Phase 1 is about installing and configuring the Business Brain OS, the AI operating system that runs everything else in this programme.
By the end of Phase 1, your AI of choice will know your voice, your audience, your offers, and how your business works. Every phase after this builds on that foundation.
Before you build anything, you'll get familiar with the system and how it works.
Once you know your way around, you'll load your voice, audience, and strategy into the system. This is what makes your AI know your business.
Work through the setup steps to build your core context files, your voice profile, audience, north star, and language rules, so your AI knows your business before it writes a word.
Go deeper on your messaging with a research-based process for finding the exact words your clients use. Mine reviews, testimonials, and conversations to build a messaging matrix and brand message grounded in their language, not yours.
You need a Claude Pro subscription or ChatGPT subscription ($20/month).
Before you can use Business Brain OS, you need to get the files onto your computer. This module walks you through getting your copy via Dropbox, and how to pick up new skills when they're released.
Business Brain OS is delivered via Dropbox. If you don't already have it installed on your computer, do that first, it needs to be the desktop app, not just the website, so the files actually sync to your machine.
If you already have Dropbox installed and syncing, you're good to move on.
You'll receive an email from Dropbox inviting you to a shared folder called Business Brain OS - Client Install. The invite comes from Cathy; the email will show as being from TwoTen Solutions.
This is the master copy, it contains all the skills and shared resources. You have view access only, so nothing you do can affect it.
If you haven't received the invite, check your spam folder or message Cathy in Slack.
The shared folder you received an invite to is the master, so you won't be able to make any changes to it. Instead, make a duplicate by copy/pasting your own copy.
This copy is yours. You'll customise it, add your context files to it, and work from it every day.
New skills are added to the master folder regularly. When one is released, you'll get a message letting you know, then it's a simple copy across to your working folder.
.claude/skills/When you open the Business Brain OS folder, you'll see a collection of folders and files. Each one has a specific job. Together they're what lets Claude show up already knowing your business every time you open a session.
This module covers each one in turn. By the end you'll know exactly where everything lives and why.
You don't need to do anything with them yet. Just understand the layout before you start filling it in.
At the root of your Business Brain OS folder you'll find one or two files that act as the map for the whole system. Which ones are active depends on which AI tool you're using.
Every time you start a conversation in Claude Code, this is the first file it reads. Think of it as a breadcrumb trail — it tells Claude what's in your Business Brain and where everything lives. From there, depending on what you've asked it to do, it follows the trail, reading the context it needs as it goes.
When you first install the system, CLAUDE.md is already set up. As you fill in your context files and work with Claude over time, it will update this file automatically behind the scenes. You don't need to open it or manage it directly.
This file does the same job for ChatGPT. When you connect your Business Brain OS folder to a ChatGPT project, agents.md is what tells Codex where everything lives and how to use the skills. It's already set up in your folder — you don't need to edit it.
Once a month or so, ask your AI to read the relevant file and check if anything needs updating, trimming, or moving elsewhere. The file should be an overview of your Business Brain, not a document that contains everything.
Copy this prompt into a conversation inside your Business Brain OS folder:
Audit every instruction you are carrying for me: CLAUDE.md, agents.md, rules files, skills, hooks, and memory. Go one by one and answer three questions: would you already do this without being told? Is it correcting a weakness you no longer have? Does it conflict with anything else you have been told? Then rebuild me a minimal setup: keep only the rules you would genuinely fail without, rewrite them in as few words as possible, and archive everything else to an archive folder (never delete anything permanently). Show me the before and after: how many rules, how many words, what you removed and why. From now on, only add a rule back when I correct the same mistake twice.
The dot at the start of the name means this is a hidden folder on your computer. If you can't see it, you'll need to update your Windows settings to show hidden files.
You won't ever really need to go into this folder directly, but here's what's in it:
This is your library of 50+ pre-built workflows. Each one handles a specific task, writing a Facebook post, running a keyword search, drafting an email sequence. When you run a skill, Claude goes to this folder to read the instructions, loads your context files, and does the work.
These are the shortcuts that tell Claude to run a skill. You type a forward slash followed by the skill name (e.g. /wrap-up) and it pulls it up. Nothing you need to touch in here directly.
Behind-the-scenes automation that Claude uses. Nothing you need to do with these.
The brand folder is where we build out a picture of your business and your brand. When you first install the system, these are mostly empty templates. They get filled in as we work through the setup process together.
It's split into two subfolders:
Everything that helps your AI write in your voice and speak to the right people.
About Me: existing material about yourself or your business.
Audience Language: language collected from your audience — call transcripts, old content, DMs, testimonials. When the system writes for you, it draws on this to make sure it's speaking to the right people in their own words.
Brand Stories: your origin story, personal stories, business stories.
Testimonials: client testimonials go here.
Writing Samples: this one is important. Find samples of your own writing, ideally from before you were using AI. For your AI to write in a way that genuinely sounds like you, it needs real examples of how you write.
Your brand's visual assets — logos, colours, fonts, icons, photos. Used when the system builds pages, slides, or graphics for you.
When you first install the system, the strategy folder contains placeholder files. As you work through the setup, these get filled in. Here's what each one does:
ceo-north-star.md: your big picture, what you're building towards, your goals, your priorities. Your AI checks in with it to make sure decisions stay aligned with what you said you're working towards.
parked.md: ideas and projects you're not ready to act on yet. Instead of losing them, ask your AI to park them here.
revenue-tracker.md: if you want your AI to help you track income, this is where that lives.
rhythm.md: your standing daily or weekly tasks. If there are things you want to do every week, they go here.
