Most AI setups live inside one app's memory and settings. That's fine until you add a second tool and start over, or the app changes and your context goes with it. This weekend, you'll move your system into a folder you own. Claude and ChatGPT both read it, and any tool you add later plugs in with one line. It takes about two hours, split across two days.
Saturday morning: build the core
45 minutes. Create this folder anywhere you back up:
ai-home/
├── START-HERE.md who you are, how you work, what's where
├── now.md current priorities and open loops
├── decisions.md choices already made, and why
├── voice/samples.md 3-5 pieces of your real writing
├── projects/<name>/ one brief per project
├── inbox/ drop anything, sort weekly
└── archive/
The key design choice: one START-HERE.md that every tool reads first. Tools are plugs. The folder is the system.
Don't write the files from a blank page. Open the folder in Claude or ChatGPT and let it interview you:
Interview me to set up my ai-home folder. Ask one question at a time, 12 questions max, covering my role, current goals, how I like answers formatted, decisions I've already made, and what you should never do. Then write START-HERE.md, now.md and decisions.md in this folder. Keep START-HERE.md under one page, and show me each file before saving it.
Saturday afternoon: fill it with the real you
30 minutes.
voice/samples.md: paste 3 to 5 pieces of your real writing. Real samples beat any description of your tone.decisions.md: add the choices AI keeps reopening, like your tools, your format and your "no."projects/: write one short brief for each active project: goal, audience, constraints, and where things stand.
Sunday morning: plug in Claude and ChatGPT
30 minutes.
Claude: use Cowork in the Claude desktop app, which local folders require. It's on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise.
- Start a task and select
ai-home. Grant access when asked. - Add folder instructions:
Read START-HERE.md before any task. Update now.md and decisions.md when something changes, and show me the change first.
On some Pro and Max accounts, Cowork is merged into regular Claude, so you just describe the task.
ChatGPT: use the desktop app. A web project can't reach local folders.
- Create a local project → Edit project → Add folder → select
ai-home→ Make primary. - Start each chat with the opener below.
The universal opener:
Read START-HERE.md and now.md in ai-home before we start. Then: [task]
Test it: give both tools the same real task and compare the answers. If either one ignores your preferences, tighten START-HERE.md.
Sunday afternoon: habits and rules
20 minutes.
Three habits:
- Start with the opener, or rely on folder instructions.
- End each session with:
What changed that belongs in now.md or decisions.md? Show me the edits before saving. - Drop anything useful into
inbox/, and let AI sort it weekly.
Rules:
- No passwords, ID numbers, health details or other people's private information.
- Separate work and personal folders if your employer's AI policy requires it.
- Review what AI saves, and back up with cloud sync or Git.
- Prune regularly. The weekly context audit takes 10 minutes.
Plugging in the next tool
| The new tool can... | How to plug it in |
|---|---|
| Open a local folder | Point it at ai-home and add the opener as its instructions |
| Only accept uploads or instructions | Paste START-HERE.md into its custom instructions or project |
| Read instruction files, like coding agents | Have its file point to START-HERE.md. See Stop Building Your AI System Inside One Tool |
Either way, the new tool gets a way in. The system itself stays the same.
Done by Sunday night
-
ai-homeexists and is backed up -
START-HERE.mdfits on one page - Voice samples, decisions and project briefs are in
- Claude and ChatGPT both passed the same-task test
- The end-of-session update habit is on a sticky note
Go deeper: ChatGPT's Memory Lives in Five Places · Stop Building Your AI System Inside One Tool · How I Use AI to Index My Brain