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1/9 CLAUDE COWORK SETUP GUIDE IN 2 HOURS 10 practical steps to get organized fast 2/9 YOUR 2-HOUR ROADMAP Goal Build a reusable AI workspace Time About 120 minutes You need Claude app, Pro plan, and a few markdown files Outcome Faster outputs, better context, reusable templates Think of Cowork as your personal AI operating system. 3/9 STEP 1-2 START WITH THE BASICS 01 DOWNLOAD THE APP Use the Claude app, not the browser. The app keeps your workspace cleaner and easier to manage. Best for focused work 02 GO PRO SMARTLY $20/mo. Use your strongest model only for difficult work. Use lighter models for quick drafts and simple tasks. Save tokens on simple tasks Strong setup starts with the right environment. 4/9 STEP 3-4 BUILD YOUR FOUNDATION 03 CREATE THE COWORK FOLDER Set up 3 subfolders: ABOUT ME, OUTPUTS, and TEMPLATES. ABOUT ME OUTPUTS TEMPLATES 04 ADD YOUR CORE FILES Start with: about-me.md, my-company.md, and writing-style.md. about-me.md my-company.md writing-style.md Better structure = better answers. 5/9 STEP 5-6 TRAIN CLAUDE ON YOU 05 LET CLAUDE INTERVIEW YOU Ask it to question you about your goals, work, tone, and preferences. Save your answers as files. 06 SET GLOBAL INSTRUCTIONS Tell Claude to read your ABOUT ME files before helping. Add your tone, audience, and rules. QUICK WIN The more context you give, the more useful Claude becomes. 6/9 STEP 7-8 PICK YOUR TOOLS 07 CHOOSE THE RIGHT MODEL Opus + Extended Thinking = deep work Sonnet = faster everyday tasks 08 INSTALL OBSIDIAN Open your Cowork folder as a vault and edit your .md files directly. PRO TIP: Keep everything in markdown for a simple workflow. 7/9 STEP 9-10 TURN IT INTO A SYSTEM 09 RUN YOUR FIRST SESSION Start with: 'Read my folder. Help me with [task]. Ask clarifying questions first.' 10 SAVE TEMPLATES When a session works well, turn it into a reusable template and save it in TEMPLATES. emails content planning Winning workflows should be reusable. 8/9 COPY THESE STARTER PROMPTS "Read my Cowork folder and summarize what you know about me." "Before answering, review ABOUT ME and ask 3 clarifying questions." "Turn this finished output into a reusable template and save it to TEMPLATES." Great prompts create better workflows. 9/9 AVOID THESE MISTAKES Using only the browser Dumping random files with no structure Never updating ABOUT ME Using the expensive model for every task Forgetting to save successful workflows EXTRA TIP Keep your ABOUT ME folder fresh. More context = better results. Save this guide for your setup day.