Step 2 of 8
Write one page Claude reads every time.
The settings file is a single page about you and Burstows. Claude reads it at the start of every conversation in the project, so you never have to explain yourself twice and the first draft comes back a lot closer to right.
What it is.
Think about the first morning with a new team member. You'd tell them who you are, what Burstows is and who it serves, how the writing should sound and the words that never belong in it, which facts have to be right every single time, and the handful of things they must never do without asking you first. The settings file is that conversation written down, so Claude has it on day one and every day after.
What goes in it.
- About you. Your name, your role, and what you will mostly ask Claude to help with.
- About Burstows. What the business is, where it is, who it serves, what makes it different.
- Who you write to. Families, the wider community, staff, suppliers, the board.
- How it sounds. Three words for the tone, and one example you are proud of.
- Words we use, words we do not. The phrases that belong to Burstows and the ones that never will.
- Facts that must be right. Phone numbers, addresses, the names of chapels and of people who can be named.
- Never without asking. Prices, promises, a family's name, anything that goes out the door.
- What good looks like. One finished piece of Burstows writing, in full.
About me. I am Michelle, and I look after … at Burstows. I will mostly ask for …
About Burstows. A family funeral home in Toowoomba, serving …
Who we write to. Families first, then …
How it sounds. Warm, steady, plain. Never …
Words we use, words we do not. …
Facts that must be right. …
Never without asking. …
What good looks like. …
How long, and how it changes.
Somewhere between 400 and 600 words is right, because anything longer and the important lines get lost in the middle. It's written in plain English, in your own words, and it changes as you learn what Claude gets wrong. When a draft comes back with the same mistake twice, that's a new line for the settings file, not something to keep correcting by hand.