Leanpub Header

Skip to main content
Go to Leanpub.com

Supply Chain Security for Solo Builders

Protect Your Dependencies, Secret and Deployment, Even when AI Pick the Packages.

Supply Chain Security for Solo Builders
This book is 100% completeLast updated on 2026-10-15
Kristian Reformis

Your app is mostly other people's code. You chose a few packages, and those packages pulled in dozens more. Your AI coding agent installs whatever makes the demo work. Your secrets sit in files you will one day share. Your server has not been updated in months. None of this means you failed. It means you build alone, with no security team and no reviewer.

This book gives you a realistic, low-cost routine to reduce supply chain risk in a small project, including the risks your AI coding agent introduces. In one weekend plus thirty minutes a month, you will learn to:

- map what you actually ship, from direct packages to hidden transitive ones;

- vet a new package in five minutes before you install it;

- update safely, one small reversible step at a time;

- read scanner reports without panic and without ignoring them;

- keep secrets out of your code and rotate them when they leak;

- protect your code host, registry, and cloud accounts;

- run a minimal build pipeline and a boring, updated small server;

- keep your AI coding agent leashed with permissions and rules files;

- recover calmly from a compromised package, a leaked key, or a hijacked account.

You will not become a security expert. You will become a solo builder with a written inventory, safer accounts, tested backups, and a monthly routine you can sustain for years. Most existing books on this topic target large companies, Kubernetes, and enterprise CI/CD. This one is for one person with limited time. It says what to do first, what to skip, and what is overkill.

No setup is risk-free, and this book promises none. It promises fewer easy failures and faster recovery.

Minimum price

$12.99

$19.99

You pay

Author earns

$

Also available for 1 book credit with a Reader Membership

PDF
EPUB
WEB
APP
About

About

About the Book

Supply Chain Security for Solo Builders is a practical, plain-language guide for solo developers, indie hackers, tiny teams, and anyone building apps with AI coding agents who has no dedicated security team.

What you will learn:

  • What a software supply chain is when you are alone: dependencies, tools, services, and your own habits.
  • How to list what you ship: direct vs transitive dependencies, lockfiles, and a one-page inventory.
  • A five-minute package vetting routine: exact names, maintenance signals, scope, and look-alike traps.
  • Safe install and update habits: review before installing, lockfile hygiene, one change at a time, treated automation.
  • What vulnerability scanners can and cannot tell you, and a four-question triage that fits one person.
  • Secret hygiene: environment variables, ignore files, scanning, and rotate-first leak response including Git history.
  • Account protection: unique passwords, a second login factor, least-privilege tokens, and working recovery.
  • Safer small pipelines: minimal permissions, secrets by reference, vetted third-party steps, and a deploy gate.
  • Safer small servers: update rhythm, closed doors, limited users, and backups you proved by restoring.
  • Agent guardrails: permissions and sandboxing, reviewing install commands, outside text as reading material, and rules files.
  • Signing and provenance, lightly: release records first, real signing when someone needs to check it.
  • One-person incident response: contain, rotate, audit, communicate — then change one thing.
  • A weekend hardening plan and a 30-minute monthly routine, plus an honest skip list.

The examples use JavaScript/Node (npm) and Python (pip) with two fictional apps, and the habits transfer to any ecosystem. Every scenario is a typical invented story unless author notes say otherwise. Every command and config snippet is short, illustrative, and marked for verification against official documentation before publishing.

The book is written for non-native English readers, in short sentences and plain words, with a calm colleague-to-colleague voice. Each chapter follows the same rhythm — scenario, plain-words risk, labeled actions (Do now, Do soon, Optional), the AI-agent angle, mistakes, checklist, and one exercise on your own project — so you always know where you are.

No safety guarantees. No legal or compliance advice. This is a book about protecting software, defensively. Test before you trust.*

Share this book

Categories

Computers and ProgrammingArtificial IntelligenceComputer Security

Feedback

Contact the author

Author

About the Author

Kristian Reformis

Kristian Reformis is a dedicated IT educator and tech enthusiast with a mission to bridge the gap between complex technology and modern pedagogy. With years of experience in the classroom, he has seen firsthand the challenges teachers face in an increasingly digital world.

