One Claude project that knows your business

Every project only knows what's inside it.

Each new project means explaining your business again. Twenty projects means twenty half-informed versions of Claude, and no idea which chat is where.

Folders, not projects.

One linked folder per business, with subfolders for each area of work. Folders do the sorting. Claude does the remembering.

Before you build AI employees, build a folder Claude can find its way around.

Especially while you're still working out what your systems should be. One well-organised folder lets you test what works. Twenty projects just leave you overwhelmed.

Plan my folder structure

It asks about your work, then proposes folders. It doesn't create or move anything.

Help me plan a folder structure for one business, so an AI assistant can find its way around my files.

Ask me one question at a time and wait for my answer. No more than six questions. Cover:
→ what the business sells
→ the main areas of work (for example clients, content, sales, finance)
→ what I create every week
→ where the structure will live (the folder linked to my AI project) and where my files are now
→ the folders I already have, and what's in any with unclear names

Then propose a structure:
→ number the top-level folders from 00, with 00 Context first (for my business context, voice and instructions files)
→ no more than eight top-level folders, and one level of subfolders at most, only where I said I'd use them
→ a one-line note under each folder saying what goes in it
→ a short table: each existing folder, and where its contents would go

You may suggest a clearer name for an existing folder, but mark it as a suggestion. Don't add an Archive folder unless I ask. Don't create, rename or move anything: I'll do that myself. Don't suggest new tools or new habits. If an existing folder's purpose is unclear and you're out of questions, say so in the table rather than guess.

Write my business context

The short version. The full interview, with six documents including your voice, is the Context Interview.

Interview me to write a one-page context document about my business, so an AI assistant knows it before I ask for anything.

Ask one question at a time and wait for my answer. Cover what I sell and what it costs, who buys and why, how clients find me, who's on the team, and what's in my way right now. No more than eight questions.

Then write it under the headings What I sell, Who buys and why, How the business works, Team, What's in my way. No more than 300 words.

Use my words. Don't add anything I didn't tell you: no estimates, no advice, no marketing language. At the bottom, list anything I couldn't answer under "Still to fill in". Give it to me in one block I can copy.

Write my project instructions

Paste the result into the project's Instructions, and save a copy as CLAUDE.md in your folder.

Help me write standing instructions for an AI assistant working inside my business project.

Ask me up to five questions, one at a time: how I like answers (length, tone, spelling), what it should always do, what it must never do, which files it should read first, and when it should ask me rather than act.

Then write the instructions as a short list under three headings: Always, Never, Ask me first. No more than 200 words. Include these unless I tell you otherwise:
→ Always check facts, and say when you're not sure.
→ Never send, post or delete anything.
→ Ask me rather than guess.

Use my words where you can. Don't add rules I didn't ask for. Give it to me in one block I can copy.

Test what my project knows

Run it in a new session inside the project, after the files are in the folder.

Without asking me anything first, tell me what you know about my business from the files and instructions in this project. Under these headings: What I sell, Who buys, How I work, How I write, What you must never do.

Use only what's in my files and instructions. For each heading, say which file you got it from. If you couldn't find something, write "Not in my files" rather than guess.

Then list the three most useful things missing, as questions I could answer to fill the gaps. Keep it under 250 words.