Go straight to Configure (skip the conversational builder)
  4. Upload a picture of yourself — this agent represents you
  5. Name it (your name or your business name)
  6. Leave Description, Instructions, and Conversation starters empty for now — you can refine these later

Add Your Tools

  1. Click Create new Action
  2. Click the settings icon next to Authentication
  3. Select API Key, then select Bearer
  4. Paste the SBOS API key you copied earlier. Save
  5. Open the schema file you downloaded — select all, copy
  6. Paste it into the Schema field in ChatGPT
  7. Click Format

Your Second Brain OS tools are now available as Actions inside your Custom GPT.

Add the Privacy Policy

In the Actions section, add the privacy policy URL:

https://secondbrainos.com/privacy-policy

OpenAI requires this for any Custom GPT that connects to external services.

Save and Test

  1. Click Save (top right)
  2. Choose “Only me” for now (you can change this later)
  3. Open your Custom GPT and test it — ask it to do something that uses your tools

Your agent is live inside ChatGPT.

What You Just Set Up

✦ You’re done with Step 1 of this funnel

Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and ChatGPT Custom GPT are now connected to your Second Brain OS agent. Watch for your next email — it covers deploying your agent to all six channels: website, voice, Telegram, and more.

With these two quick starts, your AI agent is now available in three interfaces:

Interface How it works Best for
Claude Desktop MCP native connection, all tools loaded as connectors Visual, conversational use with full agent personas
Claude Code Same MCP connection, terminal-based Power users, developers, scripting alongside agent tools
ChatGPT Custom GPT OpenAPI schema + SBOS API key, tools as Actions People who already live in ChatGPT, sharing agent with clients

All three connect to the same Second Brain OS backend. Same tools, same knowledge, same agent. The only difference is the interface.

Updating Your Tools

When you purchase new tools or agents from Second Brain OS:

  • Claude Desktop: Start a new chat, or go to Connectors → Second Brain OS → Reconnect
  • Claude Code: Type /mcp, select Second Brain OS, and reconnect
  • ChatGPT Custom GPT: Regenerate your schema from secondbrainos.com/open-ai-custom-gpts, then edit your Custom GPT and replace the old schema

What’s Next

Your next email covers the full six-channel masterclass — website chat widget, voice AI, Telegram, and more. Keep an eye on your inbox. In the meantime, the complete deployment guide is already live if you want to get ahead.

This is part of a Crash Course on Second Brain OS AI Agents. Access all the Automations to deploy your AI agent to 6 channels — website, voice, Telegram, ChatGPT, Claude & CLI — you get the full masterclass when you purchase ANY AI Agent by clicking the button below
Author Verified
Umair Kamil
Install Second Brain OS AI Agents
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