# Instruction Document Scaffold

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Starting point for a long-term instruction document for Claude.
From the post "Instructions as Architecture" by Dheeraj Sharma (GenAI Unplugged).
Source: https://www.genaiunplugged.com   License: free to use, edit, share.

Drop this into a CLAUDE.md, a system prompt, or a Claude Projects custom
instructions box. The four sections below map to the architecture: foundation,
load-bearing walls, wiring, rooms. The notes inside each section are guides.
Delete them once you have written your own.
-->

## 1. Identity and principles  (the foundation, rarely changes)

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Who this is for, what the work is, and 3 to 5 principles that drive decisions.
Principles, not rules. The reasoning behind the rules. Aim for what a senior
teammate would say if asked "how do we decide things around here?"
-->

This document directs Claude on every piece of work for [your project / team].
We serve [your reader / customer: who they are, what they want].

Principles:
- We favor specificity over cleverness.
- Every claim that quantifies anything cites its source on the same line.
- The reader's next action matters more than impressive prose.
- [Add your 1 to 2 most important principles here.]

---

## 2. Non-negotiables  (the load-bearing walls)

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The short list of constraints that never change. Keep this under 10 items.
If everything is load-bearing, nothing is. These are the rules whose removal
would visibly degrade the work.
-->

- No em-dashes. Use periods, commas, or line breaks.
- No vague hedges (the kind that signal uncertainty without adding information).
- Never promise an outcome we cannot show evidence for.
- [Add your domain-specific non-negotiables here.]

---

## 3. How we work, with examples  (the wiring)

<!--
This is the largest section. Every claim about taste needs a concrete example
of good vs. bad with a one-line reason. Examples are what turn descriptions
into things Claude can copy. Add a new sub-section per pattern that recurs.
-->

### Voice
- Bad:  "This revolutionary tool will transform your workflow."
- Good: "This cuts the weekly digest from 3 hours to 30 minutes."
- Why:  concrete change with a number; no superlatives.

### Headers
- Bad:  "Introduction"
- Good: "What this is and why it matters, in one paragraph."
- Why:  descriptive headers tell the reader what they get; vague ones do not.

### Code blocks
- Bad:  a function with no surrounding sentence.
- Good: one sentence above ("Here is the smallest version that runs:") and one
        sentence below ("Read top-to-bottom; nothing is hidden.").
- Why:  code without bracketing prose is a wall, not a teaching artifact.

### [Pattern name]
- Bad:  ...
- Good: ...
- Why:  ...

---

## 4. Living section  (the rooms, edit weekly)

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The only part you expect to edit often. Current focus, recent changes,
corrections. Keep it fenced off so editing it never threatens the foundation.
Every time you catch yourself giving the same correction twice, the fix goes
here. If it keeps recurring, it graduates upward into the wiring section.
-->

Last edited: <YYYY-MM-DD>
Current focus: <one line on the active project / season>

Recent corrections:
- <YYYY-MM-DD>: <one-line rule learned from a real correction>
- <YYYY-MM-DD>: ...

---

## The test (run before you ship a new section)

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The single question that separates architecture from a to-do list:

"Could a brand-new collaborator make a decision I would be happy with, on a
case I did not list, using only this document?"

If yes, you built architecture. If no, you wrote a to-do list.

For more: https://www.genaiunplugged.com
-->