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Introduction
Hi, let's continue the Claude Projects session. The Project is created; now it's time to fill in the part that matters most for the results: the instructions. In this episode we compare weak and strong instructions, learn their five ingredients, then write, test, and improve the instructions for Sunset Coffee. By the end, you'll have a template for your own work.
Step 1: Weak vs strong instructions
Let's start with an experiment. This Project's instructions say only: help me sell coffee. Dimas pastes a question from a customer who wants coffee delivered to Jakarta tomorrow morning. Claude answers politely, but there are two problems. The tone is stiff, like a formal letter. And, more dangerously, Claude promises delivery to Jakarta, even though Sunset Coffee only delivers within the city. Compare the two kinds of instructions. The weak one is a single sentence. The strong one explains the role, context, style, limits, and format. As a result, answers from weak instructions are stiff and generic. Strong instructions produce a style that's casual, greets customers warmly, and stays short. In terms of risk, weak instructions let Claude promise things that don't exist. Strong instructions let Claude know when to decline politely or check with the admin. The end results differ too. Answers from weak instructions need heavy editing, while answers from strong instructions are almost ready to send. The time you spend writing instructions pays you back many times over, every day.
Step 2: Five ingredients of instructions
Strong instructions are built from five ingredients. The first is the role: who Claude acts as. Here, an admin assistant who prepares reply drafts for Dimas. Second, context: what business, where, and which channels customers come from. Sunset Coffee, a coffee shop in Bandung, with questions from WhatsApp and Instagram. Third, style: the tone, the form of address, and the length of answers. Friendly, casual, greeting customers warmly, three sentences max. Fourth, limits. This is the ingredient people forget most. Delivery within the city only, never promise discounts, and if unsure, write needs admin check. These limits are what stop the Jakarta mistake from happening again. Fifth, format: the shape of the answer we want. Here, every answer starts with the words reply draft, followed by text ready to copy into WhatsApp. Three tips for writing each ingredient. First, be specific, not general. Three sentences max is much clearer than the word short, because short means something different to everyone. Second, besides banning things, say what Claude should do. Don't just write don't promise; give a way out, such as write needs admin check. Third, keep it concise. One or two sentences per ingredient is enough. Instructions that are too long actually bury the important rules.
Step 3: Writing instructions in a Project
Now let's move those five ingredients into the Project. Look at the right panel: the old instructions are just one sentence, help me sell coffee. Laras clicks Edit and replaces it with the five ingredients in one paragraph: role, context, style, limits, and format. It's only five sentences long. Notice that product prices aren't written in the instructions. The prices are already in the menu and prices file. If prices go up, Laras just replaces the file; the instructions don't need to change. Once saved, these instructions apply right away to every new chat in the Project. Old chats don't change, so to test, we open a new chat. This principle matters, so let's make it clear. Instructions hold the rules for how to work, while files hold data and reference material. Instructions rarely change. Files can change often, such as a promo list that's replaced every month. So style, limits, and answer format go into the instructions. Prices, the catalog, the FAQ, and SOPs go into the knowledge files, which we'll fill in the next episode.
Step 4: Test and improve
Time to test in a new chat. The first question is the same as before: can you deliver to Jakarta tomorrow morning? This time Claude declines politely because it knows the delivery limit, and still offers a solution. The tone is casual, and it starts with reply draft, just as instructed. The second question is harder: a complaint about spilled coffee and a request for a replacement. The answer is friendly, but Claude immediately promises a replacement. At Sunset Coffee, though, replacement decisions are up to Laras. That's a sign the instructions need one more sentence. Here is the cycle for improving instructions. First, test with three kinds of questions: an ordinary one, a hard one, and one outside the rules. Second, find the answer that missed the mark. Focus on one problem first, such as the replacement promise we just saw. Third, add one specific sentence. For example: for complaints, apologize and ask for a photo, but don't promise compensation before Laras approves it. Fourth, test again in a new chat. Repeat this cycle two or three times, and your instructions will keep getting better. After saving the extra sentence, Laras opens a new chat and retests the same complaint. Now Claude apologizes, asks for a photo, and passes it on to Laras, without promising a replacement. Exactly what the shop's rules say. The last test is an off-topic question: a customer jokingly asks for help with their kid's math homework. Claude declines kindly and steers back to coffee. All three kinds of questions pass, and these instructions are ready for Dimas to use every day.
Step 5: Templates for your work
These five ingredients work for any job. Take Mr. Hendra from Cerdas Tutoring. The role: a teaching assistant for grade nine math. The context: students aged fourteen to fifteen, some of whom still struggle with fractions and basic algebra. The style: simple language, everyday examples, and step by step. The limits: don't give the final answer to practice questions right away. Give a hint first, so students keep thinking. The format: a short explanation, one worked example, then three practice questions of rising difficulty. With these instructions, every new lesson automatically follows the same pattern. Another example, from an office. Dewi, operations manager at Maju Bersama Co., creates a Weekly Report Project. The role and context: assistant to the operations manager at an office supply distributor. The style is formal but warm, because the reports are read by her managers and sometimes forwarded to suppliers. The limits are crucial for reports: never make up numbers. If data is missing, Claude must ask for it, not guess. The format is always the same: a three-point summary, a table, then a list of follow-ups. Dewi's managers get used to reading reports in a consistent pattern every week. Finally, a checklist before saving your instructions. First, make sure all five ingredients are there: role, context, style, limits, and format. Second, every limit comes with a way out, not just a ban. Third, data that changes often, such as prices and promos, has been moved into files. Fourth, the instructions have been tested with ordinary, hard, and out-of-bounds questions. And what must never be there: customers' personal data or passwords. The instructions are read in every chat, so their content must be safe.
Done!
We've written Project instructions with five ingredients, separated rules from data, and tested and improved them with a simple cycle. In the next episode we fill the Project's knowledge section with files, from catalogs and FAQs to SOPs, so Claude's answers are always based on your data. See you there!
Practice exercises
Try these on your own after watching to lock in what you learned.
Rewrite your Project instructions using the five ingredients: role, context, style, limits, format
Test them with three questions: one ordinary, one difficult, and one off-topic
Note one answer that missed the mark, then add one instruction sentence to fix it
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Cerdas Inovasi Digital Team
Software developers, BIM & 3D engineers, and AI practitioners
53 video classes1,290 episodes
We build software, BIM models, games and AI automations for clients every day, and turn that hands-on work into step-by-step classes: every step is shown on screen and comes with a PDF guide you can keep.
