You've probably spent more time rewriting prompts than actually using AI. You paste in some context, get something generic back, add more detail, get closer — then close the tab. Next time you open it, you start from zero again.

The problem isn't your prompts. It's that prompts alone only go so far. This post is about the layer underneath — the one that makes every prompt you write work better.

Why prompts alone aren't enough

Prompts are useful. A well-written prompt gets you a better result than a vague one — full stop. But even the best prompt has a ceiling, because every time you open Claude you're starting fresh. It doesn't know your voice, your business, or how you think. You have to explain yourself every single session.

Most people try to solve this by saving prompts. A folder of them. "Write me a caption in my tone." "Reply to this email the way I would." Dozens of slightly different versions, none of them quite right, none of them staying current.

The issue is that every saved prompt tells Claude what to do for one specific task. What you actually need is a file that tells Claude who you are — so you never have to explain it again, no matter what you're asking.

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Prompts and context files work together. A good prompt handles the task. A context file handles you — your voice, your business, your rules. The system below sets up that foundation once, so every prompt you write from here on gets a head start.

The 3-file system

Create a folder on your computer called Cowork. Inside it, you'll keep three files. Claude reads them at the start of every session, and from that point on — it knows who you are, how you write, and what your business actually needs.

1
Create the Cowork folder
One folder on your desktop. Three files inside. This is where Claude's understanding of you lives — permanently.
2
Run the 100-question interview
Ask Claude to interview you. Use Claude's built-in voice mode to answer out loud. 90 minutes. Compress everything into your 3 files.
3
Reference it every session
Add your files to a Claude Project once. From then on, Claude reads them automatically — before every single task.
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What's a .md file? It stands for Markdown, but don't let that word scare you. It's just a plain text file — like a Word document, but simpler. You can create one in any text editor. You can't break it. And Claude reads it perfectly.

File 1: about-me.md

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about-me.md
Who you are. How you think. How you write.

This is the file that makes Claude sound like you instead of a generic AI press release. Without it, Claude's default voice is confident, polished, and completely interchangeable with every other Claude output on the internet.

To build it: open Claude and ask it to interview you. Tell it you want at least 100 questions, and that it shouldn't stop until it has a complete picture of who you are — how you speak, what you believe, how you write, what you'd never say. Use Claude's built-in voice mode to answer out loud — it's faster and more honest than typing. You'll finish 100 answers in about 90 minutes.

Then ask Claude to compress everything into a single .md file. That's your about-me.md.

Things to cover in the interview:

  • How you talk to clients — formal, casual, or somewhere between?
  • Words you use naturally vs. words that feel corporate or forced
  • Stories from your business that shaped how you think
  • Your personality online vs. how you are in person
  • What you sound like when you're being honest vs. when you're performing
# about-me.md **Business:** Stackborne — web design for small businesses in Australia **Voice:** Direct and informal. I talk to clients like a mate, not a consultant. **Sentences:** Short. Plain words. I'd rather be clear than clever. **Words I never use:** leverage, synergy, ecosystem, circle back, unpack **Tone online:** Confident but not arrogant. I share what I've learned, not what I've achieved. **Belief that shapes how I write:** Most small business owners are smart people who've been sold overpriced solutions by people who made everything sound more complicated than it needed to be.

File 2: anti-ai-writing-style.md

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anti-ai-writing-style.md
Every word, pattern, and tone you hate.

This is the file most people skip. It's also the most important one.

Claude defaults to AI-speak when it doesn't know what you hate. Phrases like "delve into," "in today's fast-paced world," "this isn't just X, this is Y." It's not doing it to annoy you — it's what gets reinforced when millions of people ask for "professional-sounding content" and never push back.

80% of this file is what you reject. The goal isn't to describe your style — it's to draw a clear line around everything that isn't.

Common phrases to reject:

"Delve into" in any form
"In today's fast-paced world" or any variation
"This isn't just X, this is Y" — the classic AI contrast structure
"Tapestry," "landscape," "ecosystem" used as metaphors
Starting posts with a rhetorical question
Ending with "The future is [optimistic adjective]"
Three buzzwords separated by commas ("agile, scalable, innovative")
# anti-ai-writing-style.md **NEVER USE:** - "Delve" in any form - "In today's fast-paced/digital/competitive world" - "This isn't just X, this is Y" contrast structure - "Tapestry," "landscape," "ecosystem" as metaphors - Lists of three buzzwords: "agile, scalable, innovative" - "It's important to note that" — just say it - "The future is bright/exciting/promising" at the end **NEVER START** a post or email with a rhetorical question. **NEVER USE** em dashes to add dramatic pauses — it's a tell. **AVOID** passive voice unless it genuinely sounds better.

