Stop Prompting Claude
Cowork users who want a maintainable second-brain setup
Prerequisites: Module 03
Last verified 2026-07-28
Learning objectives
- Explain why files-as-context beats long prompts (write once, applies forever)
- Edit Cowork context files comfortably with Obsidian
- Use the vault for search across all past outputs
- Update behaviour by editing files instead of repeating instructions
- Organize a SKILLS folder alongside context files
What's in this module
6 lessons · 6 exercises · ~6 min reading
Starts withThe problem with prompting~1 minExecutive summary
You will learn why maintained context files beat repeated prompting, and how to manage them with Obsidian. End state is your Cowork folder open as a searchable, editable vault, with one permanent behaviour rule added and verified. After this module you can change Claude's behaviour by editing a file once, search every past output, and run a daily update-the-brain, build-the-work loop.
Sources
- Claude Help Center, "Get started with Claude Cowork", the surface where files-as-context actually pays off: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/13345190-get-started-with-claude-cowork
- Claude Help Center, "Understanding Claude's personalization features", the built-in alternatives to writing your own context files, and where each stops: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/10185728-understanding-claude-s-personalization-features
- Anthropic, "Agent Skills overview", where a context file stops being enough and a skill starts, with the progressive-disclosure model behind it: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/agent-skills/overview
- Ruben Hassid, "Prompting is the worst way to use Claude": https://ruben.substack.com/p/stop-prompting-claude
Prefer the live room?
This module also runs inside our in-person bootcamps and workshops in Copenhagen.
More in Track B
Set Up Claude Cowork
How Cowork works and how to set up the folder and context files that make it effective.
Claude to Sound Like You
How to capture your writing voice, taste, and hard rules in one compact file any AI can use.
Stop Writing Like AI
The patterns that make text read as machine-written, from negative parallelism to banned vocabulary.