To make Claude Cowork work as a second brain, give it one folder with a few sub-folders and two plain text files, CLAUDE.md and TASKS.md. Cowork reads them at the start of every session, so it already knows who you are, how you like answers and what's on your plate. I call this setup a Life OS.
Last checked against the Claude desktop app and Anthropic's help pages on 13 October 2026. Menu names move between app versions. If a step looks different on your screen, the idea still holds.
I run my own life and my business this way every day. What follows is my setup with the parts a stranger doesn't need taken out. Everything is on this page: the folders, the templates, the two prompts I use most and a filled-in example you can compare against. If you'd rather not copy and paste, download the Life OS kit. It's the same files, ready to drop into Cowork.
What a Life OS is
A Life OS is a folder Claude reads before it does anything for you. Inside it sits a page about you, a list of what's on your plate, and a handful of folders for the parts of your life you want help with.
Most people use AI like a vending machine. Ask a question, take the answer, close the tab. Tomorrow it has forgotten you, so you explain yourself again.
Cowork projects now keep a memory of their own between sessions, and that helps. I still put the important things in files. A file I can open and read in ten seconds, fix in one edit, and back up with everything else I own. When Claude gets something about me wrong, I know exactly where to correct it.
What you need
- A paid Claude plan. Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise. Cowork isn't on the free plan.
- The Claude desktop app on macOS or Windows. Anthropic lists Windows on Arm as not supported yet.
- About an hour to set up, then 15 to 30 minutes a day for the first week.
No code. Everything here is folders and plain text.
The folders
Six folders for your life, one for old material, and two files at the top. Each folder gets a one-line README.md saying what belongs in it, so you and Claude both know where things go.
| Folder or file | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| CLAUDE.md | Who you are, how you like answers, your routine and your rules. Claude reads it first. |
| TASKS.md | Everything on your plate: Now, Soon, Someday, Done. |
| Admin/ | Accounts, subscriptions, insurance, the car, the house, letters to answer. |
| Money/ | Budget, bills, statements you want reviewed, savings goals. Never passwords or full card numbers. |
| Health/ | Training plan, appointments, food and sleep notes. |
| Goals/ | This year's goals and the plan for the quarter. |
| Work/ | Your job or side business: notes, drafts, ideas. Give it its own project later if it grows. |
| Notes/ | Everything else, plus INBOX.md for quick captures. |
| Archive/ | Finished or old material. Claude reads it only when you ask. Nothing gets deleted, it moves here. |
Plain names, no numbers, no emoji. Rename them to fit your life. The names matter less than having one obvious home for each thing.
My own folder got cluttered enough this year that I couldn't find things I'd written a week earlier. Two rules fixed it, and they're both in the template below: one file per topic, and nothing new without a home.
CLAUDE.md, the file Claude reads first
CLAUDE.md is a plain text file at the top of your Life OS folder. It tells Claude who you are, how you like answers and which rules to follow.
Keep it to about a page. Mine has grown to roughly 26KB over a year of daily use, which is far more than you need on day one. Anthropic suggests keeping CLAUDE.md under 200 lines for Claude Code, and that's a fair ceiling here too. Write plain sentences, and make every rule something Claude can act on.
Copy this and fill in the square brackets, or let Claude interview you and fill it in (step 6 of the setup below).
# About me
I'm [name], based in [city]. I work as [what you do].
At home: [in general terms, e.g. "partner and two school-age kids"].
This year I'm working toward: [one or two things].
# How I like answers
- Short and plain. [Australian] English.
- For anything with money, show your working.
- Ask me one question before a long answer.
- Say when you're unsure. Don't guess.
# Session routine
At the start of every session, read CLAUDE.md and TASKS.md.
At the end, update TASKS.md with anything done or added,
then tell me what changed.
# Where things live
- Admin/: accounts, subscriptions, insurance, car, house, letters
- Money/: budget, bills, statements to review, savings goals
- Health/: training, appointments, food and sleep notes
- Goals/: this year's goals and the quarterly plan
- Work/: job or side business notes and drafts
- Notes/: everything else. INBOX.md for quick captures
- Archive/: old material. Only read it when I ask
# Standing rules
- One file per topic. Add to an existing file before making a new one.
- Nothing new at the top level of this folder.
- Never delete. Move it to Archive/ and tell me.
- After saving a file, read it back and confirm it saved before saying it's done.
- Ask before adding anything with a real deadline.
# Privacy rules
- Never store passwords, full card or account numbers, tax file numbers or ID document scans here.
