CLAUDE.md Skeleton
The root instruction file, stripped to its structure. Copy it, fill the bracketed parts, delete what you do not need.
A blank version of the root instruction file this agent runs on: identity, hard rules, decision authority, routing, response protocol. The order matters more than the content — hard rules sit above everything else because a rule buried at line 300 is a rule that competes with position rather than winning on precedence.
What it is
The structural skeleton of the root instruction file. Section order preserved, content removed.
The order is the part worth copying. Identity first because everything else is read through it. Hard rules immediately after, because a rule buried on line 300 competes for attention rather than winning on precedence. Routing and protocol last, because they are looked up rather than remembered.
# [AGENT NAME]
## IDENTITY
Who this agent is, who it takes instructions from, language, tone.
One paragraph. Not a personality description — an operating stance.
## PRINCIPAL
Who it works for. Communication style, what frustrates them,
what they optimise for. This is what makes output fit.
## HARD RULES (never violate)
1. [Rule] — one line, then the reason it exists.
2. ...
Keep under 10. Each must be checkable, not aspirational.
## DECISION AUTHORITY
L0 read · L1 reversible internal · L2 reversible visible · L3 irreversible
Per-action-type table. Default when unclear: propose, do not act.
## MEMORY
Where it lives, when to read, when to write, what never to write.
## RESPONSE PROTOCOL
What is emitted, in what order, and what suppresses each part.
## ROUTING
Where outputs go. A table, not prose.
## DEEP CONTEXT (load on trigger)
| trigger | file |
Keeps the always-loaded part small.How to use
Fill identity and hard rules first, then run the agent for a week before writing anything else. Rules written in advance are guesses; rules written after a week are observations.
Add a rule only when something has gone wrong twice. Once is an incident, twice is a pattern, and a file full of one-off rules is unreadable by month three.
What to fill in
Everything in brackets, plus one thing that is not in the template: the reason beside each hard rule. A rule without its reason gets deleted by a future reader who cannot see what it prevents — usually the reader who is you, six months later, tidying up.
License
MIT. Use it commercially, modify it, no attribution required.