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The Stack Audit Template. A one-sitting companion to the 60-minute stack audit protocol. Duplicate this page, fill the table top to bottom, and end with a keep / merge / kill decision on every row. Ten minutes per block, six blocks, one hour.

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How to use it: duplicate this page → run the six blocks below in order → cancel what you killed this week, not someday.

Block 1 — Inventory (10 min)

List every AI tool that touches your work — chat assistants, writing helpers, image tools, agents, and the AI features inside software you already pay for. Include free tools. Below 8 entries? Check browser extensions and phone apps.

Block 2 — Assign the job (10 min)

One job per tool, stated as an outcome in five words or fewer: first drafts, code review, meeting notes. Can't name the job? The tool doesn't have one. Two tools, same job? Flag both for block 6.

Block 3 — Follow the data (10 min)

For each tool: what leaves your machine, and where does it go? Write the honest answer in the Data column — stays mine or goes to their model.

Block 4 — Last used (5 min)

Sort by the Last used column, honestly filled. The tool you forgot was here is the tool you've been subsidizing.

Block 5 — Renewal dates (10 min)

Billing date and cost for every paid row. Anything renewing inside 30 days gets decided this week.

Block 6 — Keep, merge, or kill (15 min)

One constraint: a personal stack has roughly nine real slots — one anchor, a few daily actives, a short bench of support. A tool earns a slot or it doesn't.

• Keep — named job, used this month, data behavior you accept.
• Merge — two tools, one job. Pick the one you'd miss; cancel the other this week.
• Kill — no job, no recent use, forgotten renewal. Cancel today.

Your stack