- Don't copy my details into anything outside this folder without asking.
- First names only for other people.
The "read it back" rule looks fussy. It's there because "saved" on screen and saved on disk aren't always the same thing, and you want to find that out the day it happens, not a week later.
TASKS.md and the weekly review
TASKS.md is the list Claude reads every session. Four headings:
- Now: this week. Five to seven items at most.
- Soon: this month. Things you're waiting on go here, tagged with who.
- Someday: ideas, no dates.
- Done: ticked items with the date. Clear it out once a month.
# Now
- [ ] [Thing to do this week]
# Soon
- [ ] [Thing for this month]
- [ ] [Thing] (waiting on: [who])
# Someday
- [Idea]
# Done
- [x] [Thing] (13 Oct)
Once a week, at the same time, ask Claude to run your weekly review. It takes about 20 minutes. Claude does the reading and proposes. You decide.
Two prompts I run every week
Save each of these as a small file in a Skills/ folder. To run one, ask Cowork: "Run Skills/weekly-review.md". Both come from my own setup. I've been running versions of them for months.
Morning brief. Weekdays, before you open your email.
# Morning brief
Read CLAUDE.md, TASKS.md and Goals/.
If my calendar is connected, read today's events.
Give me a short brief in the chat. Don't write a file.
1. Today: events, and anything in Now that's due or overdue.
2. The one thing that matters most today, and why.
3. Anything I'm waiting on that I should chase.
4. One question, only if something looks off.
Keep it under 150 words.
Weekly review. Same time each week.
# Weekly review
1. Read TASKS.md. Tell me what got done, what slipped and what's stuck.
2. Go through Notes/INBOX.md. For each capture, propose one of:
a task, a home in a folder, or Archive/.
3. Propose next week's Now list, five to seven items.
4. Check my backup: tell me the date of the newest copy of this folder.
If you can't see it, ask me to check.
5. Wait for my changes. Then update TASKS.md and INBOX.md,
read both back, and list what moved.
A third worth adding once the first two stick: challenge my plan. Before you commit to something big, ask Claude to argue against it. "Read Goals/ and this plan. Give me the three strongest reasons it won't work, and what would change your mind." I use a version of this before most decisions I care about.
Set it up in Cowork, step by step
- Make one folder. Create a folder called Life OS in your Documents. Keep one copy only. If it sits inside a sync folder like OneDrive or Dropbox, edit it from one computer.
- Open the Claude desktop app and switch to Cowork.
- Create a project. Find Projects in the left sidebar, press +, and choose "Use an existing folder". Pick your Life OS folder and name the project Life OS. Connect only that folder, not your whole Documents or home folder.
- Add one instruction to the project: "At the start of every session, read CLAUDE.md and TASKS.md in the Life OS folder. At the end, update TASKS.md."
- Let Claude build the folders. Start a session in the project, paste the folder table and the two templates from this page, and ask: "Create these folders, each with a one-line README.md, and create CLAUDE.md and TASKS.md from these templates." Check what it made.
- Let it interview you. "Interview me, one question at a time, and fill in CLAUDE.md." Read what it wrote and fix anything that's off.
- Drop in real things. One real file into each folder. Last month's budget, a bill, this year's goals. Then ask: "Read my Life OS folder and tell me what's missing."
- Read before you approve. Cowork shows you its plan before it runs, and asks before it permanently deletes any file. For the first week, read the plan every time instead of waving it through.
A worked example: Sam's Life OS
Sam Taylor is made up. Forty-one, lives in Ballarat, project manager at a regional council. Saving for a house deposit, training for a half marathon in May, partner and one child in primary school. All the numbers below are invented.
Sam's CLAUDE.md
# About me
I'm Sam, based in Ballarat. I'm a project manager at a regional council.
At home: partner and one primary-school child.
This year I'm working toward: a house deposit by December,
and finishing the Ballarat half marathon in May.
# How I like answers
- Short and plain. Australian English.
- For anything with money, show your working.
- Ask me one question before a long answer.
- Say when you're unsure.
# Session routine
At the start of every session, read CLAUDE.md and TASKS.md.
At the end, update TASKS.md and tell me what changed.
# Where things live
- Admin/: car rego, insurance, rental lease, school letters
- Money/: budget.md, deposit-tracker.md, bills to check
- Health/: half-marathon plan, physio notes
- Goals/: 2026 goals, this quarter's plan
- Work/: council project notes, my development plan
- Notes/: everything else. INBOX.md for quick captures
- Archive/: old material. Only read it when I ask
# Standing rules
- One file per topic. Add to an existing file first.
