Personal context file template

The template

Copy this whole block into a Markdown file. The bracketed lines are prompts, not real content; replace each one with a single specific fact, or delete it. The optional sections at the bottom can be removed entirely until you need them.

# Identity
- I am Maya Okonkwo, based in Lisbon (WET/WEST).
- I run a two-person design studio; I am the lead and the operator.
- Native English, fluent Portuguese. I write in English.

# Goals
- Ship the studio's new portfolio site by end of Q3.
- Land two retainer clients this year, not one-off projects.
- Learn enough SQL to stop asking a contractor for every report.

# Work
- Brand and product design for early-stage startups.
- Tools: Figma, Notion, Linear, a little HTML/CSS.
- I bill by project, not by hour. I protect deep-work mornings.
- Decisions I own: scope, pricing, hiring. My partner owns delivery.

# Preferences
- Answer first, then explain. Lead with the recommendation.
- Be direct. Skip preamble and hedging.
- Use British spelling. No em dashes.
- For code, give me the whole file, not a diff.

# Routines
- Deep work 08:00-12:00; no meetings before noon.
- Fridays are admin and invoicing.
- I plan the week on Sunday evening.

# Beliefs (optional)
- I would rather ship something small and real than plan something big.

# Constraints (optional)
- No calls after 18:00. Do not suggest tools that need a US bank account.

# People (optional)
- Tom is my studio partner and handles all client delivery.
- Priya is my accountant; route tax questions to her, not me.

# Health (optional)
- I manage migraines; keep long reading tasks broken into chunks.

# Context (optional)
- Currently rebranding the studio from "Okonkwo Design" to "Field".

Identity

The handful of lines an AI should never get wrong: your name, where you are, what you do, and the languages you work in. Keep it to facts that frame every answer.

• Include: name, location and timezone, your role in one line, working languages.
• Avoid: biography, backstory, or anything that reads like an About page.

Goals

What you are working toward right now, so advice points the right way. Goals date faster than anything else in the file, so keep them current.

• Include: two to four concrete near-term goals with a rough horizon.
• Avoid: vague aspirations ("grow", "be happier") and goals you finished months ago.

Work

Your role, your stack, and how you actually operate, including which decisions are yours to make. This is the section that makes work advice land.

• Include: what you do, the tools you use, how you bill or measure output, what you own.
• Avoid: your full org chart or a tool you tried once and dropped.

Preferences

How you want AI to talk to you: format, tone, spelling, and the assumptions it should default to. This is the section that changes the most answers per line.

• Include: answer-first vs explain-first, tone, spelling rules, code format, hard style rules.
• Avoid: preferences you are not sure you hold, or ones that contradict each other.

Routines

The shape of your week that context-aware suggestions should respect, so an assistant does not propose a call during your deep-work block.

• Include: recurring blocks, protected hours, planning rhythms.
• Avoid: one-off events and a full calendar dump.

The optional sections

Beliefs, Constraints, People, Health, and Context are off by default. Add one only when it would change an answer, and remove it when it stops mattering.

Keeping the template alive

A template is a starting point; the value is in keeping it true. Written by hand, that means editing the file and repasting it into each tool whenever something changes. Creed keeps this same ten-section profile in one place, lets every connected agent read it before it answers, and has agents propose narrow updates as they learn something durable about you, so the file stays sharp instead of just longer.