SOUL.md: your AI's personality and behaviour rules. This comes pre-configured.
tomorrow.md: your to-do list. As long as you run wrap-up at the end of every session, your AI keeps this updated automatically.
USER.md: about you, your business, and your brand. Filled out during setup.
weekly-focus.md: optional. If you want your AI to help you stay focused on 2–3 priorities each week.
The memory folder is a core part of the system. When you first install it, it's empty. Over time, it becomes the record of everything you've worked on.
MEMORY.md: the index file. Claude reads and writes to this to keep an overview of what's in the memory. You never need to open it.
sessions/: a subfolder with one file per day. Every conversation you have gets saved here.
You don't need to read any of these files. They're for Claude. At the start of a new session, when you say "where did we get to on X project?", Claude goes into this folder, reads through the sessions, and pulls out anything relevant.
The memory system grows over time. The more you use it, the more context Claude has about you and your business. This is how the system gets smarter the longer you use it.
The habit that makes all of this work: run /wrap-up at the end of every session. That's what saves everything into memory in the first place.
This is where your offers live. Over time, the goal is to have all your offers in here as fully written-out sales pages, so the system has all the context and detail it needs when writing for you.
There are a few ways to fill it out. If you have existing sales pages, we can create copies of them here. If you have ideas that aren't fully developed yet, there's an offer template to help you flesh them out, so you have something for the system to work from even before you have a finished sales page.
We go through this in more detail when we're building out your Business Brain together.
This is where you upload material about your business: documents, presentations, PDFs, Google Docs, anything you want to bring into the system. What goes in here will depend on what you've got and what you want Claude to be able to draw on.
When filling this folder out, Word documents and Google Docs are best converted into markdown files first. We cover how to do that in the Markdown Files module.
The source folder is one of the most powerful parts of the system. You can give Claude everything you have and ask it to go through it and pull out what's useful: refining your offers, creating programme curriculums, writing sales pages, generating new ideas. Think of it as giving your Business Brain the full picture of your business to work from.
Markdown is a plain text file, you can tell because it ends in .md. Most of the files inside your Business Brain OS are markdown files. They're lightweight, easy for Claude to read, and best practice for working with an AI system.
Here's what the formatting looks like in practice:
# at the start of a line = Heading 1## = Heading 2*asterisks* = italicClaude reads markdown natively. And it goes both ways, if you paste the content into a Google Doc and choose "Paste from Markdown", it formats correctly as headings, italics, and so on.
As you build out your Business Brain OS, get into the habit of keeping documents in markdown format wherever you can. It keeps everything lightweight and easy for Claude to work with.
There are a couple of ways to open and edit your markdown files. You can open them directly from your folder, they'll open in Notepad, but it's not recommended. Notepad just shows you the raw code, not the formatted version.
The best way to view and edit your markdown files is through Claude Code itself. Once you've started a chat, go to the file panel on the right. Find the .md file you want, click it, and it opens with the formatting applied, headings, bullets, all of it.
You can also ask Claude to open a specific file for you: "Can you show me my north star file?" Claude will give you a clickable link, and when you click it, the file opens in the right-hand panel with full formatting.
You can see what's in the file, ask Claude to make changes, and watch the edits happen, all in one place.
You can bring existing documents into your Business Brain as markdown files, or create new ones from scratch.
Open the Google Doc, go to File → Download → Markdown (.md). It saves to your Downloads folder. Then move it into the right folder in your Business Brain OS.
Drop the Word file into the relevant folder, then ask Claude: "I've added a Word document at [path], can you convert it to a markdown file?" Claude creates the .md version automatically.
You don't need to create markdown files manually very often, Claude creates them for you when it saves memory, context, or output files. But if you need one, just ask: "Create a new file at [path/filename.md] with the following content..."
You might already be using Claude in your browser. The Business Brain OS runs specifically through the Claude desktop app, not the browser version. So the first step is to download it.
Go to claude.com/download and download the version for your computer, Windows or Mac. Once it's installed, you launch Claude as an app rather than opening a browser tab.
From now on, whenever you're working on your Business Brain OS, open the Claude desktop app, not the browser. Open the app, go straight to the Code tab, and work from there.
When you open the Claude desktop app, the chat panel is in the middle. The important step when you start a new chat is to connect it to your Business Brain OS folder.
At the bottom of the chat panel, you'll see an option to add a folder. Click it and select the folder where your Business Brain OS is installed, whatever you've named it on your computer.
Once you've connected the folder, everything in that conversation is working with the contents of that folder. Claude has the full context of everything inside it: your brand voice, your offers, your context files, all of it.
You do this once per new chat. From that point on, Claude knows where it is and what it's working with.
The mode selector sits at the bottom of the chat panel. There are four options, here's what they mean and which one to use.
Claude acts on your instructions without asking permission for every step. It still respects the hard limits built into the system. Use Auto for everything.
Before doing anything, Claude writes out a step-by-step plan and shows it to you. You can read it, revise it, ask questions, and approve it before anything actually happens. Good for big or complicated jobs where you want to see the approach first.
Claude asks for permission at every individual step. This slows everything down significantly. You can use it if you're curious to see exactly what Claude is doing under the hood, but it's not practical for day-to-day use.
Don't use this. It removes the safety guardrails built into your Business Brain. There's no reason to ever switch to this mode.
The context bar shows how much of the current chat has been used up. Every time you ask Claude to do something, it reads back through the entire conversation from the top before responding.
The longer the chat, the more it has to read, and the more tokens it uses each time. It also becomes more likely to start making mistakes, because it's holding more and more in memory at once.
The limit is 200,000 tokens. A good rule of thumb: when the context bar gets to around 50–70%, start wrapping up that chat. Type /wrap-up and Claude will save everything important before you start fresh.