Think of it like a brand style guide — except instead of fonts and colours, you're defining what sounds like you versus what makes you cringe when you read it back.

File 3: my-company.md

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my-company.md
Your targets. Your focus. Your hard No's.

This stops Claude from giving you advice designed for a 200-person marketing team when you're a solo business owner trying to get more enquiries this month.

Without this file, Claude gives you generic strategies. With it, Claude knows your actual situation — your numbers, your targets, what you're focused on right now, and what you've already decided to ignore.

What to include:

  • Who you serve — specific, not "small businesses." Name an industry, a location, a size.
  • Where you are — revenue range, team size, how long you've been running
  • This quarter's priorities — two or three specific things, not a wishlist
  • Your hard No's — what you won't do, even if someone asks nicely
# my-company.md **Business:** Stackborne — web design and systems for local service businesses **Audience:** Trades, hospitality, and health businesses. 1–5 employees. Usually no in-house marketing. Western suburbs of Sydney. **Current stage:** Solo. 2 years running. $8–12k/month revenue. **Q3 focus:** 1. Get 3 new clients through referrals 2. Publish 2 blog posts per month 3. Launch a case study page **Hard No's:** - No enterprise clients - No paid ads management - No social media posting service **Revenue target:** $15k/month by end of year

The more specific this file is, the more useful Claude becomes. Vague targets give you vague advice. Real numbers give you real answers.

Two tools that make this click

You don't need these to make the system work. But they make the setup faster and keep the files from going stale.

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Claude Voice Mode
Built in · No extra app needed
Claude has voice mode built into the mobile app and web interface — just tap the microphone and speak. Use it to answer the interview questions out loud. Voice is faster and more honest than typing; vague answers don't survive when you're speaking.
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Obsidian
Free · File editor
Opens your Cowork folder like a proper notebook. Editing your .md files feels like a Google Doc instead of a raw text file. Download it, point it at your folder, and updating your files becomes something you'll actually do.
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For the technically curious: This exact pattern is built into Claude Code (Anthropic's developer tool) via a file called CLAUDE.md. It sits in a project folder and Claude reads it automatically at the start of every session. The Cowork system is the same philosophy — applied to your business instead of your codebase. Same idea, no code required.

MD Intake Templates

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Intake templates coming soon
These are ready-to-fill templates you drop into Claude at the start of a new project — so it understands the job before you say a word. A follow-up post will cover them in full, with downloadable versions.
Coming Soon

The whole setup takes about two hours. After that, every Claude session starts from a position of "Claude already knows me" instead of "let me explain this again." That compounds — not in a dramatic way, but in a quiet, consistent way that adds up fast.

SB
The Stackborne Team
stackborne.com · Sydney, AU
Stackborne builds websites, content systems, and automation workflows for small businesses — without the agency price tag.

Common questions

Everything solo business owners ask before setting this up.

Do I need to pay for Claude to use this?
The free tier of Claude works. However, Claude Projects — the feature that lets you upload your files once and have them read automatically every session — requires Claude Pro ($20/month). Without it, you'd paste or attach your files at the start of each conversation, which takes about 30 seconds. Either way, the system works. Pro just removes the manual step.
What if I don't know what my "voice" is yet?
That's exactly what the interview is for. You don't need to know your voice before you start — Claude will surface it for you by asking the right questions. Answer honestly (voice input helps with this — you're less likely to perform when you're speaking). After 100 questions, patterns emerge. Claude compresses them into your file. You'll often read it back and think: yes, that's exactly it.
How long does the full setup actually take?
The interview runs about 90 minutes using Claude's built-in voice mode. Add another 30–45 minutes to clean up and organise your three files. Total: around two hours, once. After that, you never have to explain your business, voice, or goals to Claude again. Review the files quarterly — 15 minutes to update my-company.md when your focus changes.
Does this work with ChatGPT, not just Claude?
Yes. The .md files are plain text — they work with any AI tool. ChatGPT's Projects feature (in the paid plan) lets you attach them the same way. You can also paste the contents at the start of any conversation, in any tool. The system isn't Claude-specific. It's just a better way to give context.
My business changes a lot. Won't these files go out of date?
That's why Obsidian matters. The files should change — that's the point. Set a quarterly reminder (put it in your calendar right now) to open my-company.md and update your targets and focus. Your about-me.md changes more slowly — maybe twice a year, or after a significant shift in how you work. The anti-ai-writing-style.md barely changes at all once it's set.
Do I really need all three files, or can I start with one?
Start with about-me.md and anti-ai-writing-style.md — these two have the biggest immediate impact on output quality. Add my-company.md once you're writing anything strategic (content plans, email campaigns, service descriptions). But honestly, building all three at once is faster than you think, and you only have to do it once.