Onboarding

An interview, not a form.
Questions that generate your files.

Your first Brainfile session is Claude interviewing you — one question at a time. The answers don't sit in a doc: they're written directly into your CLAUDE.md, seed your backlog, start your ledger, and set your Autopilot schedule. Below is the real question set from INTERVIEW-ME.md — the exact file the pack ships.

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The real question set

Eight questions. One at a time.

Verbatim from the shipped file — Claude asks these in your first session and waits for each answer. The whole interview takes a few minutes.

01 · Identity

"What's your business/project, in one line? Who does it serve?"

The anchor for everything else — every future session opens already knowing who it's working for.

Writes to: CLAUDE.md → "Who you are working for"
02 · Goals

"What are you trying to get done with Claude over the next month?"

Your month-1 goals become your first backlog entries — Autopilot pulls from these on run one.

Writes to: brain/backlog.md — seeds 3–5 self-refilling work classes
03 · Rules

"What are your top 3 non-negotiable rules — things Claude must always or never do?"

These join the operating rules Claude reads at the start of every session.

Writes to: CLAUDE.md → "Operating rules"
04 · Communication

"How do you like Claude to communicate — terse or detailed? Any format preferences?"

So you never have to say "shorter" twice.

Writes to: CLAUDE.md — preferences
05 · Quality bar

"What does 'good work' look like to you? How will you know Claude nailed a task?"

This becomes the verification standard the ledger holds every task to.

Writes to: CLAUDE.md — quality standard; enforced via brain/ledger.md evidence rules
06 · Tools & stack

"Any tools, stack, or domain context Claude needs to know up front?"

Your stack, your terminology, your constraints — loaded on session one, never re-explained.

Writes to: CLAUDE.md — domain context
07 · Autopilot schedule

"Do you want to run Claude in timed Autopilot sessions? How often, and how long per run?"

E.g. 1 hour daily, or 4 hours weekly. The interview also covers the honest practical bit: for runs while you're away, your computer must stay awake — on a Mac, caffeinate in the run terminal; on Windows, Power & sleep settings. Claude records your setup so it's part of the protocol, not tribal knowledge.

Writes to: CLAUDE.md → "Autopilot" heading (cadence, run length, keep-awake note)
08 · End-of-run brief

"Do you want a written brief at the end of each run — what got done / what needs you / next priorities?"

Opt-in, and the template is yours to restructure. Say no and runs just log to the ledger.

Writes to: CLAUDE.md — brief preference; template at templates/END-OF-RUN-BRIEF.md

Think a question is missing? Tell us what the interview should ask →

What it generates

The output, previewed honestly.

Example — generated from the sample answers shown, not a real customer

Say a solo founder answered: "I run a bookkeeping practice for e-commerce stores", month-1 goal "launch the new client-intake flow", rule #1 "never email a client without my sign-off", schedule "1h Autopilot daily, brief on." The interview writes files like these:

CLAUDE.mdexample output · labeled preview
# CLAUDE.md — Operating System

## Who you are working for
- Business: Bookkeeping practice for e-commerce stores
- Who we serve: Shopify/Amazon sellers doing $1–10M/yr

## Operating rules
1. **Never email a client without sign-off.** Draft, never send.
2. Think before act; verify before "done".
3. Every error becomes a permanent check.

## Autopilot
- Cadence: 1 hour daily (user starts the run; calendar reminder set)
- Keep-awake: caffeinate -dims during runs (macOS)
- End-of-run brief: ON → brain/runs/<date>-brief.md
brain/backlog.md · brain/ledger.mdexample output · labeled preview
## Work classes (seeded from your month-1 goals)
### 1. Ship the next client-intake improvement
- next: draft the intake form questions for new Shopify clients
- refill: after shipping, list 3 candidate improvements, keep the best.

## Ledger
| date       | directive                            | status | evidence |
|------------|--------------------------------------|--------|----------|
| 2026-07-11 | never email clients without sign-off | OPEN → rule written to CLAUDE.md | pending first verified draft |

The real thing is generated from your answers, in your project, by your Claude — nothing above is pre-written for you. Want to read the actual interview file first? It's free over MCP: point any MCP client at https://brainfile.io/mcp and call get_starter_file — no account needed.

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