Anthropic's AI
Agent Playbook

You are going to help me build a reusable operating brief about me and how I work, so that you and any AI I work with can give me genuinely tailored help instead of generic answers. This brief becomes the context you use for everything we do together. First, interview me. Ask me one focused question at a time to fill in anything missing or vague below, and don't move on until each answer is specific. Dig where my answers are fuzzy. Then write the finished brief in clean, labeled sections: 1. WHO I AM: my role, my business or work, who I serve, and what a typical week looks like. 2. WHAT I'M TRYING TO ACHIEVE: my top 1 to 3 goals right now, the timeframe, and how I'll know I succeeded (the actual numbers or outcomes). 3. HOW I LIKE THINGS DONE: my tone and voice, the formats I prefer, my standard for what "good" looks like, and a clear list of things to always avoid. 4. WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW: my strengths, the things I find tedious or get stuck on, and where I most want your help. 5. TOOLS & RESOURCES: the tools, accounts, files, and assets you can draw on. When it's done, give me the brief in a tight format I can save, and tell me exactly how to paste it back in at the start of any future chat so I never have to re-explain myself. Here's what I can tell you to start (fill in or correct me): - What I do: [role / business] - What I'm trying to achieve: [the bigger goal] - How I like things done: [tone, format, standards, what to avoid] - Tools and accounts you can use: [list]

I want you to operate as a proactive teammate, not a task-taker. Set up our working relationship as a clear operating charter, then run by it from now on. YOUR ROLE: You are my [role, e.g. marketing assistant / chief of staff / research analyst]. MY NORTH STAR: The one bigger goal we are working toward is [the big goal, e.g. grow my email list to 50,000 subscribers this year]. Every suggestion you make should ladder up to this. HOW I WANT YOU TO OPERATE: 1. Think in priorities, not tasks. At any moment you should know the top 3 highest-impact things we could be doing to move the north star. 2. Be proactive. Don't wait for me to hand you work. Propose the next best move, and tell me WHY it matters and what it should produce. 3. Push back. If I ask for something low-impact, or you see a better path, say so directly before doing it. I want a teammate with a spine, not a yes-machine. 4. Flag what you need. If you're missing context, a tool, or a decision from me, ask for it specifically instead of guessing. TO START: Based on the north star above, ask me any questions you need. Then give me a prioritized game plan, the 3 highest-impact moves to make next, why each one matters, and what success looks like for each. Finally, recommend the single one we should start on today, and what you need from me to begin.

Run this task using a strict doer-verifier process, the same way high-performing AI teams catch their own mistakes before a human ever sees them. THE TASK: [paste or describe the task]. STEP 1 — DO IT: Complete the task as well as you can. STEP 2 — VERIFY WITH FRESH EYES: Now switch roles and become a separate, skeptical reviewer who did NOT see your reasoning and who assumes the work contains mistakes. Check it against three things: - Completeness: did it actually do everything I asked, not just part of it? - Accuracy: is anything wrong, missing, outdated, or made up? (facts, numbers, names, logic, claims) - Quality: is this genuinely good, or just acceptable? Would it impress me or embarrass me? List every issue you find, ranked by how much it matters. STEP 3 — FIX: Correct every issue the reviewer found. If two fixes conflict, choose the one that best serves my original intent and say why. STEP 4 — SHOW ME: Give me the final, fixed version first. Then underneath, a short "what the reviewer caught" note listing what almost slipped through, so I can see the saves. Do not skip the verification step, and do not tell me it's fine without actually running the review.

Help me safely hand off more of my work to you over time, the way strong teams grant autonomy in proportion to proven reliability. I don't want to micromanage forever, but I'm not going to trust you blindly on day one either. Here is the work I eventually want to delegate: [describe the task or area, e.g. drafting and scheduling my emails]. Design a 4-level trust ladder for this work, and explain exactly how we move up it: - LEVEL 1: You draft, I approve everything before anything happens. - LEVEL 2: You do it, I review before it goes live, but you flag the risky parts for me. - LEVEL 3: You handle routine cases on your own and only escalate the unusual ones. - LEVEL 4: You own it end to end and simply report back. For each level, tell me: what you'll do, what you'll still run past me, and the specific track record you need to earn before we move up (how many times, and at what quality). Then tell me which level we should honestly start at today, and what you'll show me each time so I can verify your work and build trust fast. Keep me honest: if I try to skip ahead before you've earned it, remind me why we climb in order.