Make Claude Sound Like You
After this page you'll have a voice-and-style.md file in your Cowork folder that turns every Claude draft into something that already sounds like you on a good day. Editing time drops by about 80 percent.
Estimated time: 20 minutes for the first pass. Worth more than every other setting combined.
The Name For This Thing
A voice file is a markdown document that captures how you actually write. Not how you think you write. How you actually write at 9am on a Tuesday when you're typing fast and not overthinking. Claude reads it every session in that folder and uses it as the style template for everything it drafts.
Default Claude output sounds like Claude: polished, even, a touch corporate. Once you have a voice file, the same prompt produces a draft in your voice instead. The first time it happens, it feels uncanny.
The 20-Minute Setup
Collect 10 to 15 real writing samples
Slack messages to your team. Emails to stakeholders. A few sections of docs you wrote. The mix matters. Casual and formal. Short and long. Polished and "I typed this in 30 seconds." You're showing Claude your full range, not your best work. Paste them all into one text file.
Ask Claude to analyze you
Paste this exact prompt: "Analyze the writing samples I just shared. Tell me what patterns you see in tone, sentence structure, word choice, and personality. Be specific. Use examples from the samples." The response will be uncomfortably accurate. It'll catch how you start sentences, your go-to phrases, your formality range, and the words you over-use. Read it twice.
Turn the analysis into voice-and-style.md
Tell Claude: "Now turn that analysis into a voice-and-style.md file I can save in my Cowork folder. Include the patterns you found, plus these hard rules from me: [list your rules here]." Mine includes things like "Lead with the point," "No em dashes," "No 'leverage,'" and "Use humor but don't force it." Preview the file. Save it to your workspace.
Test it on something real
Ask Claude to draft a Slack message or email you actually need to send. Read the result. Anything that sounds wrong is a missing rule. Tell Claude why ("That's too formal," "I would never say 'leverage,'" "More sarcastic"), and ask it to update voice-and-style.md with the new rule. Repeat until the drafts feel like yours.
The Pattern: Iterate, Don't Perfect
Your first voice file will be 80 percent right and 20 percent wrong. That's the goal. Every time Claude writes something that doesn't sound like you, name the gap and update the file. Mine has been through six passes. Now I barely edit anything.
The "rejection method" is the fastest way to dial this in. Tell Claude what you would never say or do, not just what you want. Constraints produce a stronger signal than preferences.
One Next Action
Open Cowork. Pick a folder where you write a lot (LinkedIn, work, content, whatever). Paste 10 samples. Run the prompt above. You'll have a working voice file in 20 minutes. Use it for a week. The rules you add in week two are the ones that compound.
Further Reading
Claude Starter Kit (GitHub) →
My full setup as a paste-in-order kit. The workspace CLAUDE.md template hooks into your voice file so it loads automatically.
Ruben Hassid: How to AI →
Ruben's setup guides are the model for this page. Minute-by-minute, one action per block, no filler.
Lenny's Newsletter →
Lenny Rachitsky on writing and PM craft. Worth a subscribe for the structure alone.
The Claude Skills That Finally Made AI Write Like Me →
How to build Claude skills that capture your personal writing voice. (AIble With My Mind)
How to Make Claude Write Like You →
The "rejection method": defining your voice by what you'd never do. (The AI Girl)
How to Properly Set Up Claude Cowork →
Alex Banks' 3-file method (about-me, voice-and-style, working-rules). Compounds forever. (The Signal)
Part of Josh's Cowork Guide. Got questions? Hit me up.