Every chat you have with Claude gets saved in the left sidebar, most recent at the top. You can rename chats and pin the ones you're still working on.
Pin any chat you haven't fully wrapped up yet. Once you've run /wrap-up and confirmed nothing's been lost, archive it. Treat archived chats as gone, that's fine, because the memory system has captured everything worth keeping.
Artifacts are visual outputs Claude generates, HTML pages, diagrams, that kind of thing. Use them as a scratchpad. Once you're happy with something, get it saved properly as a file back into your Business Brain OS folder so it's in the system.
Routines let you set Claude up to run tasks on a schedule, they currently only run when your laptop is open, not in the background.
The $20/month Claude Pro plan gives you a usage allowance split across two levels: a weekly total and a 5-hour session limit. Most day-to-day marketing work stays well within both.
You're given a set number of tokens per week, which resets on Saturday. Keep an eye on it if you're doing heavy work, building systems, processing large files, or running multiple complex sessions in a day.
Within any 5-hour window, there's a cap on how many tokens you can use. If you hit it, you have two options: wait for it to reset, or add usage credits to your account which top you up automatically when you hit the limit.
Use the time for work that doesn't need Claude: recording videos, reviewing content, admin tasks. Most users only bump into the limit occasionally.
Claude Code is not running in the background. It doesn't do anything unless you open a session and give it an instruction. When you close the app, nothing runs.
The Business Brain OS comes pre-configured with a permissions file that controls exactly what Claude is and isn't allowed to do.
.env filesEven if Claude misunderstood an instruction and tried to delete a folder, the system would stop it.
Left to itself, Claude can only work with files on your computer. It can't see your email, your Google Drive, your Airtable, or any other external tool, unless you connect it.
That's what MCP connections do. Each connection is something you set up deliberately, and it only gives Claude access to that specific tool.
Use the ChatGPT desktop app for this programme so you can work with the Business Brain OS folder on your computer.
If your app shows Codex, you can use it for local folder work too. The folder and permission steps still matter. Button names can vary between app versions.
Next, connect your own working copy of Business Brain OS.
Connect the working copy you made earlier, so ChatGPT can read and update the files in your Business Brain.
If the project already exists, use Edit project and Add folder. A project without an attached local folder does not give direct access to your computer's files.
The context window is the information available to the AI while it works in a chat. Your messages, relevant files and tool results all contribute to it.
Keep each chat focused on one outcome. When you move to a different task, save the useful decisions and start a fresh chat in the same project.
In the desktop app, /status can show context usage where supported.
Use the sidebar to return to your projects and chats. Keep Business Brain work inside the project connected to your working folder.
Work that reads files, uses tools or produces a finished result uses your account's available allowance. ChatGPT Work and Codex share usage limits.
Use the usage information in your account or app. In supported desktop chats, /usage opens usage and billing settings and /status can show rate limits.
Check the remaining allowance and reset time before a large task. The details depend on your plan and account, so follow what the app shows.
Give each task a clear result, point to the relevant files and review the output before requesting more work. If you reach a limit, use that time to review drafts or gather source material, then continue when access returns.
Permissions control which files and tools ChatGPT can use and when it needs approval. Check the permissions control below the chat box.
Start with Ask for approval. Read the requested action and location before approving it. Some options may be unavailable because of your app or workspace settings.
For a task that should stop at a draft, state that boundary in your message.
Attach your local Business Brain folder to work with its files. To use an external account, such as Google Drive or Airtable, connect the relevant plugin separately.
Before you run any setup skills, do a quick gather. You don't need everything — just whatever you already have. The system works with what it's given and gets better as you add more over time.
A good starting point: open a new chat with your AI and ask it to help you sort through your Downloads, Documents, and Google Drive to surface anything relevant.
Old bios, LinkedIn profiles, any "about you" writing you've created.
Writing samples — anything that sounds like you at your best: emails, posts, website copy, social captions.
Brand stories — origin story, client transformation stories, any narrative content you've written or told.
Testimonials and case study screenshots. One file per source is fine — even a screenshot saved as a PDF works.
Discovery call transcripts, DM conversations, survey responses — real language from real clients. Text files only, no video.
Your visual assets, organised into subfolders: logo/ for logo files, icons/ for brand mark assets, photos/ for photography, and inspiration/ for screenshots of sites you like. Used in Phase 2 when building your website guidelines. Drop in whatever you have — even a rough set of files is enough to start.
Everything related to your current and past offers: sales pages, PDFs, course content, templates. Organise by status: live, potential, retired.
Anything you want the system to draw on as raw material: old blog posts, video transcripts, Facebook Lives, lead magnets, training recordings. Think of it as your content library — everything worth keeping, in one place.
Once you've done the gather, work through the setup steps in order.
This builds your voice profile: the tone, rhythm, and patterns that make your writing sound like you. Every content skill reads this before writing anything, so it's the most important file in the system.
Before you run this: make sure you've added files to brand → brand-voice → writing-samples and brand → brand-voice → brand-stories. The more examples it has, the better the profile.
Run setup-brand-voice. I've added writing samples to brand/brand-voice/writing-samples/ and brand stories to brand/brand-voice/brand-stories/. Read everything in those folders and build my voice profile — the tone, rhythm, and patterns that make my writing sound like me. If anything is missing or unclear, ask me before you build the profile.
This builds your USER.md file — the document your AI reads at the start of every session so it already knows your business, your offers, and how you like to work. Without this, your AI starts every conversation cold.
Before you run this: brand voice should already be built (Step 1). The skill uses it as a starting point.
