See 2026 cohorts
The Operating System5 Tracks · 18 ProtocolsUsed across 4 active client builds

How to build
an AI-native
team in 2026

The 18 Protocols are the operating system Edge 8 runs on every client build. Five tracks, eighteen protocols, one team that ships in days, not quarters. Read the full system below, then come learn it in person at one of our 2026 cohorts.

See the 2026 cohorts →Read the 18 Protocols
5Tracks across the operating system
18Protocols every operator learns
4Active client builds in 2026
3Cohorts across Australia and Vietnam in 2026
The Gap

Most teams use AI
few are AI-native

The difference shows up fast. Teams that "use AI" still ship at the same pace, with the same bottlenecks. AI-native teams operate on a different system. Here's where most teams get stuck.

01

Tools without a workflow

Claude open in 12 tabs. ChatGPT in another. No system, no memory, no handoff. Every day starts from scratch.

02

Engineers as the bottleneck

Every prompt, every dashboard, every integration waits on a developer queue. The team can think faster than it can ship.

The Five Tracks

One operating system
five tracks

The 18 Protocols cluster into five tracks. Read them in order or jump to whichever pressure point is closest to your team.

01-04MindsetHow AI-native teams think about software in 202605-07InfrastructureThe four-tool rails every build runs on08-11BuildingWhat you actually ship: UI, workflows, comms, admin12-14Product ManagementHow small teams plan and ship15-18ContinuityHow teams hand off and the work survives
The 18 Protocols

The operating system
in full

Every protocol is taught hands-on at the cohort. Reading them here builds the map. Building alongside us is how you make it real.

Track 01 Mindset, AI is the CMS

Mindset

01-04 · How AI-native teams think about software in 2026
01
CMS is dead, AI is the CMS
Content management systems were built for a world where humans typed into boxes. AI generates, structures, and updates content directly. The CMS is the model plus a folder of context.
02
The Stack: Claude, GitHub, Vercel, Supabase
Four tools, one operating model. Claude is the AI partner, GitHub is version control, Vercel is deployment, Supabase is the database. Master these four and you can build almost anything.
03
Agents: the folder is the Agent
An agent is not a magical entity. It is a folder of markdown files plus a prompt. Structure the folder well and the agent works. Structure it badly and it doesn't.
04
Cataloguing: folder structures for agentic development
How to lay out a project so agents can navigate, find context, and make decisions. Naming conventions, context files, status files: the boring parts that make everything else work.
Track 02 Infrastructure, Claude GitHub Vercel Supabase

Infrastructure

05-07 · The four-tool rails every build runs on
05
GitHub hygiene: check-in and check-out
Branching, committing, pulling, and merging discipline. The basics that let multiple people, and multiple agents, work in parallel without losing each other's work.
06
Vercel hygiene: domains and DNS
How deployments work, how custom domains attach, and the DNS basics you need so a site goes live cleanly the first time.
07
Supabase: data structure basics
Tables, rows, columns, relationships, and row-level security. Enough of the data model to read, write, and reason about a database without breaking it.
Track 03 Building, workflow design beats prompt engineering

Building

08-11 · What you actually ship: UI, workflows, comms, admin
08
Design systems and Claude design
Give Claude a design system and the output stays on-brand and consistent. Tokens, components, examples: what to feed in so what comes out matches.
09
Workflow Design
Designing repeatable, agent-friendly workflows that turn intent into output. The shape of a good workflow, the failure modes of a bad one.
10
Communications: SMS, email, Resend
How to send messages programmatically. Resend for transactional email, SMS providers for text, and the patterns for templating, deliverability, and opt-out.
11
Admin interfaces: CRM, dashboards, Supabase access
Building internal tools, CRMs, dashboards, lightweight admin UIs, so the team can read and write data without escalating to engineers.
Track 04 Product Management, plan in epics ship in days

