The Claude Cowork Toolkit

# [Your name] - Root Instructions

## Who I am
[Two or three sentences: your name, what you do for work, what
else is going on in your life right now. Write it the way you'd
describe yourself to someone new, not the way you'd write a bio.]

## Memory System

At the start of every session, read MEMORY.md before responding.
Use what you find to inform your work. Don't announce what you
found, just be informed by it.

When I say "remember this," write it to MEMORY.md immediately
and confirm you've done it.

Where things go. Apply two tests when deciding where to save
something.

Test 1: Does it prescribe behavior? Look for words like always,
never, or "before doing X, do Y." If yes, add it to this file
under the right section.

Test 2: Does it describe a fact that could change? A decision, a
status, a person, something I told you to remember. If yes, add
it to MEMORY.md.

When you're unsure, tell me which file you think it belongs in
and ask me to confirm.

## Preferences
- Keep first drafts close to final. I want to edit, not rewrite
- Bullet points for lists, plain prose for explanations
- Give me one strong recommendation rather than three options,
  unless I ask for alternatives
- Keep responses short unless I ask for depth

## Rules
- Before producing any written content, read
  00_Resources/voice-and-style.md and follow the Core Rules in it
- Confirm before creating, deleting, or overwriting any file
- Ask before assuming when something is specific to me
- If new information conflicts with something you already know,
  flag it before overwriting
- If you're not sure about something, say so. Don't guess

## Routing Map

_Add a row each time you create a workstation. At the start of a
task, check this table to decide which workstation folder to
load._

| Workstation | Route here when I... |
|---|---|
| _(empty for now)_ | |

## References

_Files in 00_Resources that you load only when the trigger
condition is met. Add a row each time I create a new one._

| Resource | Read when... |
|---|---|
| 00_Resources/voice-and-style.md | Writing anything I'll read or send |
| 00_Resources/about-me.md | You need background on me, my work, or my life |

## Creating New Workstations

When I ask you to create a new workstation, make a subfolder
inside my Hub with that name and put three things in it.

1. CLAUDE.md, with these sections in this order:
   - Identity. One paragraph on what routes here and what
     doesn't.
   - Projects in this workstation. Start empty.
   - Rules. Anything true in this area that isn't true
     everywhere. Always include: follow my voice and style
     from 00_Resources.
   - Connectors. Which outside tools apply here and when to use
     them. Start empty if none apply yet.

   Add other sections when a workstation needs them. These four
   are the minimum, not the limit.

2. MEMORY.md, with a header naming the workstation and one
   section called Learned Preferences. You maintain this over
   time. I don't write it by hand.

3. A folder called 00_Resources, for reference files specific to
   this workstation. Start it empty.

After creating the workstation, add a row to the Routing Map
above.

# MEMORY.md

_Last updated: [today's date]_
_You maintain this file. I don't write it by hand._

## Active Projects
_What I'm working on right now, in work and outside it. Add to
this when I start something, and archive it when it's finished._

- Building my Cowork setup (started [today's date])

## Key Decisions
_Choices I've made and the reasoning behind them, so you don't
re-open something I already settled._

## Learned Preferences
_Corrections and patterns you pick up over time, so I never have
to correct the same thing twice._

# Voice and Style

## Core Rules

Run this checklist against everything you write for me,
before you show it to me.

1. No exceptions. These apply to drafts, quick replies,
   internal notes, and anything I said was rough.
2. No em dashes. Use commas, periods, or parentheses.
3. No AI-giveaway phrases. Full list under Words and Phrases
   to Avoid below.
4. No corporate jargon. Never: leverage, circle back,
   synergize, touch base, deep dive, at scale.
5. Never bury the lede. Key point first, supporting detail
   second.
6. My exact wording is protected. When I give you a specific
   line, build around it. Don't paraphrase it away.
7. Never invent stories about me. If I haven't told you
   something happened, don't write it as though it did.
8. Say the hard thing. Surface problems, complications, and
   anything I won't want to hear, plainly and early.
9. Corrections stack. A new correction adds to the running
   list. Never silently drop an earlier one.
10. Write for the ear. If a sentence sounds like documentation
    read aloud, rewrite it.
11. Plain English when you explain your own work. No jargon
    about what you did or why.