Run setup-user-profile. Read everything in my brand and strategy folders and build my user profile — my name, my business, my offers, my technical level, and how I like to work. Walk me through any questions you need answers to, one at a time. The output is USER.md.
This builds your strategy layer: your mission, what you're working toward over the next 90 days, your income target, and the decision filter you use when you're not sure what to prioritise. Your AI references this whenever it's helping you make decisions or plan work.
Run setup-north-star. I want to set up my strategy layer — my mission, what I'm working toward over the next 90 days, my income target, and the decision filter I use when I'm not sure what to prioritise. Ask me your questions one at a time.
This builds your ideal client profile and your first audience language file. These are what your copy skills draw on when they're writing anything promotional — the more real language you give it (actual quotes, DM responses, testimonials), the better the output.
Before you run this: add any testimonials to brand → brand-voice → testimonials and any discovery call transcripts or DM conversations to brand → brand-voice → audience-language. The skill will use whatever's there.
Run setup-icp. I want to build my ideal client profile and my first audience language file. Check brand/brand-voice/testimonials/ and brand/brand-voice/audience-language/ for any existing material, and ask me for anything else you need. Go one question at a time.
This creates a list of words, phrases, and patterns your AI is never allowed to use in your content. It's a hard constraint — once something is on the list, it won't appear again. Add to it any time something in your AI's output jars.
Run setup-language-rules. Build me a language rules file — words, phrases, and patterns I never want to appear in my content. Start by asking me what I know I hate, then suggest common AI writing patterns I might want to ban. Keep it short: only rules I'd actually need.
Any time your AI writes something that feels off, say: "Add that to my language rules." It updates the file automatically.
This is a manual step — no skill to run. Just drop your brand assets into the brand/visual-identity/ folder inside your Business Brain OS folder. It has subfolders to keep things organised.
If you have brand colour codes, font names, or an existing guidelines document, drop those in the main brand/visual-identity/ folder. Your AI will reference everything in here when you build your website guidelines in Phase 2. You don't need everything now — add more as you go.
Once you've run all the setup steps, close your AI tool and reopen it in your Business Brain OS folder. Then paste this into the chat:
Who am I and what am I working on? Tell me my name, my business, my current 90-day priorities, and who my ideal client is.
Your AI should respond with your name, your brand, your priorities, and a summary of your ideal client. If it can't, one of the setup steps may not have completed fully — go back and re-run that skill.
Most business owners write their marketing copy by sitting down and trying to come up with what their clients want to hear. The problem? You end up pulling it out of your own head — and what you think they want to hear and what they actually say are almost never the same thing.
The copywriter's approach is different. It starts with research — not brainstorming. Your clients and prospective clients are already telling you exactly what they need, in their own words. Your job is to collect that language and reflect it back to them.
When you do this properly, your marketing stops feeling like guesswork. You know what to say because you've heard it directly from the people you help.
There are three main places to gather client language, and you don't need all three before you start. Use whatever you already have.
The next lessons walk you through each one and show you how to use your AI to process what you collect.
Before your AI can help you write in your clients' language, you need to give it the raw material. This lesson covers the three ways to collect it.
Start here — this is the fastest win. Pull together everything clients have already said about working with you: testimonials on your website, Google reviews, Facebook comments, DMs, emails where someone said something kind. Copy the text into a document and save it to brand/brand-voice/testimonials/.
Don't edit or summarise what they wrote. You want their exact words — the phrases, the comparisons, the specific details. That's the gold.
A short conversation with a past client is worth more than hours of brainstorming. You're not asking for a testimonial — you're listening for language. Ten to fifteen minutes is enough. Ask them:
Record the call (with permission), get it transcribed, and save the transcript to brand/brand-voice/audience-language/.
If you don't have many testimonials yet, this is how you find client language without having to speak to anyone. People leave honest, unfiltered reviews in places like Amazon book reviews, Facebook group comments, and Reddit threads — and if they're talking about a problem you solve, they're giving you the exact words to use.
Find books, courses, or services similar to yours. Read the reviews. Copy the phrases that describe the problem, the hesitation, or the transformation. Save them to brand/brand-voice/audience-language/.
I've added client testimonials, interview transcripts, and/or research notes to my brand/brand-voice/ folder. Read through everything and pull out the most useful language — the phrases clients use to describe their struggle before working with me, why they decided to take action, what made them hesitate, what they say about the results, and what makes me different. Don't summarise or interpret — give me their actual words, organised by theme. Save the output to brand/brand-voice/audience-language/client-language-swipe-file.md.
Once you've collected your client language, the next step is to organise it. The Messaging Matrix is a simple framework that sorts everything you've gathered into six buckets. Together, these buckets become the foundation for every piece of copy you write.
Read my client language swipe file at brand/brand-voice/audience-language/client-language-swipe-file.md (and anything else in brand/brand-voice/). Organise everything you find into a Messaging Matrix with six sections: The Struggle (fears and frustrations in their words), Why They're Looking (the trigger that made them seek a solution), The Objections (hesitations and concerns), What Makes Me Different (their X-factor language — what they say sets me apart), Awareness Level (how much do they already know before they find me), and The Success (outcomes and transformations in their words). Use direct quotes wherever possible. Save to brand/brand-voice/messaging-matrix.md.
With your Messaging Matrix built, you now have everything you need to write copy that connects. This final step pulls it together into the core messages you'll use again and again — in your content, on your website, and when someone asks what you do.
You're not writing from scratch. You're pulling forward the best language from your research and packaging it into something usable.