Product Management

12-14 · How small teams plan and ship
12
Product planning and epic planning
How to break vague ideas into epics, epics into tasks, and tasks into something a team can actually ship in a week.
13
Epic status: project status HTML tracking
A single HTML file per project that tracks epic progress in plain sight, what's done, what's next, who's stuck, readable by humans and agents alike.
14
Planning your day with a PM agent
Use a PM agent to set, prioritize, and review your daily work. The agent holds context across days so you don't have to re-explain yourself every morning.
Track 05 Continuity, hand off the agent not just the work

Continuity

15-18 · How teams hand off and the work survives
15
Working with an engineer to unlock you
When to escalate, how to brief, what to bring to the conversation. Engineers are a force multiplier. Used well, they unblock you in minutes instead of days.
16
User roles on an AI-native team
Three humans, eight agents, one team. The founder, a subject matter expert at the founder's company, and an AI engineer. PM, developer, QA, writer, designer, web publisher, email marketer, and DevOps are all AI agents.
17
AI testing vs human testing
Where AI can self-test (correctness, regressions, completeness) and where humans still must (UX, taste, judgment calls). Knowing which is which saves hours.
18
Working with human tokens after you leave
How to hand off agent context, memory, and project state to the next person, so the work survives a transition without a knowledge tax.
From a current client
"We thought we were 'using AI'. Then Protocol 09, Workflow Design, landed and everything else clicked. The 18 Protocols are the operating manual we wish we'd had two years ago."
James Murray · Work Healthy Australia
Where you learn it

Reading won't make
you AI-native
building will

Three in-person cohorts in 2026. Same operating system, two formats. Pick the one that fits your calendar and your appetite.

01
Sydney Cohort

Two Build Days on Sydney Harbour

The first Australian cohort, in Kirribilli right on the water. Two full days, the 18 protocols, and you leave with a live site, a CRM, a nurture sequence, and an AI program plan on your own data.

DatesAug 31 – Sep 1, 2026
Format2 days
Seats30
FromFrom A$3,600
See full programme →
02
Melbourne Cohort

Two Build Days in the Melbourne CBD

Melbourne's turn, at the top end of Collins Street. The same two-day sprint and 18 protocols: a live site, a CRM, a nurture sequence, and an AI program plan, built and shipped.

DatesSep 3–4, 2026
Format2 days
Seats30
FromFrom A$3,600
See full programme →
03
Saigon Cohort

One Build Day in Saigon

Priced for the region. One day, the 18 protocols, and you go home with a live site and a CRM, your stack installed and running.

DatesJun 20, 2026
Format1 day
Seats16
FromFrom $300
See full programme →
Frequently asked

Questions
before you commit

If your question isn't here, reach out to Dave directly. Honest answers, no sales script.

What is an AI-native team?

An AI-native team is a small group that uses AI as its primary operating layer, not as a feature added on top. In the Infinite Leverage model the team is three humans (the founder, a subject matter expert at the founder's company, and an AI engineer) plus eight AI agents (Product Manager, Developer, QA, DevOps on the build side, plus Writer, Designer, Web Publisher, Email Marketer on the go-to-market side). The humans hold vision, domain knowledge, and AI architecture. The agents hold the execution volume. The 18 Protocols define how the humans and the agents move together.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. The 18 Protocols are designed for founders, operators, and non-technical leaders. Engineers are in the room at every Infinite Leverage event to handle the technical depth. You bring the business and the data. They unblock you in real time.

How long does it take to learn the 18 Protocols?

The protocols themselves are introduced in a single 3-day cohort. Mastery comes from applying them on your real work. Most operators reach working fluency in 30 to 60 days after the event, especially with the White Glove tier (30 days of post-event engineering support).

Who teaches the 18 Protocols?

Dave Hajdu and the Edge 8 team. Edge 8 is the AI-native consulting team that runs on these protocols across every client build. The protocols are not theory: they are the operating manual for how the team ships in days, not quarters.

How is this different from a generic AI workshop?

Generic AI workshops teach prompts. The 18 Protocols teach a complete operating system: stack, roles, workflows, infrastructure, handoff. You leave with a working agent on your real data, not a notebook of prompt examples. Two formats (3-day build sprint in Melbourne or Sydney, 3-day retreat in Saigon) across Australia and Vietnam in 2026.