The $150/Month Setup That Replaced My Entire Back Office

I showed a mate my setup the other day. VS Code open, Claude Code running, three projects going at once across three windows. He watched me talk to my screen and a website page appeared.

His first question wasn't "how does it work?" It was "how hard was this to set up?"

The answer nearly broke him: download one app, install one extension, authenticate. Done.

I run my entire consulting operation from three things: VS Code, Claude Code, and Obsidian. Total monthly cost: $150 for ClaudeMax 5x.

I used to run Claude Code in PowerShell. You know what PowerShell looks like — a green screen from the 80s. It did the job. But I couldn't see my file structure, I couldn't interact with files while Claude was producing them, and I was constantly flipping between windows copy-pasting file paths.

VS Code fixed all of that. As Claude produces content, I can see it appear in the file tree. I can open files, review them, edit them — all without leaving the same screen. I can run three separate Claude sessions across three different projects simultaneously. Each in its own window.

Setting it up takes less than five minutes. Download VS Code. Go to Extensions. Search "Claude Code." Install. Authenticate with your Claude account. Pick a theme you like. You're done.

Every file Claude produces is a markdown file. Obsidian renders markdown beautifully — headings, bullet points, tables, all formatted and readable. Compare that to opening the same file in Notepad where it's just raw text with hash symbols everywhere.

I review everything Claude creates inside Obsidian. It maps directly to the file structure on my machine, so I'm always looking at the real files, not some cloud copy. Nothing leaves my machine unless I send it.

Quick note: I wouldn't recommend Obsidian for large teams. The permission structure is basically nonexistent — if you share a vault with someone, they can see everything. But for a solo operator? It's perfect.

I'm on ClaudeMax 5x at $150/month. There's a 20x tier above me at $300, but I haven't needed it. The 5x tier handles three concurrent projects, skill creation, agent teams, and all the MCP integrations I use daily.

The AI gurus think they need the biggest plan. They don't. They need the right setup. A well-structured skill consumes fewer tokens than a sloppy prompt on a premium plan. I'd rather spend time making my skills token-efficient than throw money at a higher tier.

The main thing we want to make sure of is that when we're using these tools, we're solving an actual problem. Not playing with technology for the sake of it. Because it removes a bottleneck, saves hours, or lets you do something you physically couldn't do alone.

This setup lets me produce websites, reports, presentations, business requirement documents, and project management updates — all from the same screen. No team. No back office. Just a well-configured command centre.

That's the empire of one.

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