Start here
Your project folder and CLAUDE.md
Every project needs a home. By the end of this lesson you’ll have one dedicated folder for the whole website, open in Claude, with a short note inside it that Claude reads before it does anything, and the note’s first line is the never-paste rule.
1my-practice-websiteYour project folder: the website and nothing else
2CLAUDE.mdThe standing instructions Claude reads first, before any prompt
3SkillsStep-by-step instructions for each stage, added by the Build Kit in Module 1
Make the folder
- Somewhere you’ll find again (your Documents folder is ideal), create a new folder and name it
my-practice-website. You can put your practice’s name in place of “my-practice”. Lowercase, hyphens, no spaces. - Leave it empty for now.
Open it in Claude
- Desktop app: on the Code tab, choose Local (which means “use the files on my own computer”), then click Select folder and pick your
my-practice-websitefolder. - Terminal: type
cd Documents/my-practice-website, press Enter, then typeclaude.
Give Claude the narrowest folder that holds the work. Opening your whole Documents folder, or your Desktop, hands it a much larger view of your computer than this job needs, and on a clinician’s computer that view can include client records.
Be clear about what that discipline is and isn’t. The Build Kit you install in Module 1 tells Claude to stay inside this folder, and Claude follows it reliably. But it’s an instruction it obeys, not a locked door. Keep the folder small and keep client files out of it, and the question never comes up.
Write the note Claude reads first
CLAUDE.md is a plain text file of standing instructions. Claude reads it at the start of every session in this folder, before it looks at your prompt. The first line of yours is the never-paste rule, so it’s in front of Claude every single time. Paste this into Claude’s message box:
Create your starter CLAUDE.md
Create a file called CLAUDE.md in this folder. Put exactly this in it and nothing else: No client information ever goes into this folder or into Claude. This folder holds the website for my therapy practice and nothing else, so stay inside it. I'm not technical: explain what you're doing in plain English.
What to check: Claude should tell you it created CLAUDE.md. Open your folder on your computer, open the file, and check that its first sentence reads exactly “No client information ever goes into this folder or into Claude.” If Claude added anything else, ask it to remove the extra text. If Claude asks permission to create the file, allow it; the next lesson explains those questions.
The Build Kit comes with a much longer CLAUDE.md that replaces this one. It carries the same rule, and Module 1 shows you how to check that the kit’s file is the one in charge.
Nothing about building a website needs a client document, a session note, an intake form, or a client’s name. So put none of them here, and never point Claude at a folder that holds them.
It’s worth saying plainly, because the reflex to “give it context” is strong. When Claude asks for real details later in the course, it means your license, your fees, your office hours and how you work. It never means anything about a client. When a prompt needs an example of how someone might describe what brings them in, you write a made-up one and say so.
Claude is open on the Code tab, pointed at your my-practice-website folder, and the folder holds a one-paragraph CLAUDE.md whose first sentence is the never-paste rule. Skipped the Vercel plugin two lessons ago because there was no message box? Go back and add it now.
Files won’t save, or Claude says a file is locked. On many Windows computers the Documents folder is synced by OneDrive, which can lock files while it uploads them. Make the folder somewhere OneDrive doesn’t sync, or pause OneDrive syncing while you work.
You can’t see CLAUDE.md in the folder. Ask Claude “list the files in this folder.” If it’s listed, it’s there; your file window may just need refreshing.
You opened the wrong folder. Start a new session on the Code tab and choose Select folder again. Nothing in the other folder was changed unless you asked Claude to change it.
- One folder holds the website and nothing else. Client files never go in it.
- Point Claude at that folder only, never at Documents or your Desktop.
- CLAUDE.md is the note Claude reads first; its first line is the never-paste rule.
- Staying inside the folder is an instruction Claude follows, not a locked door.
Watch this step
Anthropic explains the CLAUDE.md file in three minutes: the note Claude reads before it does anything in your folder. It’s from an independent creator — credited below, so go give them a follow.
The CLAUDE.md file