Read my messaging matrix at brand/brand-voice/messaging-matrix.md and my voice profile at brand/voice-profile.md. Using the language from my clients — not your own words — write my core brand message. This should include: a one or two sentence description of what I do and who it's for (using their language, not mine), the main struggle I solve (in their words), the transformation I deliver (in their words), and my X-factor (what they say makes me different). Keep it grounded in the research. Save to brand/brand-voice/brand-message.md.
Once this is saved, your AI will draw on it automatically whenever you're writing content, crafting offers, or working on your website. The more client language you add to your folders over time, the sharper it gets.
You've added new research to your brand folder. Now update your voice profile so your AI picks it all up, including your messaging matrix and brand message, every time it writes for you.
Run setup-brand-voice. I've completed the Uncover Your Brand Message research and have new files in my brand folder, including brand/brand-voice/audience-language/client-language-swipe-file.md, brand/brand-voice/messaging-matrix.md, and brand/brand-voice/brand-message.md. Read everything in my brand folder and update my voice profile to reflect this new research.
Once this runs, your Business Brain is fully loaded. Everything you've gathered, your voice, your audience language, your messaging, is now part of how your AI thinks about your business.
There are three ways to call a skill.
For the most-used skills. Type a forward slash followed by the skill name: /content-router, /seo-blog-writer, /wrap-up. (Claude Code only — ChatGPT users, see option 2.)
For any skill: type run [skill-name] in the chat. Works in both Claude Code and ChatGPT.
Your AI finds the right skill for you. Say what you're trying to do and it picks the best match from your library.
If you have any repeatable framework, process, or template you use again and again, you can turn it into a skill. Claude walks you through the whole thing.
Tell Claude what you want the skill to do. It handles the rest: it looks at how existing skills are structured, builds the new skill, registers it in your Business Brain, and gives you a summary of how it works.
Once it's built, test it a couple of times. Anything that feels off, give Claude the feedback, and it'll update the skill. The more you refine it, the better it gets.
The install comes with a full skill library, but the most powerful skills are often the ones you build yourself, based on the frameworks and formats that work for your specific business. If you keep doing something the same way every time, that's a skill waiting to be built.
The skills that come with your install are a starting point. They're not a fixed system you have to follow, you can edit any of them, give them feedback, or build new ones from scratch. Over time, this becomes your system, not ours.
Every skill has a section at the top called Front Matter, a summary of what the skill does and how it runs. If you're not happy with how a skill is behaving, ask Claude to explain it first: "How does this skill work? Walk me through the workflow."
Give Claude your feedback on how you want it to work differently, longer, shorter, different format, skip a step, add a step. Claude updates the skill's learnings file with your changes. The next time you run it, those changes are already baked in.
You don't need to go into the files yourself. Do it through the chat.
The one thing to do before you close your AI every time.
At the end of every session, run the wrap-up skill. In Claude Code, type /wrap-up. In ChatGPT, type run wrap-up. This is the single most important habit in the whole system.
Wrap-up does three things:
Without running this, you risk losing context between sessions. The system gets better the more you use it, but only if you wrap up. Two minutes at the end of each session, and nothing gets lost.
In this phase, you will turn your Business Brain into a live website. You will write the copy, set the design, build the pages, and publish.
Your Business Brain from Phase 1, your chosen AI app, and the brand assets you have already saved. GitHub and the website tools are introduced during this phase.
Review the copy in the website layout before publishing.
Your website brand guidelines turn the assets you collected in Phase 1 into clear design decisions the AI can follow when building your pages.
We will work from your existing logo, colours, fonts, photos and visual references. You can keep what already works and fill in anything that is missing.
The output is a file called website-brand-guidelines.html saved inside your Business Brain. You can open it in any browser and navigate between sections — colour, typography, logo, layout, imagery, buttons, and more. When you start a new AI chat to build or update your website, paste this file in at the start so the AI knows your design decisions.
You will finish this module with an approved HTML guidelines file saved at brand/visual-identity/website-brand-guidelines.html in your Business Brain.
Before building your guidelines, it helps to show the AI what feels right visually. Finding three websites you like gives it a clear direction, and means you end up with guidelines that match your taste.
You are not copying these sites. You are identifying what works for you so the AI can apply that thinking to your own brand.
brand/visual-identity/inspiration/ folder.I am about to build my website brand guidelines and I want to share some visual inspiration first. Here are three websites I like the look of: [paste URLs or describe each one]. For each one, here is what specifically appeals to me: [describe what you noticed]. I have also saved any screenshots to my brand/visual-identity/inspiration/ folder. Read those if they are there. Use this as direction when we build my guidelines — I am not copying these sites, but I want the feel to be informed by what I like about them.
The AI understands your visual direction. You are ready to build the guidelines in the next lesson.
This is where your assets and inspiration come together into a usable file. The AI will ask you questions one at a time, agree the decisions with you, then build your guidelines as an HTML file you can open in a browser.
The file will be saved at brand/visual-identity/website-brand-guidelines.html in your Business Brain. It has tabbed navigation so you can jump between sections — colour, typography, logo, layout, imagery, buttons and more. Every time you start a new chat to build or update your website, reference this file name, or sometimes you'll need to copy/paste the filepath url.
Run the build-website-guidelines skill. You have already reviewed my brand assets and I have shared my visual inspiration in this chat. Use what you already know and ask me about anything that is still open. Take it one question at a time. When we have agreed all the decisions, confirm the full list with me before building the file. Save the finished guidelines to brand/visual-identity/website-brand-guidelines.html and tell me the full file path when it is done.
The HTML guidelines file is saved and you have opened it in your browser to check it.
Claude artifacts let you view and change a design beside your conversation. Use one to explore a section, a colour treatment or a button style before applying it to the website.
