The Business Owner's Context File
Fill this in once. Use it before every AI conversation. Stop getting generic output.
Want help applying this to your business? Get in touch and tell me what you are working on.
Why This Exists
A developer named Forrest Chang published a 65-line plain-text file this spring. It hit 110,000 GitHub stars in weeks.
The file doesn't give Claude new features. It tells Claude how to behave before any work starts. Who the developer is. What they're building. How they like to work. What they don't want Claude to touch.
Developers call this a CLAUDE.md file. Business owners don't have a version of it yet.
Every time you open a blank AI chat and type your question, Claude makes assumptions. It assumes you're a general-purpose user who wants general-purpose output. It doesn't know you've been running a business for 12 years, doesn't know your voice, and doesn't know your audience won't respond to corporate language.
The result: output that's technically correct but doesn't fit you. You spend 20 minutes editing something that should have taken 2.
This template fixes the root cause. Give AI the context it needs before you start. Every session gets better from the first response instead of the third.
The core insight: AI defaults to the middle. It doesn't know your voice, your audience, or your goals until you tell it. This template is how you tell it.
How to Use This Template
Fill in each section below. Write in plain language. You don't need complete sentences. Notes are fine.
When you're done, copy the whole thing and paste it at the start of any new AI conversation. You can open with: "Here's my business context. Use this throughout our conversation." Then paste. Then ask your question.
For Claude users: go to Claude.ai, create a new Project, and paste your context file into the Project instructions. It loads automatically from that point forward. You never have to paste again.
You don't have to fill in every section perfectly on the first pass. Fill in what you know. Add the rest as you think of it. A half-filled context file is still 10 times better than no context file.
Section A: My Business
AI needs to know what you actually do. Not your LinkedIn headline. Plain English. If someone asked you at a dinner party, what would you say?
Business name:
What I sell (one sentence, plain English):
Who buys from me (describe a real person, not a demographic):
What makes me different from the obvious alternatives:
Geographic area or market (if relevant):
Section B: My Audience
This is the section most people skip. It's also the one that changes AI output the most. When Claude knows who you're talking to, it stops writing for everyone and starts writing for someone.
Who my best customers are (situation, stage, what keeps them up at night):
What they care most about when they first reach out:
What they're usually skeptical about:
One thing they've tried before that didn't work:
Section C: My Voice
Your voice is how people recognize your content as yours. AI mimics its training data by default. Tell it what sounds like you, specifically.
Tone (pick words that fit — formal / casual / warm / direct / dry / blunt):
Words I use naturally:
Words I never use:
One sentence that sounds exactly like me:
What I never write or say:
Section D: My Goals Right Now
AI is most useful when it knows what you're trying to accomplish this month, not in general. General goals get general help.
What I'm focused on this month:
The specific problem I want AI to help with:
What success looks like:
Deadline or timeline (if any):
Section E: My Output Preferences
Tell AI how you want things formatted and how you'll use the output. This removes a lot of back-and-forth.
Format I prefer (bullets / paragraphs / tables / other):
Length: brief and punchy / detailed and complete:
How I'll use the output: post directly / edit first / use as raw material:
Things I always want included:
Things I never want:
Section F: What to Avoid
Some things don't belong in your content or your work. Tell AI what those are up front so it doesn't produce them.
Off-limits topics or angles:
Competitors I don't want mentioned:
Tactics or platforms I won't use:
Phrases or sentence structures I dislike:
Examples of output I've received that were completely wrong for me:
Section G: This Conversation (Fill In Per Session)
Sections A through F stay the same across sessions. This section changes each time. Add it at the top of each new conversation to make that session specific.
Project I'm working on right now:
The one thing I need from this conversation:
Draft or material I'm bringing in: [paste below]
Constraint I haven't mentioned (time, budget, approval process, etc.):
Three Things That Make Context Files Less Useful
Being too vague. "I sell marketing services" tells AI almost nothing. "I help local service businesses get more leads through AI-assisted content and automation" is what actually works. The more specific, the better the output.
Writing what you think should be there instead of what's actually true. If you say your tone is "professional" but you text clients in lowercase with no punctuation, that's a mismatch. AI will produce something that doesn't sound like you.
Filling it in once and never updating it. Your goals change. Update Section D at least once a month. The rest stays stable until your business changes.
A stale context file is almost as bad as no context file. If your goals shift or your audience changes, update Section B and Section D first.
After You Fill It In
Save it somewhere easy to find. A Google Doc, an Apple Note, or a file on your desktop called context-file.txt. The name doesn't matter. What matters is that you can find it in under 30 seconds.
When you open a new AI conversation, paste the whole file before your first question. Add a line at the top: "Here's my business context. Keep this in mind throughout our conversation."
For Claude specifically: go to Claude.ai, create a Project for your work, and paste your context file into the Project instructions. It loads automatically every session. You never paste again.
About Andrew Voskov
Andrew Voskov is the founder of Cherry Pi AI. He has spent 20 years building online businesses: Amazon brands, content systems, websites, and marketing. All of it before AI existed. Today he helps business owners build AI workflows that get used every day. His clients include law firms, local service businesses, and product brands.
Want help applying this to your business? Get in touch and tell me what you are working on.
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