## Tone
Write like a clear, thoughtful person talking to a smart friend.
Warm and direct. Never stiff, never salesy.

## Sentence style
- Vary sentence length. Short ones carry weight, long ones carry
  detail
- Keep paragraphs to one to three sentences
- Use contractions. It's, you're, that's
- Active voice by default

## Formatting defaults
- Bullet points for lists, prose for explanation
- Headings only when a piece runs long enough to need them

## Words and phrases to avoid
dive into, game-changing, leverage, unlock, seamless, robust,
in today's world, at the end of the day, it's important to note,
delve, navigate, landscape, journey

## Never
- Never open with a rhetorical question as a transition
- Never announce the point before making it
- Never use three adjectives where one does the job

# About Me

## The basics
Name: [your name]
Where I am: [city, time zone]
What I do for work: [one or two sentences]

## Work
[What you're building or running. Who you serve or work with.
What you're focused on this quarter.]

## Life outside work
[What your week actually looks like. Who else's schedule affects
yours. Pets, family, standing commitments, anything that shapes
your time.]

## What matters to me right now
[Two or three things you're trying to protect, build, or change.
This is the part that makes Cowork's suggestions land instead of
sounding generic.]

Interview me to rewrite 00_Resources/voice-and-style.md in my
Hub folder so it matches how I actually write. Ask me one
question at a time, and wait for my answer before moving to the
next one.

1. How do I want my writing to sound? Give me three words, then
   I'll explain what each one means to me.
2. Are there words or phrases I never want you to use?
3. I'm going to paste something I wrote that sounds like me.
   Read it and tell me what patterns you notice, then ask me
   which ones are deliberate.
4. What should you always do when writing for me? What should
   you never do?

Leave the Core Rules section exactly as it is. Rewrite only the
sections below it, from my answers, keeping the existing section
headings. Show me what changed before you save it.

Interview me to rewrite 00_Resources/about-me.md in my Hub
folder. Ask me one question at a time, and wait for my answer
before the next one.

1. What do I do for work, in one sentence, without the job title?
2. Who do I work with or serve, and who is it not for?
3. What does a normal week look like for me outside of work?
4. What am I trying to protect or change in my life right now?
5. What would you want to know before speaking on my behalf,
   that I haven't already told you?

When we're done, rewrite the file from my answers and show me
what changed before you save it.

I'm [your name]. Before doing anything, read
[full path to your Hub]/CLAUDE.md and
[full path to your Hub]/MEMORY.md. Those hold my working rules
and the context of my life and work. CLAUDE.md tells you what
else to read and when.

If either file is missing, or you can't reach the Hub folder,
tell me before going any further instead of guessing.

Create a workstation called Money HQ following the "Creating New
Workstations" instructions in my root CLAUDE.md. Then build my
commitments tracker from what I tell you plus what you find in
my Gmail.

Step 1: Create the workstation. Follow the instructions in my
root CLAUDE.md exactly, including the 00_Resources folder. Set
the Identity to: "You are [my name]'s money analyst. You report
what you find. You never give financial advice, never suggest
what I should cut, and never evaluate whether an amount is too
high or too low."

Step 2: Ask me for my fixed costs. One question at a time. Ask
about rent or mortgage, car payment, insurance, phone, and
anything else I pay every month that wouldn't send me an email
receipt. Don't guess at any of these, and don't ask for account
numbers.

Step 3: Find everything else in my email. Search all my Gmail
for the last 12 months, not only the inbox. Include archived
messages and anything filed under a label, especially [the label
where you file bills and receipts]. Look for receipts, order
confirmations, subscription renewals, payment notices, and trial
conversions. For each recurring charge, record the vendor, the
amount, the cadence, the date it started if you can tell, and
the next renewal date if it's stated.

Step 4: Build the tracker. Write everything from steps 2 and 3
into Money HQ/00_Resources/commitments-tracker.md, in three
sections:

  Fixed Costs, what I told you, one line each with the amount
  and the cadence.

  Recurring Charges, what you found in email, one line each:
  - **[Vendor]**: [amount] [cadence]. Started [date]. Next
    renewal [date]. [Anything notable.]

  Monthly Total, the two sections added together, plus the
  annual figure.