A small, focused experiment can keep the task lighter than repeatedly reviewing and rebuilding a whole website. It does not guarantee lower token usage: generating and revising artifacts still uses your Claude allowance.
This is an optional Claude exercise. You can also try ideas directly in your website preview.
Read Claude’s artifact guidance.
Create a simple homepage hero mockup as an artifact using the brand guidelines and copy I have provided in this chat. Show the headline, supporting text, main button and an image placeholder. Keep this focused on the hero section. I want to explore the design before applying it to my website. Do not add backend features or invent testimonials or claims. Ask me if an important design choice is missing.
You have chosen a direction. A mockup still needs implementing and testing in your actual website.
If you explored ideas using Claude Artifacts in the previous lesson, use this step to lock in any changes before moving to the website build.
If you are happy with the HTML file from the Build lesson, you can skip this step — the file is already saved and ready to use.
brand/visual-identity/website-brand-guidelines.html in your browser and review each section.I have reviewed my website brand guidelines and I want to make some updates based on what I explored. Here are the changes: [describe what you want to change]. Update brand/visual-identity/website-brand-guidelines.html with these decisions and confirm when it is saved. The updated file should be ready for the website build.
Your website-brand-guidelines.html file reflects your final approved decisions. You are ready to start building your website.
Before you build, you need copy. Writing the words first means your website is built around what you actually want to say — not the other way round.
You will write five pages: About, three Services pages, Home, and Contact. Work through them in that order. The About and Services pages are where the detail lives. Once those are done, the Home page is much easier to write because it just draws from what you have already said.
Each page uses your Business Brain — your brand voice, your ideal customer profile, and your offer details — so the AI has everything it needs. You do not need to answer an intake form before each page.
You will finish with a draft copy file for each of your five pages, saved to your projects/website/ folder.
Start here. Your About page tells the story behind the business — who you are, what you know, and why you do this work. Getting it written first helps ground everything else.
The AI will read your Business Brain before writing, so it already knows your background and brand voice. If you have stories, qualifications, or a background paragraph you want included, paste them into the chat alongside the prompt.
projects/website/about.md.Run the website-page-writer skill for my About page. Read my Business Brain files before you start — brand voice, ICP, and any background material in brand/about-me/ if it exists. Use my real voice and write for the person I am trying to reach. Save the finished page to projects/website/about.md and confirm when it is done.
You have a draft About page saved to projects/website/about.md that sounds like you.
Write one page per service. Each page explains what the service is, who it is for, how it works, and what happens next. This is where most of your website's persuasive work happens.
If you have more than three services, start with the ones you most want to fill. You can always add more pages later.
offers/ folder — price, format, what is included.projects/website/[service-name].md.Run the website-page-writer skill for my [service name] Services page. Read the relevant file in my offers/ folder for the details of this service. Use my brand voice and write for the person most likely to buy this. Save the finished page to projects/website/[service-name].md and confirm when it is done.
Replace [service name] with the name of the service you are writing. Run this prompt again for each of your services.
You have a draft page saved for each of your services.
Write this last. Your Home page is a summary — it draws from everything you have already written. Now that your About and Services pages exist, the AI has a much clearer picture of what needs to go here.
The Home page introduces your business, shows the range of what you offer, and points visitors in the right direction. It does not need to say everything — it just needs to make the right person want to look further.
projects/website/home.md.Run the website-page-writer skill for my Home page. I have already written my About and Services pages — they are saved in projects/website/. Read those files along with my Business Brain so the Home page draws from what is already written. Write for the visitor who has just arrived and does not know me yet. Save the finished page to projects/website/home.md and confirm when it is done.
You have a Home page draft saved to projects/website/home.md. The headline clearly explains what you do and who it is for.
Short and purposeful. Your Contact page tells visitors what to expect when they get in touch — and makes it easy to do so.
You do not need a long page here. A clear headline, a sentence or two about what happens next, and your contact method is enough.
projects/website/contact.md.Run the website-page-writer skill for my Contact page. My preferred contact method is [describe how you want people to get in touch — form, email, booking link, etc.]. Keep it short and clear. Save the finished page to projects/website/contact.md and confirm when it is done.
You have a Contact page draft saved.
Your contact page copy will include a form placeholder. Before you build the site, you need a form endpoint — the web address the form sends its data to. Formspree handles this for you. It is free for basic use, requires no server setup, and works with any website including Astro.
https://formspree.io/f/xxxxxxxx.projects/website/contact.md file. Find the form placeholder section.ACTION_URL with your Formspree endpoint URL.When your website is built, the AI will use this contact.md file to build the contact page. The form will be wired up to your Formspree endpoint automatically.
Formspree sends form submissions to the email address you registered with. You can change the destination email and set up a thank-you redirect inside your Formspree dashboard.
If you would rather be guided through it, use the prompt below and your AI will walk you through each step.
I need to set up a Formspree contact form for my website. Walk me through it step by step — creating a free account, setting up a new form, and copying my endpoint URL. Once I have the URL, help me update the form placeholder in projects/website/contact.md so it is ready for the website build. Take it one step at a time and wait for me to confirm before moving on.
You have a Formspree account, a form endpoint URL, and you have updated the placeholder in projects/website/contact.md.
Every website needs a 404 page — the page visitors land on when a link is broken or a URL does not exist. Done well, it recovers the visit rather than losing it.
Keep it short, friendly, and useful. A clear message, a brief explanation, and a few links back to your main pages is all it needs.
projects/website/404.md.Run the website-page-writer skill for my 404 page. Keep the tone consistent with my brand voice. Include links back to my Home, About, and Services pages. Save the finished page to projects/website/404.md and confirm when it is done.
You have a 404 page draft saved. You now have a complete set of copy drafts ready for the website build.
