How to set up a Claude master folder

We use Claude for most of the writing and admin at Bspok Haus: client emails, captions, proposals, the first draft of pages like this one. For months the first ten minutes of every chat were the same explanation. Who we are. What we sell. Who the clients are. No em dashes. Then the chat ended and the next one started from nothing.

The master folder is the fix. It is one folder on your computer with a handful of plain text files that hold the context, and one line in your settings that tells Claude to read them first. Every chat starts already knowing the business. This guide walks through the folder we use. The copy-and-paste prompt that builds it for you is free on our tools page.

What the folder looks like

Everything lives in one place, usually on the Desktop, called CLAUDE MASTER. Inside:

• CLAUDE.md, the router. Read first in every chat. One page: who you are in one line, which file to read next, the rules, and a map of the folders.
• WHOAMI.md, identity. What you do, your background, each project in a short paragraph, the people you work with, the tools you use.
• GOALS.md, what you are working toward, with rough timeframes, and a short list of current priorities at the top.
• STYLE.md, how you write. Tone, words to avoid, formats you like, example phrases. Ours says: conversational, never corporate, no em dashes, and Bspok Haus is a production company, not just photography.
• TASKS.md, open commitments across every project, one line each with a project tag and a due date, and a Done section at the bottom.
• TEMPLATES/, reusable formats for the things you produce over and over: proposals, reports, captions.
• ARCHIVE/, finished projects, so the active folder stays small.
• One folder per project or client, named in caps (CLIENT-SOMA, OSS-APP), each with a notes.md and a deliverables/ subfolder where every output for that project is saved.

The split is the whole trick. The router stays tiny and always gets read. The detail lives in dedicated files that get opened only when a task needs them. Context is never lost, and no single file grows big enough to slow a chat down.

Step 1: Answer the interview

Do not write the files from a blank page. Have Claude interview you and write them. The prompt on our tools page runs five short rounds:

1. Identity. The name you go by, what you do, how many projects or clients you juggle.
2. Projects. Each project or client by name, one line on what it is and what Claude will help with.
3. People and tools. Who is worth remembering (name and role) and which tools you live in.
4. Voice and rules. Your writing rules, pet peeves, and the tasks that come up every week.
5. Goals and open work. The next six to twelve months, anything with a deadline right now, and where the folder should live.

Be specific. The sentence that makes the system feel like magic later is the small, exact one: "never call it a salon, it is a studio."

Step 2: Let it build the folder

Claude creates the structure and fills every file with your real answers. The rule we hold it to: no placeholder text. A half-empty file with three true sentences beats a beautiful template full of blanks. If something is unknown, the section is left out.

Each project's notes.md starts with what the project is, where it stands, the current priorities, the key facts (links, contacts, deadlines) and an empty Log section for dated entries.

Step 3: The one line that switches it on

The folder only works if future chats actually read it. Paste this into your Claude settings under personal preferences, adjusting the path:

Then open a fresh chat and ask something only the folder would know: "what am I working on this week?" Seeing it answer correctly is what makes the habit stick.

Step 4: Keep it alive

A memory that never gets updated dies in a month. Three phrases do the maintenance:

• "Update my master folder" saves any new durable context from the chat as one line in the right file.
• "Status of [project]" summarizes from that folder's notes.
• "Clean my master folder" every month or two: back up the files, merge duplicates, drop facts newer entries contradict, move finished tasks to Done, roll old log entries into a paragraph, and offer to archive quiet projects.

Two rules keep it safe. Never store passwords or card numbers in the files, only facts. And before any file is rewritten rather than appended to, a copy is saved first. These files are your memory; one bad edit should never lose it.

What changes once it is running

The first ten minutes of every chat come back. Drafts come out in your voice the first time. Deliverables land in the right folder without being asked. And when you say "what did we promise SOMA last month," there is an answer. For a founder-led business that is the difference between an assistant and a tool.

The full prompt, and the skill file for people who want the automated version, are on the free tools page.