Known as "The Reformist Teacher," Kristian specializes in making advanced IT concepts—from coding to Artificial Intelligence—accessible and actionable for educators of all backgrounds. He believes that technology should not be a burden to teachers, but a powerful catalyst that allows them to focus on what truly matters: inspiring the next generation.

When he isn’t exploring the latest AI tools or developing digital solutions for schools, Kristian enjoys sharing his insights on educational reform and the future of work. The AI-Driven Educator is his latest contribution to empowering teachers worldwide to reclaim their time and transform their classrooms.

Contents

Table of Contents

Preface

  1. Who this is for
  2. What you will learn
  3. What this book is not
  4. How this book works
  5. A note on AI coding agents
  6. Honesty about limits
  7. How to begin

Chapter 01: What “Supply Chain” Means When You Are Alone

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do: draw your one-page threat model
  5. The AI-agent angle
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 02: Know What You Ship

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do
  5. The AI-agent angle
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 03: Choosing Packages Wisely

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do: the five-minute vetting routine
  5. The AI-agent angle
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 04: Install-Time and Update Risk

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do
  5. The AI-agent angle
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 05: Scanning for Known Vulnerabilities

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do
  5. The AI-agent angle
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 06: Secrets: Keep Them Out of Your Code

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do
  5. The AI-agent angle
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 07: Protect Your Accounts

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do
  5. The AI-agent angle
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 08: Safer CI/CD for Small Projects

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do
  5. The AI-agent angle
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 09: Safer Deployments on a VPS or Small Host

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do
  5. The AI-agent angle
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 10: AI Coding Agents and the Supply Chain

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do
  5. The AI-agent angle: the pattern behind every chapter
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 11: Signing and Provenance, Lightly

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do
  5. The AI-agent angle
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 12: When Something Goes Wrong

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do
  5. The AI-agent angle
  6. Common mistakes
  7. Chapter checklist
  8. Summary
  9. Try it yourself

Chapter 13: Your Weekend Hardening Plan and Monthly Routine

  1. What you will learn
  2. A typical scenario
  3. The risk explained in plain words
  4. What to do: the weekend hardening plan
  5. What to do: the 30-minute monthly routine
  6. How to know the routine still works a year from now
  7. What to skip as a solo builder
  8. The AI-agent angle
  9. Common mistakes
  10. Chapter checklist
  11. Summary
  12. Try it yourself

Appendix A: Checklists

  1. A.1 New project checklist
  2. A.2 Pre-deploy checklist
  3. A.3 Monthly 30-minute checklist

Appendix B: Command and Config Cheat Sheet

  1. B.1 See what you ship (Chapter 02)
  2. B.2 Keep secrets out of code (Chapter 06)
  3. B.3 Guard the agent (Chapter 10)
  4. B.4 Note shapes (Chapters 01, 04, 05, 07, 08, 09, 11, 12)

Appendix C: Templates

  1. C.1 Security policy file (SECURITY.md)
  2. C.2 Ignore-file starter
  3. C.3 Agent rules snippet for safer dependency handling

Appendix D: Decision Guide (“What to Skip as a Solo Builder”)

  1. Do first (the weekend Blocks A and B)
  2. Do soon (Blocks C and D, then monthly)
  3. Skip for now (with triggers)
  4. How to use this guide yearly

Glossary

About the Author

The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee

Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.

See full terms...

Earn $8 on a $10 Purchase, and $16 on a $20 Purchase

We pay 80% royalties on purchases of $7.99 or more, and 80% royalties minus a 50 cent flat fee on purchases between $0.99 and $7.98. You earn $8 on a $10 sale, and $16 on a $20 sale. So, if we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book for $20, you'll earn $80,000.

(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)

Learn more about writing on Leanpub

Free Updates. DRM Free.

If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).

Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.

Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.

Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them

Write and Publish on Leanpub

You can use Leanpub to easily write, publish and sell in-progress and completed ebooks and online courses!

Leanpub is a powerful platform for serious authors, combining a simple, elegant writing and publishing workflow with a store focused on selling in-progress ebooks.

Leanpub is a magical typewriter for authors: just write in plain text, and to publish your ebook, just click a button. (Or, if you are producing your ebook your own way, you can even upload your own PDF and/or EPUB files and then publish with one click!) It really is that easy.

Learn more about writing on Leanpub