You have written your pages and finalised your brand guidelines. Now you will put them together into a working website you can preview in your browser.
Here is how the build works: you clone the Astro website starter to your computer, open it in Claude Code alongside your Business Brain, and run one skill. It reads your copy drafts from projects/website/ and your brand guidelines from brand/visual-identity/website-brand-guidelines.html, then builds every page and applies your colours and fonts automatically.
/smart-website-builder to build the first draft.The goal is a reviewable preview. Public launch comes later.
GitHub stores your website project online and keeps a record of every change you make. That means you can always go back to an earlier version, and your work is never just sitting on one computer.
GitHub Desktop is the app you install on your computer. It gives you a visual way to save and manage your website without typing commands.
Saving your project to GitHub and publishing it as a public website are separate steps. You will do the GitHub setup now and connect it to your website host later.
You have a GitHub account and GitHub Desktop is installed and signed in on your computer.
The Astro starter is a clean website project with the structure already set up. You will make your own copy of it on GitHub, then download it to your computer so the AI can build into it.
my-website.You now have your own copy of the starter on GitHub.
The website files are now on your computer.
You are now ready for the build step.
The starter folder is on your computer and open in Claude Code. Your Business Brain folder is also open in the same session.
With your copy drafts and brand guidelines in place, the build skill does the rest. It reads every file in projects/website/, applies your colours and fonts from brand/visual-identity/website-brand-guidelines.html, and builds the Astro pages for you.
/smart-website-builder
The skill uses the copy you have already written, so no extra instructions are needed. If a copy file is missing, it will tell you rather than inventing content.
The skill has confirmed the build is complete and told you which files were created.
The build skill tells you how to start the preview when it finishes. Open it in your browser and look at every page as a visitor would.
npm run dev, then open http://localhost:4321 in your browser.Review the current state of my website preview. Check all pages on desktop and mobile, including navigation, button labels, images and contact details. Identify layout problems, anything that looks broken, and any content that still needs to be filled in. Show me a list of findings before making any changes.
You have opened the preview and have a clear list of changes to make.
Describe what you want to change using the page and section names. Save a working version before moving to the research stage.
Update the website preview with these changes: [describe your changes]. Follow my approved brand guidelines. Check the affected pages on mobile and desktop, then show me the updated preview. After I approve the result, help me save the website progress using our agreed GitHub setup. Do not publish the website.
The preview reflects your changes and the working version is saved.
Use your customer research and search data to refine the draft around what people need to understand and do.
You will finish with a customer journey and a keyword map for your website pages.
Think about where a visitor arrives, what they need to know and what will help them take the next step.
Read my audience information, offers and current website draft, if one exists. Map what a potential customer needs to understand before enquiring or buying: their likely entry point, questions, objections, evidence they need and next action. Ground this in my saved customer research and mark assumptions clearly. Suggest improvements to the page order, navigation and calls to action. Show me your recommendations before changing the website.
You have approved a journey grounded in the available customer evidence.
Choose a research route that suits your budget. Use the same target country and language throughout.
Use one main tool for metrics and add question research where helpful. You do not need every tool or a paid subscription to begin. Prices and limits change, so check the linked pages before buying.
Keywords Everywhere can be a lower-cost route depending on the plan you choose. Its metrics use credits, including keywords shown in related-search widgets, so review the credit settings.
You have chosen a main research tool and know how to save its results.
Start with your offers and the language customers use. These are ideas to investigate, rather than proven keywords.
Read my audience language, customer journey and offers. Suggest starting search terms for keyword research, grouped by service, customer problem and question. Include location-based searches where relevant. Label these as research ideas, not validated keywords. Do not invent search volumes.
You have a focused list of starting terms.
Gather real tool results for the searches relevant to your business. Keep the original exports or copied results.
Help me organise the keyword research I have saved from [tool name]. Record each keyword, the available metrics, target country, source and research date. Keep customer questions alongside the terms. Mark missing metrics as unavailable. Do not invent data or treat advertising competition as organic SEO difficulty. Ask me for any missing research files before analysing.
Your research is saved with its source and market.
A search may be asking for information, comparing options or looking for someone to hire. Choose terms that match both the offer and the purpose of the page.
Review my keyword research against my offers and customer journey. Group the relevant terms by search intent. Check current search results for the main candidates where you have browsing access; otherwise tell me what to check. Explain which terms fit service pages and which belong in future informational content. Label assumptions and missing evidence.
You understand why each candidate term is relevant to the business.
Agree the page map before rewriting the site. Keep future blog ideas separate from the pages needed for launch.
Read the keyword research files I have provided and my customer journey. Group relevant searches by intent and map them to the proposed website pages. Explain each primary keyword choice. Keep the data source, country and research date with the recommendations. Do not invent volumes or difficulty scores. Separate future blog ideas from the pages we need for launch. Show me the map for approval, then save the agreed version in my working folder.
Your keyword map is approved and saved.
You have a working website and keyword research. Now you will combine both to improve the pages — tightening the copy around what people are actually searching for and strengthening the visitor journey.
You will have approved copy that works in the website layout.
Work page by page. Use the initial draft if you have one, or start from the approved page plan.
Read my audience research, customer journey, brand voice, offers and approved keyword map. Draft or refine [page name] for its agreed purpose. Use only supported business claims and real testimonials. Flag missing facts. Show me the proposed copy before saving it. If a website draft exists, preserve the approved layout unless a copy change requires a design decision.
The page copy is accurate and approved.
Check whether the copy helps a visitor make a decision, rather than simply describing the business.
