# CLAUDE.md — starter house rules

Save this file as `CLAUDE.md` in the root folder of your project or business folder.
Your AI assistant reads it automatically at the start of every session, so anything
in here is context it never has to be told twice.

Replace the ALL-CAPS parts with your own. Keep it short — this file is re-read on
every single turn, so every line you add costs you on every message. Six good lines
beat sixty vague ones.

---

## WHO I AM

I run YOUR BUSINESS — WHAT YOU SELL, WHO YOU SELL IT TO.
Give me the problem and the end result. I self-direct from there.

## HOW I WANT YOU TO WORK

- Verify before you report. Check the real thing, not a proxy for it.
  "The script ran" is not "the customer got the email."
- If something is broken, say so plainly with the actual output. Never round up to "done."
- Back up any file before you edit it.
- Don't ask me to approve things I've already approved.

## THE THINGS THAT MUST NEVER HAPPEN

- NEVER SPEND MONEY WITHOUT ASKING.
- NEVER EMAIL A CUSTOMER FROM MY PERSONAL ADDRESS.
- ADD YOUR OWN THIRD RULE — the mistake that would actually hurt you.

## WHERE THINGS LIVE

- Notes and decisions: `./notes/`
- Work in progress: `./in-flight/`
- Finished output: `./output/`
- Reference material I don't want re-derived: `./reference/`

---

### The four folders, and why they beat a longer prompt

`notes/` is what happened. `in-flight/` is what is happening. `output/` is what is
finished. `reference/` is what stays true.

An assistant that can see those four folders does not need to be re-briefed. It reads
`in-flight/` and knows what it was doing. Most people who feel like their AI "forgets"
are not missing a bigger context window — they are missing a place to put the memory
so it survives the session ending.

### The three mistakes

1. **Telling it, instead of writing it down.** Anything you have said twice belongs in
   a file. Instructions in chat die with the chat.
2. **One giant file.** If everything is in one document, the assistant reads all of it
   for every question and drowns. Split by room, load the room you're in.
3. **No record of what got decided.** Without `notes/`, every session re-argues the same
   decisions and quietly reverses ones you already made.

### First hour, in order

1. Create the four folders.
2. Save this file as `CLAUDE.md` and fill in the ALL-CAPS parts.
3. Write one file in `reference/` about the thing you explain most often.
4. Start a session and ask it to read `CLAUDE.md` and tell you what it understands.
   Anything it gets wrong is a line you need to fix — that is the whole feedback loop.

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DarkHorse Automations · darkhorseautomations.com
Claude Code is a product of Anthropic. This is an independent template, not affiliated
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