Teach Claude how to operate (the global rule)

Lesson 4 of 7 · Module 01 · Set Up Your Command Center

You built the brain in Lesson 3. Now you have a problem you might not see yet: nothing makes Claude actually use it.

A shared memory only works if every session reads it on the way in and writes to it on the way out. If you have to remember to tell Claude "check STATE.md first" every single time, you've just rebuilt the old problem. You are still the oversight. You will forget on the busy days, which are exactly the days it matters.

So we don't rely on you remembering. We write the rule down once, in a place Claude reads automatically, in every project, forever.

That place is your global instructions file at ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md. Whatever lives in that file, Claude obeys in every project on your machine without being told. Most people never touch it. We're going to put one block in it, and it changes how every session behaves.

The block installs one ritual. Call it read-first, write-last.

Read-first: the moment a session starts, before it does anything, it reads STATE.md to see what's in flight everywhere and who owns what. If the project it's sitting in isn't registered yet, it registers itself.

Write-last: before a session wraps, it logs what it did and updates its row in STATE.md so the next session inherits the truth instead of a blank slate.

And one rule in the middle that prevents the collisions from Lesson 1: never work a workstream another session owns. If the work belongs elsewhere, note it and let you relay it.

That's the whole contract. Read first, write last, don't touch what isn't yours. Once it's in the global file, it applies to the project you open today and the project you create next year. You never paste it again.

If you ran prompt 01 in Lesson 3, this is already installed. Prompt 03 is the one you use to check it, repair it if you set things up another way, or fix the path if it's wrong. It searches the file, shows you what's there, and only changes what needs changing. It won't duplicate the block.

Grab prompt 03 from the Prompts Pack and run it to confirm the rule is live. That's the foundation finished: a place to think, a memory that survives, and one contract every session follows on its own.

Next module, we start putting it to work.

Jerry

Video script

Target: 75-100 seconds spoken. Talking head, on-screen text in [brackets].

On screen: You built the brain. Now nothing makes Claude use it.

You built the brain in Lesson 3. Now here's the problem you might not see yet: nothing actually makes Claude use it.

Shared memory only works if every session reads it going in and writes to it going out. If you have to remember to say "check STATE dot M-D first" every single time, you've just rebuilt the old problem. You're still the oversight. And you'll forget on the busy days, which are exactly the days it matters.

On screen: ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md: read in every project, automatically

So we don't rely on you remembering. We write the rule down once, in a place Claude reads automatically in every project, forever. That place is your global instructions file. Whatever lives in it, Claude obeys everywhere on your machine, without being told.

On screen: The ritual: Read first. Write last. Don't touch what isn't yours.

We drop in one block that installs one ritual. Read first, write last.

On screen: READ FIRST: session start: read STATE, register if new

Read first: the moment a session starts, before anything else, it reads STATE to see what's in flight and who owns what. If the project isn't registered, it registers itself.

On screen: WRITE LAST: session end: log it, update your row

Write last: before it wraps, it logs what it did and updates its row, so the next session inherits the truth instead of a blank slate.

On screen: Never work a workstream another session owns

And the rule in the middle that kills the collisions: never work a workstream another session owns. If it belongs elsewhere, note it, and let you relay it.

On screen: Write it once. Applies to next year's projects too.

Read first, write last, don't touch what isn't yours. Once it's in the global file, it applies to the project you open today and the one you create next year. You never paste it again.

On screen: Ran prompt 01? Already installed. Prompt 03 = check + repair.

If you ran prompt 01 in Lesson 3, this is already in. Prompt 03 is how you check it, repair it, or fix the path. It won't duplicate the block.

On screen: Run prompt 03 → foundation done

Run prompt 03 to confirm the rule is live. That's the foundation finished. Next module, we put it to work.

← Lesson 3: Build the Command Center (the shared brain)Lesson 5: Run multiple sessions without collisions (the message bus) →