Review [page name] against my approved customer journey. Check whether the visitor can understand the offer, find answers to important questions and take the next step. Identify confusing navigation, missing evidence and unclear calls to action. Use my real customer research. Show me suggested improvements before changing the copy.
Visitors have a clear next step and the relevant information to take it.
Use the keyword map naturally. The search title and description should describe the page clearly, while the visible headings help people read it.
Review the page title, search description and headings for [page name] using my approved keyword map. Suggest clear, natural wording that accurately describes the page. Preserve my voice and avoid keyword stuffing. Explain the changes and show me the proposed version before applying it.
The metadata and headings fit the page and its intended search topic.
Answer engine optimisation, or AEO, involves making useful information clear enough to understand and extract. Start with real customer questions and accurate answers.
Your skill library includes str-ai-seo, with an AI visibility audit and content patterns. Use its recommendations selectively: not every page needs every pattern, and an optimisation check cannot guarantee a citation.
Review [page name] for how clearly it answers the questions my customers ask. Check that relevant answers make sense on their own, business and service details are clear, and claims have appropriate evidence. Recommend useful improvements while preserving my voice and the page’s purpose. Add FAQs or structured content only where they help. Separate observed problems from assumptions. Do not promise AI citations. Show me the recommendations before rewriting.
The page answers relevant questions clearly and contains supported claims.
Copy can look different once it is placed in a layout. Check the complete experience before launch.
Apply the approved copy to my website pages. Review desktop and mobile layouts after the change, including headings, button labels and section lengths. Check the navigation, business details and enquiry routes. Tell me what still needs a decision before launch. Do not publish yet.
The approved copy is applied and reviewed in the preview.
Publish after the design, copy and visitor journey have been reviewed. Keep a saved version you can return to.
Your site is ready for a launch check. Exact setup steps will accompany the tested programme starter.
Hosting makes the website available online. The planned programme route uses GitHub and Vercel; the final starter guidance will confirm the account and setup steps.
Help me prepare my website project for the programme’s supported hosting workflow. Confirm the correct GitHub repository, project settings and build requirements. Explain the setup steps in plain language and flag anything that needs me to sign in or approve access. Do not replace an existing live website or connect my domain yet.
You can open the hosted preview of the correct website.
Test what a visitor will actually experience. A build completing successfully is only one part of the check.
Review the hosted website preview for launch. Check the launch pages on desktop and mobile, navigation, images, links, page titles, descriptions, sitemap and missing-page behaviour. Help me test the enquiry or booking route and verify delivery. Report what was actually tested and what still needs a manual check. Suggest fixes before publishing.
The important visitor actions work and outstanding issues are resolved.
A new domain and a domain already serving a website need different handling. Record the current setup before making changes.
Help me plan connecting [domain name] to my website hosting. First establish whether it already serves a website, who manages the domain, and which records support my email. Explain the required changes from the hosting provider’s current instructions. Show me the plan before changing anything, and preserve unrelated records.
Your domain connection plan is clear and existing email settings are protected.
When you have approved the preview and domain setup, give a clear instruction to publish. Then check the public address.
I have approved the final website preview and domain setup. Publish the approved version using our agreed hosting workflow. Then verify the public website address, secure connection, key pages, navigation and enquiry route. Report any checks you could not complete and give me the live link.
The public site works and the enquiry route has been tested.
Use previews to check changes and keep a record of working versions.
Make these changes to my website: [describe the changes]. Show me the updated preview and check the affected pages and visitor actions. Save the changes using our agreed version-history workflow. Wait for my approval before publishing.
You have a repeatable way to change, check and publish your site.
Google Search Console helps you understand how Google finds and shows your website.
You can use it to review indexing status and search performance. New websites may have little data at first. Verification and a sitemap do not guarantee rankings or indexing.
You understand the difference between publishing a site and Google indexing its pages.
Verification shows Google that you control the website. Use your own Google account.
Guide me through adding my live website to Google Search Console using Google’s current instructions. Explain the property types and recommend the method suitable for my domain access. Tell me what I need to do myself to sign in and verify ownership. Do not ask me to paste account credentials into the chat.
Search Console confirms ownership is verified.
A sitemap lists the pages you want search engines to discover. Use the sitemap produced by your website.
Find the actual sitemap address for my live website and check that it loads and contains the intended public pages. Tell me the address to submit in Google Search Console and guide me through the current submission steps. Do not guess the sitemap path.
The submitted sitemap is accessible. Investigate any reported error.
Use URL Inspection to check what Google reports for your key pages.
Help me interpret this Google Search Console URL Inspection result for [page URL]: [paste the result]. Explain what it means, whether action is needed, and the next check to make. Distinguish the reported evidence from possible causes.
You know the indexing status and any next action for the pages you checked.
Return to Search Console as data builds up. Use what customers search and which pages appear to guide later improvements.
Review the Google Search Console data I have provided for [date range]. Summarise the main queries, pages and indexing issues. Explain impressions and clicks in plain language, note limitations in the data, and suggest one useful next action. Do not claim trends that the available period cannot support.
You have a manageable routine and a recorded next action.
Phase 3 adds the lead generation layer to your Smart Website — a lead magnet that attracts the right people, an opt-in page that converts, and a 4-email nurture sequence that moves them toward an enquiry.
By the end of this phase you'll have a complete funnel: someone finds your site, downloads your lead magnet, receives four emails that build trust and make the case for working with you, and books a call.
Phase 4 sets up the content engine that makes your Smart Website compound over time. Each blog post you write gets repurposed into social content and images, scheduled from inside Claude — no separate tool, no Canva, about twenty minutes a week.
The skills you'll use most throughout the programme. Run them from inside Claude Code by typing the command or describing what you want.