Give an agent one job in five lines of CLAUDE.md

A new agent does best with a brief it can take in at a glance. Claude Code reads a file called CLAUDE.md every time it starts, so five clear lines there do more than two pages nobody keeps up to date.

The file

## Your one job
- Read the shop inbox at 8:00
- Draft replies, never send
- One summary to me by 9:00
- Ask when unsure

Why each line is there

• Your one job. One job makes every choice easier, for the agent and for you. A second job gets its own agent and its own file.
• Read the shop inbox at 8:00. Where the work comes from, and when. The file sets the time; a schedule on the server is what starts the agent then.
• Draft replies, never send. The limit, in four words. The agent does the work and you keep the last step until you trust it.
• One summary to me by 9:00. What done looks like, with a deadline you can check.
• Ask when unsure. What to do in every case the file didn't cover. Without it, the agent guesses.

Set it up

Save the file as CLAUDE.md in the folder the agent starts in. Claude Code reads it each time it starts there, so a change to the file counts from the next start.

Good to know

Grow the file slowly. When the agent gets the same thing wrong twice, add one line about it. A brief that stays short stays read.