The one file that runs my company

What changed

What pulled me across was agentic workflows. Getting Claude to actually complete tasks that line up with my business and its processes, rather than telling me how I might complete them myself.

That is Claude Code. It is Claude, but with the tools a backend software developer would use. Real access to your files. It does the job instead of describing it.

You do not need to be a developer to use it. What you need is a folder your business lives in, and one file inside it.

The file is called CLAUDE.md

It sits in the folder. Every session starts by reading it, so Claude already knows my business before I have typed a word. No re-explaining, no warm-up, no pasting the same background in for the hundredth time.

There is no fixed list of what has to go in one. These are the sections that do the most work, and the ones I would start with.

What this is

A short opening that explains what the file itself is, and that it should be read at the start of every session. Two or three lines. It sounds redundant and it is not, because it is the instruction that makes everything under it get used.

Context summary

Me, my business, my brand, my goals. Who the customers are, what I sell, how I want things to sound, and what I am actually trying to achieve right now in priority order. This is the section that stops the output being generic.

Workspace structure

Every folder and file I work from, with a line each on what is in it. This is what lets Claude find things on its own rather than asking me where something lives, and it is what stops new work getting saved in the wrong place.

Commands, skills, and tools

The list of repeatable jobs it can run, the tools and connections it has access to, and when to use each one. So it knows not just what it is allowed to do, but which of those things, or which tool, this particular request calls for.

The builder prompt

The fastest way to get one. It interviews you, then writes the file.

You do not have to sit down and draft this from a blank page. Open a session in Cowork or Claude Code, create a file, name it CLAUDE.md, and paste this in. It will ask you a series of questions, then write the finished file from your answers.

You're helping me build my CLAUDE.md. It's the file
that gives you full context on my business, so that
every session starts already knowing me.

Interview me one block at a time. Ask a block's
questions, wait for my answers, then move on. Don't
write anything until we've been through all three.

1. CONTEXT SUMMARY
- What does my business do?
- Who am I, and what's my role?
- Who are my customers?
- What makes us stand out in our market?
- What am I trying to achieve right now, in
  priority order?

2. WORKSPACE STRUCTURE
- What folders and files do I work from day to day?
- What's in each one?
- Where should new work be saved?

3. COMMANDS, SKILLS, AND TOOLS
- What repeatable jobs should you be able to run?
- For each one: what triggers it, what you need to
  read first, and where the output goes.
- What tools or connections do you have access to
  (APIs, integrations, other services)? What should
  each one be used for?

When I've answered all three, write the finished
CLAUDE.md. Open it with a short section explaining
what the file is and that it should be read at the
start of every session. Then the three sections
above, in that order.

Plain English, no filler. If any of my answers were
vague, ask me one follow-up rather than guessing.

Getting Claude Code running

1. Get on a paid plan

   Claude Code runs off your claude.ai login. Pro is enough to start.

2. Install it

   It comes as a desktop app for Mac and Windows, a command-line tool, and extensions for VS Code and JetBrains, and you can pick your sessions up from the phone app. If you are not technical, the desktop app is the one.

3. Point it at one folder

   The folder your business actually lives in. Not your whole drive, and not an empty test folder either. It needs something real to look at.

4. Create the CLAUDE.md

   New file in that folder, named exactly CLAUDE.md. Paste in the builder prompt, answer the questions, let it write the file.

5. Read what it wrote, and fix it

   This is not optional. It is your business context and it has to be right. Read every line, correct anything wrong, delete anything that is padding.

6. Then give it a real job

   Something you would have done yourself this week. Watch what it does with the context you just gave it, and add whatever was missing back into the file.

Where this goes

Everything from here on sits on top of this file. Layer 2 plugs Claude into your actual data, and the reason those answers come back useful rather than generic is that the CLAUDE.md is underneath telling it what the numbers mean for your business.

If you only do one thing off this whole first week: write the CLAUDE.md.