Skip to main content

CLAUDE.md starter

Company brain starter

Give an agent the shape of your company before it writes a word.

By
Caleb and Ryan, the founders
Updated
August 28, 2026
Version
1.0, in the library
  • Claude Code
  • Cursor

The CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md pair we start every company brain with: the node contract, the inbox rule, the locality rule, and the handoff discipline, written so any agent that reads AGENTS.md behaves the same way in your folders as in ours. Not a teaser. The same two files, with the client names taken out.

Built, documented, running.

Part of the working library we deploy from on every engagement.

Bring this into a project

Runs on

  • Claude Code
  • Cursor

2 requirements and 3 install steps, below.

  • Complete and documented: the same files we run ourselves.
  • Deployed and tuned to your stack as part of an engagement.

The file

Draft excerpt
# The company brain: the constitution The single entry point to this company's working knowledge. Read this first. ## The four laws 1. **Inbox law.** Everything unsorted goes to an `00-inbox/`. Nothing stays there.   Nothing ever lands at a node root.2. **Locality law.** Every document lives with the thing it is about. Contracts,   invoices and agreements go in that node's `02-operations/`.3. **Self-sufficiency law.** Every node opens alone and still works. It carries its   own `AGENTS.md` and a PARENT header with what it needs from above.4. **Concurrency law.** A session writes only inside the node it has open. Anything   aimed at another node is dropped into that node's `00-inbox/`. ## The node contract ```README.md        front door: status, what, people, next actionAGENTS.md        the law here (+ PARENT header)CLAUDE.md        byte-identical mirror of AGENTS.md00-inbox/        unsorted drops01-knowledge/    what is known02-operations/   contracts, billing, meetings, commsprojects/        children, same shape, recursively```

What is inside

5 items. Includes deployment guide.

  • AGENTS.mdThe constitution: the four laws, the node contract, routing, what lives where.
  • CLAUDE.mdA byte-identical mirror, so Claude Code and every other agent read the same law.
  • CONTEXT.mdThe guardrails template: sensitivity, what never leaves the folder.
  • 00-inbox/README.mdWhy nothing stays in an inbox, and the five-second capture rule.
  • GUIDE.mdHow to fit the contract to your own folders in an afternoon.

Who it is for

  • You have opened Claude Code or Cursor on a folder of company documents and it did something unhelpful within a minute.
  • You want one place where the rules for agents live, in a file a human can read too.
  • You are deciding whether to hire someone to build the brain and want to see how we start before you do.

Requirements

  • Claude Code or Cursor
  • A folder of company documents you are allowed to point an agent at

Install

  1. 01

    Unzip into the root of the folder your agent works in.

  2. 02

    Open Claude Code there. It reads CLAUDE.md on start.

    claude
  3. 03

    Ask it to describe the four laws back to you. If it can, the contract is loaded.

Where this sits

  1. This system

    Company brain starter

    In the library, running.

  2. Pairs with

    Installed and tuned

    When the folders are ready, we can put the brain itself in: sources connected, questions answered with their sources.

  3. In your stack

    Deployed on an engagement

    The audit finds which system earns its place first; we install and tune it around how you work.

Questions

Is this really the whole thing?
Yes. It is the pair of files our own brain runs on, with our client names removed. It is the trust asset, so it has to be complete.
Does it need Claude Code?
No. Any agent that reads AGENTS.md follows it; Cursor, Codex and the Claude app all do. CLAUDE.md is the mirror Claude Code reads by name.
What do I give you for it?
A conversation. Say where it would run, and it arrives with its install notes.
What is the next step up?
The audit, which finds where your hours go, or the full company brain build as part of an engagement.

Changelog

  1. August 28, 2026In the library. Version 1.0 runs in our own operation.

Related

  1. UI element

    The glass panel kit

    The glass this site is made of, as one CSS file

    Works with Claude Code, Cursor.

    Built and running

  2. Skill

    Inbox triage skill

    Every morning's inbox sorted into reply, delegate, file and ignore, with the drafts written

    Works with Claude Code, Cursor.

    Built and running
  3. Featured

    Skill

    Code review skill with a pattern database

    A review pass that knows your framework's failure patterns before it reads your diff

    Works with Claude Code, Cursor.

    Built and running