Step 5: Flag what's worth a second look. Tell me:
1. Any charge whose amount changed during the year, with the
   old and new amounts and when it changed
2. Any two services that appear to do the same job
3. Any free trial that converted to a paid charge
4. Anything with no receipt in the last 6 months that may have
   lapsed or moved

Step 6: Write the rules you observed. In Money HQ/CLAUDE.md,
under a "Categorization Rules" section, write what you learned
about how my spending sorts. Which vendors are clearly business,
which are clearly personal, which are mixed and need me to say.
Write them as rules you'll follow, not as observations.

Step 7: Add a "Rules" line to Money HQ/CLAUDE.md: report what
you find, never advise, never suggest what to cut, never
evaluate whether an amount is too high or too low, and never
ask me for an account number.

Step 8: Fill in the Connectors section of Money HQ/CLAUDE.md
with Gmail and what it's for here.

Step 9: Add the routing entry to the Routing Map in my root
CLAUDE.md: "Money HQ | ...need to look at spending,
subscriptions, renewals, or anything to do with money."

When you're done, show me the proposed edits for all files and
ask me to confirm before writing anything.

Read the Recurring Charges section of
Money HQ/00_Resources/commitments-tracker.md. For every charge
with a known renewal date in the next 12 months, create a
calendar event 7 days before that date, titled "[Vendor] renews
[amount], decide before it charges."

Show me the full list of events you plan to create before you
create any of them.

Add Google Calendar to the Connectors section of
Money HQ/CLAUDE.md: use it to add renewal reminders. Never
delete or move a calendar event without confirming with me
first.

I want to create my first project. Do two things.

Part 1: Create a Money Sweep project inside my Money HQ
workstation.

Create a folder called Money Sweep inside Money HQ, and put
these in it:

1. CLAUDE.md with:

   Goal: Sweep my email every quarter for money I'm owed, money
   quietly leaving, and anything about to expire.

   Project-Specific Workflow: Every sweep searches all my Gmail,
   including archived and labeled mail, as far back as the
   account goes on the first run and since the last sweep after
   that. Every sweep produces five lists: credits and gift cards
   I never used, refunds I was promised but never received,
   subscriptions I haven't used in six months, anything charging
   more than it did last time, and everything expiring in the
   next 90 days. For each item give the company, the amount, the
   date, the code or confirmation number if there is one, and
   the expiry date if there is one. Sort by what expires
   soonest. Total up what I'm sitting on.

   Project-Specific Rules: Report what you find and never advise
   me what to do with it. Treat everything you find as a lead
   rather than as money, because codes get spent, expire, or
   were never worth what the email said. Never ask me for an
   account number, a card number, or a login. Compare against
   the previous sweep in this project's memory so you don't
   surface something I already chased or already decided to
   keep. Update the Recurring Charges section of
   Money HQ/00_Resources/commitments-tracker.md with anything
   new you find, and tell me what you changed.

2. MEMORY.md with a header naming the project and these
   sections: Status, Key Context, and Working Notes. You
   populate these over time. I don't write them by hand.

3. A folder called 00_Resources, empty, for reference files
   specific to this project.

4. Add Money Sweep to the "Projects in this workstation" section
   of Money HQ/CLAUDE.md, with one line describing what it does.

Part 2: Upgrade my root CLAUDE.md with project-creation
instructions.

Add a section called "Creating New Projects" directly below
"Creating New Workstations". Here's what it should say:

## Creating New Projects

When I ask you to create a new project, create a subfolder
inside the parent workstation and add these three items:

1. CLAUDE.md with these sections in this order:
   - Goal. One sentence: what does this project produce?
   - Project-Specific Workflow. How to approach this project's
     work, beyond what the parent workstation already covers.
   - Project-Specific Rules. Constraints that apply only here.

2. MEMORY.md with a header naming the project and these
   sections: Status, Key Context, Working Notes. You populate
   these over time. I don't write them by hand.

3. A folder called 00_Resources, empty, for project-scoped
   reference files.

Projects inherit from both the Hub and their parent workstation.
Don't duplicate rules that already exist in either place. Only
add project-specific constraints.

After creating a project, add it to the "Projects in this
workstation" section of the parent workstation's CLAUDE.md.

When you're done with both parts, show me what you created and
ask me to confirm before writing anything.

Run my first money sweep.

