Pathlight·Playbook

The Prerequisites

Before the real chapters, you need a small, boring toolchain in place: a place for Claude to run, a place for your files to live, a rule for where things go, and one instruction file Claude reads every session. None of this is the Cortex. It is the ground the Cortex installs on. All of it is off the shelf.

The fastest way to start is 00-first-hour.md, which gets Claude knowing you in under an hour. This chapter is the fuller version: the proper toolchain, set up right, for a foundation that lasts. If you already did the first hour, this is where you make it solid.

Why this comes first

Every other chapter assumes the same four things already exist. If they are not in place, your memory has nowhere to land, and you spend chapter 1 fighting your setup instead of building.

Good news: this is the only chapter where you install nothing custom. You are assembling commodity parts, the way you would install a database before building an app. Get them working once and never think about them again.

One idea shapes every choice below. The whole system runs on four rules: build systems, not scattered notes. Write in plain text the machine can read. Add, never overwrite. Keep it self-checking. Plain-text files and a folder convention are what make those rules possible.

The four things to set up

1. Claude Code

The tool that lets Claude do things on your computer, not just chat: read and write your files, run commands, follow multi-step instructions. This whole guide assumes Claude Code (or an equivalent) is what runs the install.

Follow the official setup for the command-line tool or the code-editor version. Confirm it works: open it in any folder and ask, “read the files in this folder and tell me what’s here.” If it reads them back, you are set.

Why not just the chat app? It can draft a voice.md for you, but it cannot create the file, link it to your other files, save it to history, and read it back next session. The Cortex is a system Claude runs, and running needs the real tool.

2. A markdown vault

One folder that holds all your files as markdown (plain text any tool can read, Claude can edit, and history can track). This is the ground the whole memory layer lives in.

Obsidian is a good free app for this because it turns [[double-bracket links]] between files into a map you can click through, which is exactly the shape later chapters build. But it is optional. Claude follows those links whether or not anything draws them, so a plain folder of .md files works on day one.

The one rule: markdown, not Notion or Google Docs or Word. The format has to be plain text the machine can read, compare, and link. Locked formats break the moment Claude cannot cleanly read them.

3. A folder convention

A decided-in-advance answer to “where does this go?” so your structure is a rule, not a guess. The convention matters more than the exact scheme. Pick one and hold it.

A pattern that works: numbered top-level folders, so both the map and the file browser stay in a stable order.

~/hub/
├── 1. projects/     # active builds
├── 2. docs/         # reference and instructions
├── 4. memory/       # voice, customers, decisions
└── 5. meetings/     # call notes land here

Why numbers? They hold a stable order in every tool and make paths clear when you quote them to Claude. The numbers themselves do not matter. The discipline of having them does.

4. A global CLAUDE.md

A markdown file at ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md that Claude reads automatically at the start of every session, in every folder. It is your standing brief: who you are, how you work, the rules that apply everywhere.

The shape, not the specifics:

## Who I am
[You, your role, your business in two or three lines.]

## How a session runs
[How work should start and end. For example, lead with what's queued,
save progress at the end.]

## My default tools
[So Claude does not re-ask every time.]

## House rules
[Standing rules. For example, "never send anything or spend money
without checking first."]

Why this is a prerequisite and not a chapter: everything downstream assumes Claude already knows who you are. Without the global file, every session starts cold. With it, every session starts warm, which is the whole premise of the memory layer.

Pitfalls (the “if this, then that” guide)

Situation What to do
You already keep notes in Notion or Google Docs Do not migrate everything now. Start the vault fresh for your voice and customer files. Pull old notes in later, as raw sources, when you reach the Wiki chapter.
You want to design the perfect folder taxonomy first Stop at the top level. Decide the six or so top folders, then let the structure grow as chapters add to it. A taxonomy you design before you have content is a guess.
You do not have version history installed Install git before chapter 1. It keeps a running history of every change, which is what “add, never overwrite” relies on. Run git init in your vault on day one, even if you never share it anywhere.
You are not sure you need n8n yet Skip it. It is only for the Habits layer (automations). The memory layer needs none of it. Add it when that chapter asks.
Your global CLAUDE.md is getting long Good. That is context Claude no longer has to be told. Keep it to standing rules, not project details (those go in per-folder files later).

Maya’s version

Maya runs an online store and a small service business, plus a content channel. She does not code. Her whole setup is one ~/hub folder with a handful of numbered top-level folders:

~/hub/
├── 1. store/      # the online store
├── 2. service/    # the service business
├── 3. channel/    # the content channel
├── 4. memory/     # voice, customers, decisions
└── 5. meetings/   # call notes land here

That is the entire stack: Claude Code, one folder of markdown, numbered folders, a ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md that says who she is, and git keeping history underneath.

Two things worth noticing:

  • It runs on commodity tools. Claude Code, a folder of plain text, git. Nothing proprietary. The value is the system you build on top, which is the rest of this guide, not the tools.
  • The conventions are the real prerequisite, not the apps. Maya could swap Obsidian for any editor and nothing would change. What cannot be swapped is markdown, numbered folders, a global instruction file, and git history.

You’ve got it when

If the first four are true, you can start chapter 1. Everything from here is the system, not the setup.

→ Next: The Codex (01-memory/01-the-codex.md). Install the plain files that hold your voice, who you serve, and the decisions you have made. The first thing you build, because everything else reads from it.