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Articles / 16 October 2026 / Part 2 of 3

Four ways to fill the gap.

Connections, credentials and know-how: who provides them is your choice.

Every factory needs connections to your tools, a safe place for credentials, and know-how for each tool and each source of data. Part 1 explains why. This part lays out four ways to provide them, side by side, with what each costs you in time, money, upkeep and control.

The article in one minute

  • Four ways: build your own, use an in-house team or system, use another provider, or use StarMynd, which founded this Foundation.
  • Each has a price. Building takes time and upkeep. A service takes fees and some trust. None is right for everyone.
  • Mix them. Credentials one way, connections another. Change your mind later.
  • Whichever you pick, keep the factory yours: start with a service, move off any time.

The Infinity OS Foundation

The gap

Three slots every factory has to fill.

A factory you own still needs three things around it before it can do real work. Connections to every tool and source of data. A credential store, with a record of which AI used which secret, so a credential can be changed once. And know-how: a guide to each tool written for an AI, and expertise in what each source of data means.

None of these comes with the model. Someone has to provide them, and keep providing them as your tools change.

Four ways to fill it

Any one of four, or a mix.

Three slots, four ways to fill them At the top, a factory you own, on your own hardware or server, with three slots: data connections, credentials and know-how. Below, four boxes of the same size feed one shared line that rises into all three slots: build your own; an in-house team or system; another provider; and StarMynd, a service, which founded the Foundation. Any one, or a mix. A note at the bottom: start with a service, move off any time; the factory stays yours. A FACTORY YOU OWN Your factory on your own hardware or server SLOT 1 Data connections SLOT 2 Credentials SLOT 3 Know-how ANY ONE, OR A MIX OPTION 1 Build your own you or your developer build and maintain it OPTION 2 In-house team your data team, or a system you already run OPTION 3 Another provider a service you choose, or your AI provider's OPTION 4 StarMynd a service; it founded this Foundation WHICHEVER YOU PICK Start with a service, move off any time; the factory stays yours.
The same box for each option, on purpose. The slots are the factory's needs; who fills them is your call.

Side by side

An honest comparison.

The same questions for each: how long until it works, what it costs, who keeps it working, how much control you keep, and when it fits. These are general patterns, not measurements. Your tools, your team and your provider's terms decide the real answers.

Option 1

Build your own

Time to start
The longest. Every connection, the credential store and the guides are built before the factory can use them.
Cost
Your own time, or a developer's. Little is paid to anyone else.
Upkeep
Yours. When a tool changes how it lets software in, you fix the connection.
Control
Full. Everything is yours and nothing depends on a supplier.
Fits when
You use few tools, or you have the skills and the time.

Option 2

An in-house team or system

Time to start
Quick if the pieces exist already, such as a data team or a credential system you run today. Slow if they have to be set up.
Cost
The salaries or licences you already pay, plus the work of pointing them at the factory.
Upkeep
Your team's, alongside its other work.
Control
Full, within your own organisation.
Fits when
You already have a data department or a secret store you trust.

Option 3

Another provider

Time to start
Often fast, for the tools the provider covers. This includes the connectors that come with an AI provider's own app.
Cost
The provider's fees, if any, on its terms.
Upkeep
The provider's, for what it covers. The rest is yours.
Control
Shared. Check whether the connections work with any model, and whether they move with you if you change AI provider.
Fits when
A provider covers your tools well and its terms suit you.
For credentials
Named examples: Infinity OS integrates natively with 1Password, for basic users, and Google Secret Manager, a developer tool for secrets.
What they do
They store and serve secrets. They do not maintain data connections, AI-ready tool guides or a data analyst per source; fill those slots another way.

Option 4

StarMynd

Time to start
StarMynd has an automated onboarding: you connect your systems to it, and it holds the connections for your factory.
Cost
StarMynd's fees, on its terms.
Upkeep
StarMynd's, for the tools it covers. As StarMynd describes it: connections in one place for any model, a record of which AI used which secret, an AI-ready guide per tool, and a data analyst per source.
Control
Shared while you use it. StarMynd says you can leave whenever you want, and your factory stays on your own systems.
Fits when
You want the factory useful quickly and would rather not build the slots first. Disclosure: StarMynd founded the Foundation, and funds and staffs it today.

So whatThere is no wrong answer here, only a trade. Time and upkeep on one side, fees and shared control on the other. You can also mix them: credentials in-house, connections from a service, guides of your own.

Questions to ask any provider

Five questions before you choose.

Ask these of any provider, StarMynd included, and of yourself if you build.

  1. Does it work with any model? Closed, open and local, and several at once.
  2. Can I see which AI used which secret, and when? And can I change a credential in one place?
  3. Can I leave, and what do I take with me? Your connections, your settings, your records.
  4. Where does my factory run? It should stay on hardware or a server you own or control.
  5. What happens when a tool changes? Who notices, and who fixes the connection.

Start with a service, move off any time

The choice you make today is not for ever.

A good arrangement is one you can walk away from. If you start with a service so your factory works now, you should be able to move each slot in-house, or to another provider, whenever you are ready, without rebuilding the factory itself.

That is the test we suggest for any option: does it keep the factory yours? Part 3 shows the path from a factory that works on day one to one you run entirely yourself.

The testStart with a service, move off any time; your factory stays yours.

Disclosure: StarMynd founded the Foundation, and funds and staffs it today. It appears here as one option of four, described in the same terms as the others. You do not need StarMynd, or any service, to use Infinity OS. StarMynd's own site is starmynd.com.

Infinity OS is being built and is not yet released. Nothing in this article describes a released product.