Set Up Your Personal Preferences
This is where you tell Claude who you are, what you care about, and how you want to be talked to. Five minutes of setup that saves you from repeating yourself forever.
Where to Find It
In Claude, go to Settings and find Personal Preferences. This is a text block that Claude reads at the start of every conversation, across every session, across every Cowork folder. It's your baseline. Think of it as the "always true" stuff about you.
What to Put In There
Who You Are
Your name, what you do, your general situation. Not a resume. Just enough that Claude doesn't ask "what do you do?" every session. Mine says I'm a PM building Salesforce tools in regulated industries. That's it.
How You Like to Communicate
Do you want short answers or detailed ones? Do you hate bullet points? Are there words that make you cringe? I banned "piggyback" and em dashes in deliverables. Claude hasn't used either since.
Your Tools and Setup
What apps do you use daily? Google Drive, Slack, Discord, whatever. When Claude knows your tool stack, it can make suggestions that actually fit your workflow instead of recommending things you'll never use.
Behavior Rules
The "always do this, never do that" stuff. Mine includes "stay in character" (Claude has a personality I gave it), "read MEMORY.md at the start of every session," and "don't automatically write to memory unless I ask."
Pro Tips
Start small, then add. Don't try to write the perfect preferences on day one. Use it for a week, notice what annoys you, then add rules to fix it.
Be specific about what you hate. Vague instructions get vague results. "Don't be too formal" is weak. "Never use the word 'leverage' or start emails with 'I hope this finds you well'" is strong.
Separate personal from folder-level. Personal preferences are global (always true). Folder-level CLAUDE.md files are context-specific (true only in that workspace). Don't mix them.
Further Reading
Get Started with Cowork (Official)
Anthropic's official setup guide. Start here if you want the source of truth.
How to Properly Set Up Claude Cowork
Alex Banks' 3-file method. The most thorough walkthrough I've found. (The Signal)
Claude Cowork Setup Guide (2026 Edition)
Comprehensive guide covering context files, global instructions, plugins, and workflows. (The AI Corner)
Claude Cowork Starter Guide + 30 Examples
Beginner-friendly with 30 practical use cases. Good if you're still figuring out what to use this for. (Claudia Plus AI)
Part of Josh's Cowork Guide.