---
title: CLAUDE.starter.md — the new-repo starter template
summary: The template every new repo copies to wire itself into these standards from day one - reference them, don't fork them.
---

# CLAUDE.md: <PROJECT NAME>

> **Starter template.** Copy this to the root of a new repo as `CLAUDE.md`, delete this line, and
> fill the `<…>` placeholders. It wires a fresh project into Tjakoen's personal standards (how I build
> with AI, voice, badges, AI-use posture) from day one. The standards live publicly at
> `https://tjakoen.github.io/standards` (source: the [`standards/`](https://github.com/tjakoen/tjakoen.github.io/tree/main/standards)
> dir in the portfolio repo) —
> **reference them, don't fork them.** The published [index](https://tjakoen.github.io/standards)
> is the map; point this repo at it rather than copying files that will drift.
>
> **Make it tool-agnostic.** Symlink `AGENTS.md → CLAUDE.md` (`ln -s CLAUDE.md AGENTS.md`) so any
> agent that reads the cross-tool `AGENTS.md` convention (Codex, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, …) gets
> the same instructions Claude Code reads from `CLAUDE.md`. One file, every tool.

## What this is

<One paragraph: what this project is, who it's for, and the single most important thing to know
before touching it.>

## How I work here (non-negotiables)

The full rulebook is **[`AI-DEVELOPMENT.md`](https://tjakoen.github.io/standards/ai-development)**
(the standards) + **[`SESSION-LOOP.md`](https://tjakoen.github.io/standards/session-loop)** (the
session mechanics, memory, handoff, model economy). The short version for this repo:

- **I build with AI, out loud, on purpose.** The work is co-authored with Claude as a *practice* —
  not a git trailer (see the commit convention below; no `Co-Authored-By` lines). The receipt is the
  README badge + footer and the flagship note, not commit metadata.
- **AI multiplies, it doesn't add.** The AI types; I engineer. I keep the judgment, the architecture,
  and the final call. If I can't explain it, I didn't build it.
- **Definition of done = code + tests + docs synced + green gate.** <Name the check/test commands for
  this repo.> Not one of these — all of them.
- **Write the decision down.** Keep a short record of *why* non-obvious choices were made so the next
  session inherits the reasoning instead of relitigating it (format: SESSION-LOOP §4).
- **Hand off when a task finishes.** Gate green, committed, decisions recorded → emit a compact
  handoff prompt for the next session (SESSION-LOOP §5).

## Voice (for any prose in my name)

Follow **[VOICE.md](https://tjakoen.github.io/standards/voice)**. The short
version: honest, quirky, self-deprecating, concrete, opinionated-with-the-why; **no backticks in
prose**; contractions in casual writing, expanded in formal docs. Never publish a claim I haven't
earned; keep money vague.

## README presentation (do this once, at repo start)

Follow **[README-STANDARD.md](https://tjakoen.github.io/standards/readme-standard)**. In short:

1. **Title emoji.** One emoji before the H1 that fits this repo (my repos lean a bread/baking family).
2. **A curated badge row** (~5–7, honesty rule: only true, ideally verifiable badges), always led by:
   `[![Made with Claude](https://img.shields.io/badge/Made_with-Claude-D97757?logo=anthropic&logoColor=white)](https://tjakoen.github.io/notes/ten-times-zero)`
3. **The text footer** at the bottom of the README:
   > ---
   > 🤖 **Built with Claude. I don't prompt and pray, I prompt and prove.** Every commit here is co-authored with an AI, on purpose. [How I actually work with AI, receipts and all →](https://tjakoen.github.io/notes/ten-times-zero)

The fastest way: paste the "reusable prompt" from README-STANDARD.md into a Claude session here, and it reads this
codebase and proposes the emoji + honest badge set for you.

## Commit convention

No AI attribution trailers on commits (`Co-Authored-By: Claude` etc.). The receipt behind the
"built with Claude" claim is the README badge + footer and the flagship note, not commit metadata.

**Enforce it, do not assume it.** Set this in `~/.claude/settings.json`:

```json
{ "includeCoAuthoredBy": false }
```

Claude Code appends the trailer by default, so without that key an agent will add it while
believing it is following house style. This paragraph used to say the rule was "enforced globally
via `attribution` settings" and named no setting. It was set on no machine, so the rule quietly did
not hold: one repo accumulated 28 trailered commits before anyone noticed, and clearing them meant
rewriting published history. A convention that names no mechanism is a preference, not enforcement.

Check a repo with `git log -E --grep="^Co-Authored-By:" --oneline` before trusting it is clean.
Anchor the pattern to the line start: unanchored, it also matches any doc that merely *names* the
trailer, this section included, so a clean repo reports itself dirty.

## Docs / structure

<List this repo's key files and where the important docs live. If it grows past a couple of root
docs, group them under `docs/` and keep only `README.md` + `CLAUDE.md` at the root.>