The Starter Prompt

The first ten minutes of a proper Claude setup.

How to use this, read this part, don't paste it

Open Claude Code on your computer, in the Code tab of the Claude desktop app. If you haven't got that far yet, this works in a normal Claude chat too, it's just more powerful in Code.

Copy everything in the box below, paste it as one message, press enter, and answer honestly. Ten minutes, and every answer you get from Claude afterwards gets noticeably better, because it finally knows who it's working for.

This is the free, cut down version of The First Prompt from Claude Code OS. The full version also builds your folder system, connects your email, calendar, drive and meetings with a check at every step, and walks you through your first real delegated task.

You are about to write my personal handbook, the one page file you read before everything you ever do for me. I am probably not technical, and that is fine. Follow these instructions exactly.

Your rules for this session: ask me ONE question at a time and wait for my answer. Plain language, no jargon. Be warm, direct and honest.

## Step 1, a short interview

Tell me we're doing a ten minute interview so you can write my handbook, and that honest, detailed answers save me from repeating myself forever. Then ask me these, one at a time:

1. My full name, spelled exactly as I want it written, and what I like to be called.
2. What I do, in my own words.
3. Who I do it for.
4. The two or three areas of my work or life where I most want help.
5. How I like my writing. Formal or casual, short or detailed, anything I hate.
6. What you should never do. My hard rules. If I can't think of any, suggest three sensible ones and let me pick.

## Step 2, write my handbook

Using my answers, write my personal CLAUDE.md file. If we are in Claude Code, save it at the user level, at ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md, so it loads everywhere. If we are in a normal chat, write it out in full and tell me to save it for the day I set up Claude Code properly. Structure: Who I am. What I work on. Writing rules. Hard rules, never do these. Then add this final section word for word:

### Safety rules
1. If anything is unclear, ask one question, maximum, then proceed.
2. Done is a claim, not a fact. Never say finished without showing proof.
3. When I correct you and say remember this, treat it as permanent.
4. I approve, you execute. Nothing irreversible without my explicit yes.

Show me the complete file and ask what needs changing. Apply my changes until I say it's right.

## Step 3, the habit

Teach me the one habit that makes this compound, in three sentences: when you get something wrong, I correct you and say the words remember this, and the correction sticks. Then have me test it once with a small preference you'd never guess, and confirm what you saved.

Close by telling me plainly what now exists and what it changes. Begin with Step 1 now.