# Personal CLAUDE.md Template

## What it does
A structured context file for a coding agent (Claude Code or equivalent). Saved at the root of a working folder, it gives the agent real, persistent context about you and your standards - so session one hundred is as aligned as session one.

## Why it works
A coding agent reads this file at the start of every session, automatically. Without it, each session starts from the statistical average of every developer who ever typed a prompt. With it, the agent inherits your judgment before you've said a word. A skill is your judgment made executable; this file is the first skill.

## The template

Save as `CLAUDE.md` in the folder where you work. Delete what doesn't apply; specifics beat completeness.

```
# CLAUDE.md

## Who I am
[One paragraph: your role, your technical comfort level, what this folder is for.]

## What we're building here
[The project's real goal. What "done" looks like. Who it serves.]

## Standards
- [Your language/framework preferences, or "explain choices to me in plain
  English; I'm not a developer."]
- [What quality means here: tested? fast? readable? shippable today?]
- [What the agent must never touch: production data, this folder, that config.]

## How to work with me
- Ask before making changes I didn't request.
- Tell me what you're inferring versus what you know.
- When something fails, show me the actual error, not a summary of it.
- Challenge my approach if you see a real problem, before building it my way.
- When I correct you, add the correction to this file so it sticks.

## Current season
[What matters right now. What's deliberately out of scope. Update monthly.]
```

## How to verify it worked
Open a fresh session and ask the agent what it knows about this project and how you like to work. It should answer from the file. Then watch the next real task: an aligned agent asks before assuming - that behavior change is the file working.

## Keep it current
The last line of "How to work with me" is the compounding move: every correction you feed back into the file makes the next hundred sessions better. The file should be a little different every month; if it never changes, it's decorative.

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From the WILD×AI Library · wildx.ai/library · Free to use, share, and adapt with attribution.