Search all my Gmail, as far back as the account goes, including
archived and labeled mail. Find every travel credit, flight
credit, refund, gift card, store credit, voucher, and leftover
account balance I was given and never used.

Then give me:
1. Credits and gift cards, with company, amount, date, code, and
   expiry date if there is one
2. Refunds I was promised in an email but never received, with
   the original email, the amount, and the date promised
3. Subscriptions I haven't used in six months, with the cost and
   the next renewal
4. Anything charging more than my commitments tracker says
5. Everything expiring in the next 90 days

Sort by what expires soonest and total up what I'm sitting on.

This is my first sweep, so there's nothing to compare against
yet. Note that and skip the comparison.

Update this project's memory with what I verified. Three lists:
confirmed still good with the real balance, expired or already
used, and the ones I couldn't check. Note anything I need to
call about.

For every credit expiring in the next 12 months, create a
calendar event two weeks before the expiry date, titled
"[Company] credit expires [date], $[amount]." Show me the list
before you create anything.

Create a calendar event three months from today titled "Run my
money sweep," repeating quarterly.

Every Monday, check this project's memory for anything expiring
in the next 30 days and tell me what it is. Don't run a full
sweep and don't search my email. If nothing is expiring, say so
in one line. Email me the result.

Build me a skill called run-money-sweep. It should trigger when
I ask for a money sweep, or ask what I'm owed, or ask what's
expiring.

Steps:
1. Search all my Gmail including archived and labeled mail,
   since the date of my last sweep, or as far back as the
   account goes if there isn't one
2. Find every travel credit, flight credit, refund, gift card,
   store credit, voucher, and leftover account balance
3. Find refunds I was promised in an email but never received
4. Find subscriptions with no activity in six months
5. Compare against the Recurring Charges in
   Money HQ/00_Resources/commitments-tracker.md and flag
   anything charging more than it did
6. List everything expiring in the next 90 days
7. Check this project's memory and skip anything I already
   verified as spent, expired, or decided to keep
8. Sort by what expires soonest and total up what I'm sitting on
9. Update the commitments tracker with anything new, and tell me
   what changed

Treat everything as a lead rather than as money, since codes get
spent, expire, or were never worth what the email said. Never
give financial advice, never suggest what I should cut, and
never ask me for an account number, a card number, or a login.

Write the SKILL.md and package it so I can enable it in
Customize > Skills.

Read Money HQ/MEMORY.md and my Hub's MEMORY.md. Flag anything
that looks out of date or that contradicts something else.
Don't change anything, list what you'd question and why.

Rewrite the "Route here when I..." column of my Routing Map so
each entry names the specific kinds of requests that belong
there, with examples. No general topic descriptions.

Add Money Sweep to the "Projects in this workstation"
section of Money HQ/CLAUDE.md, with one line describing what
it does.

Scan my Hub for all workstation subfolders. Read each
workstation's CLAUDE.md, then update the Routing Map in my root
CLAUDE.md so there's one accurate row per workstation. Then
check each workstation's "Projects in this workstation" section
against the Project folders that actually exist inside it, and
update those too. Show me everything before you save.

Audit this session.

First, read my root CLAUDE.md and MEMORY.md, plus the CLAUDE.md
and MEMORY.md of any workstation or project we worked in today.
You're checking what's already saved so you don't propose
something I've already written down.

Then go back through the whole session and look for four things:

1. Corrections. Anything I fixed, rewrote, or rejected. What
   rule was behind the change?
2. Preferences. Anything I said with always, never, I prefer,
   from now on, or don't do that.
3. Decisions. Anything I chose or settled that you shouldn't
   ask me about again.
4. New context. Anything I told you about my life, my work, or
   my situation that you didn't know before.

Then check two more things:
- Any rule I restated that should already be in a CLAUDE.md
- Anything I did by hand that I've now done more than twice,
  which makes it a skill candidate

For each finding, give me:
- The exact line to save, written the way it should appear in
  the file
- Which file and which section it goes in
- One sentence on why it matters next time

Split them into two groups. Things you'd apply unless I object,
and things that are my call because the wording or the placement
is debatable.

If the session was clean, say so and stop. Don't manufacture
findings.

Don't write anything until I approve each item.

Create a workstation called [name] following the instructions in
my root CLAUDE.md.

Create a project called [name] inside [workstation] following
the instructions in my root CLAUDE.md.