- Nothing new at the top level.
- Never delete. Move it to Archive/ and tell me.
- After saving a file, read it back before saying it's done.
- Ask before adding anything with a real deadline.
# Privacy rules
- No passwords, card numbers, tax file number or ID scans in here.
- Don't copy my details anywhere outside this folder without asking.
- First names only for other people.
Sam's TASKS.md in week two
# Now
- [ ] Renew car rego (due Friday)
- [ ] Long run, 14km, Sunday
- [ ] Compare two home loan pre-approval quotes
- [ ] Book Mia's dentist check-up
# Soon
- [ ] Pre-approval letter (waiting on: the bank)
- [ ] Review health insurance before the price rise
# Someday
- Learn to make sourdough
- Weekend in Halls Gap
- Sort the shed
# Done
- [x] Set up Life OS (6 Oct)
- [x] Moved last year's tax papers to Archive/ (8 Oct)
One weekly review. Sam typed "Run Skills/weekly-review.md". Claude reported that three of five Now items were done, the dentist booking had slipped twice, and the bank still hadn't replied. From INBOX.md it proposed turning "check school camp form" into a task, filing a running-shoe note in Health/ and archiving an old recipe link. Sam changed one thing: the dentist moved to the top of Now with Monday's date, because slipping twice meant it needed a time, not a reminder. Claude updated both files, read them back and listed the five lines that moved.
That last step matters more than it looks. You stay the one who decides. Claude does the reading and the bookkeeping.
Privacy basics
- Keep these out of the folder: passwords, full card and account numbers, your tax file number, Medicare number, and passport or licence scans. A password manager is the right home for them.
- Connect one folder. Claude can read and write whatever you connect. Connect the Life OS folder, not your whole drive.
- Check your privacy settings before you add personal material. On Pro and Max, open Settings, then Privacy, and look at "Help improve Claude". It decides whether your chats can be used to train future models. On Team and Enterprise plans, Anthropic's commercial terms apply and your chats aren't used for training by default.
- Approve before acting. Cowork asks before it permanently deletes files. Only press Allow when you mean it.
- Other people. First names only, and no health or money details about anyone else.
- Back it up. One master copy, plus one backup that you check. A sync is not a backup. It copies your mistakes as faithfully as your good changes.
Your first week
| Day | Do this (15 to 30 minutes) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Set up, steps 1 to 6. Claude interviews you and fills in CLAUDE.md. |
| 2 | Write TASKS.md: everything on your mind into Now, Soon or Someday. |
| 3 | One real file into each folder. Ask: "What's missing?" |
| 4 | Run the morning brief. Tell Claude what to change about it. |
| 5 | Drop last month's budget or a bill into Money/ and this year's goals into Goals/. Ask: "What should I keep here?" |
| 6 | Run the morning brief again, now with your goals in place. Tell Claude what to change. |
| 7 | Your first weekly review. Fix anything in CLAUDE.md that annoyed you this week. |
By the end of the week it should feel less like a chat window and more like someone who knows your week. It took me longer than a week to get there, because I didn't have a list like this one.
Questions people ask
What is a Life OS?
A folder with a few sub-folders and two plain text files that Claude reads at the start of every session, so it knows your life without you explaining it again.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Everything here uses Cowork in the Claude desktop app, folders and plain text files.
Which Claude plan do I need?
A paid plan: Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise. Cowork runs in the Claude desktop app on macOS or Windows.
What is CLAUDE.md?
A plain text file at the top of your Life OS folder. It tells Claude who you are, how you like answers and the rules to follow. Keep it to about a page.
Doesn't Cowork have memory already?
Cowork projects keep a memory of their own between sessions. Files are still worth having, because you can read them, correct them and back them up yourself.
Is it safe to put personal information in it?
Keep passwords, ID numbers and card details out, connect only the Life OS folder, read Claude's plan before it acts, and check your privacy settings before you add anything personal.
How long does it take?
About an hour to set up, then a week of daily use before it feels useful.
Can I use it from my phone?
Cowork runs on your computer. Anthropic's Dispatch feature lets you send it tasks from your phone, but work that uses your Life OS folder needs that computer on with the Claude app open.
What if Claude gets a file wrong?
Ask it to read every file back after saving, keep a backup you check, and never let it delete. Old material moves to Archive/ instead.
Want it set up with you?
The templates above are yours. Copy them, or download the Life OS kit with every file in one folder, and start tonight.
If you'd rather have it set up with you, on your own tools, book a free intro call.